:)S THE .\Mi:ni('.\y MrsiicM .iochsal 



iiiucli iiiorc iiiaiii|)iilati(Hi to sliapc or polish than docs (piart/, or a^Mtc It 

 has been cxtcnsiNcly used in the arts in j('\vch-\- (hirin;: the past six oi- 

 eight years. 



]Much New /eahind jade has l)ccn worked into ( hincsc art ol»jc(t>, hut 

 the greater part ot" X\\v material used in China, whether green or white, 

 eame from the Ku<'n-hin Mountains, Turkestan, south of Khotan. No 

 white jade has e\er heeii diseovered in New Zealand, and no jade has ever 

 heen discovered in ( hina i)roper, although all the worked articles from that 

 em])ire are referred to as "Chinese jade." For the Chinese, jafle syinl)ol- 

 ized all that was liigli and pure. Kwaii ('hung, in the se\<'nth century 

 before Christ, wrote that its smoothness .symbolized benevolence; its l)ril- 

 liant lustre, knowledge; its toughness, justice; its rarity, pm-ity of soul. 

 That the smallest crack on its surface was immediately visible typified 

 candor and the fact that although passing from hand to hand it was ne\cr 

 soiled made it a syml)ol of a life governed by liigh moral principles. 



Superstitious ideas largely contribute to the popularity of jade in China. 

 Some thirty years ago a Russian officer saw on one of the roads in Turkestan 

 a block of jade that had evidently been abandoned in the course of trans- 

 portation. He was told that while it was on its way from the (puirry of 

 Raskem-Darya to Peking an order came to leave it on the road, for the 

 heir apparent to the Chinese throne had just been attacked by a serious 

 disease after having slept on a couch made of Raskem jade. 



The nephritic variety of jade is often called the true jade and must not 

 be confounded with jadeite, a distinct mineral which is a tiiflc harder, 

 has a higher specific gravity, and is besides a silicate of ahnnina and soda. 

 This latter material was that found in ancifiit Mexico worked uj) by the 

 natives into various ornaments, of which the .\iiiei-icaii Museum contains 

 a fine series. 



The exact place of occurrence of the Mexican jewel jadeite has nexcr 

 been di.scovered. In oiu* own time jadeite is found only near the ^•i]lage 

 of Tamaw, five days journey from Mogung in UpjKr Hurnia. near the 

 Chinese boundary. It is of a white to green color or else white with green 

 spla.shes of color often of rich and magnificent tints, and as much as Sl.5,(X)() 

 has been paid for a thiunb-ring of the choicest of this material. Neither 

 nephrite nor jadeite has been found within the limits of the United States 

 except in Alaska where true jade-nephrite has been discovered in Jade 

 Moimtain by Lieutenant Stoners. V. S. X. In this territory many fine 

 jade implements have also been found and excellent representations of 

 these are in the ^luseum collection. 



