Jade Authentication

Jade: for well over five thousand years the Chinese people have revered it and called it the stone of heaven. In the beginning it was used for tools, rituals and grew into a source of status, wealth, and power. Chinese artisans are masters at sculpting this stone into untold shapes and forms. The ancient Chinese used the term Yu / Jade to describe certain qualities of the stone and many different stones could be put in this category, although nephrite was the most prized and important. In China there are two types of nephrite Jade that were carved, mountain Jade, and river Jade. Mountain Jade is mined in the mountains, river Jade was gathered in rivers. Mountain Jade material is considered inferior to Jade gather in rivers. Jade materials vary in quality, generally poor quality would be consider and often call mountain Jade. Today most collectors only consider Chinese Jade to be a stone /gem called nephrite and “when I use the word Jade I’m speaking of nephrite”. There is another stone / gem Jadeite that the Chinese have carved since the 18^th century, It is has more vibrant colors, when polished it has a very brilliant shine, and comes from Burma, it is also used in fine Jewelry. Most collectors will agree nephrite Jade makes the finest carvings. 

All Jade material is not the same; there are differences in hardness, translucency and color. Often collectors are more concerned with seeing light through Jade, instead of looking through the stone; you must focus your eyes in the Jade. The finest Jade is a very tough fibrous stone, generally hard as steel, translucent with a pleasing color. Because of Jades tough fibrous nature it cannot be cut and formed. It must be grinded down using various rotary and hand tools with abrasive mediums such as sand, quartz, and other minerals harder then Jade. Larger pieces were scored and chipped away. These abrasives were made into a paste to coat the tools before grinding. Ever since man learned how to make fire spinning one stick between his hands on another, there were rotary tools. During China’s long history there were important developments in materials that made tools, such as bronze and iron. The Chinese were masters in development and use of rotary tools for carving jade. Arguably Jade carving peaked in China over two thousand years ago during the Warring States period. The vast majority of Chinese art is held in private collections in and outside of China, and the finest pieces remain unpublished. We will probably never see China’s Imperial collections, we can only imagine.

I see the Chinese Art Market as levels of quality of carving, quality of material, Periods, and where these fit the market because it was always a sort of business. It is very important that serious collectors have a good understanding of Jade materials, motifs, and capabilities of the Chinese artisans of any given period. There have been many false stories about Chinese Jade that has kept many collectors on the sidelines, unsure of there own pieces. A major Dealer from London told me he sold a Jade carving for 45,000 pounds to a Chinese Jade manufacture, because he wanted to make copies. This story is absurd and if you heard this, find another dealer. Chinese Jade artisans do not need photographs or pieces to copy. Another rumor is that the Chinese artisans have some secret formula to age and create any patina on Jade, and factories in China are pumping out fake carvings that only a few experts can identify; simply not true. Another rumor is the Chinese artisans bury Jade with dead dogs to age it, to me just another racist statement. 

An article written in 1998 shows two Jade cups that are totally infiltrated with fissures and green oxidation stains from being buried with bronze. The author attributes one cup to the Qianlong period because the Qianlong imperial colophon mistook the attribution of the cup to the Han period, which could have easily occurred three hundred years ago. The author made a serious mistake and called it a Qianlong forgery. The green oxidation stain could have been artificially induced but it would not penetrate the Jade deeply. The rest of the patina on the cup could only be created after a very long period in the ground. The only other way that it could be forged is if it was re-carved. This is the biggest threat to collectors because these carving are being sold for large sums of money. The Qianlong Emperor was well known for his connoisseurship, also known to modify and inscribe poems on ancient Jade carvings. The Qianlong period arguable could be the absolute pinnacle of Chinese art. I believe the Emperor would not request his artisans to fake a work of art. He had access to more important Jade carvings then that cup. The cup is more likely a product of the Song / early Ming period in the archaistic style of the Han period cup. Articles like this only confuse collectors and create doubt about every piece they own. 

There are several things I would like to mention to serious collectors that have not been able to view, handle, and observe a large amount of Jade Carvings. Hopefully this will help them to identify the better old carvings. Start by viewing as many photographs of Jade as possible, your eyes can be your best teacher. Read all you can about Jade. If you read something that does not add up or contradicts something you may have read before or have been told, keep an open mind, you may have to read between the lines. Every collector should have good loupe of at least 10x power. Jade is a very tough fibrous stone / gem, and when the skin is cut away and the heart of the stone is exposed and polished it is generally very clear with out any of the inclusions that you see in old buried Jade. The value of Jade is determined by the quality of the stone, similar to diamond. Someone may have a 5-karat diamond that is worth less than a fine1 karat diamond, or the diamond may only have value to industry. Generally the best quality jade was given to the best carvers. Jade is a tough fibrous stone, the more compact and dense the stone is, the harder it becomes. Some may argue but the more translucent a Jade stone, the better the quality and more desirable it becomes. When Jade is buried it will slowly start to break down the density and fibrous structure of the stone. This happens because of the microscopic expansion and contraction of the stone. The pressures and elements in the soil, and the amount and kind of elements in the soil and the density of the Jade will determine how much the jade will break down and absorb these elements. Jade is not a sponge, this is a very slow process because Jade is fibrous, tough, dense, and hard. 

Jade has several colors. The main colors are white, green, yellow, gray and black. The color white comes in many shades toward the gray family and sometimes it can take on a very slight greenish hue. Green has many shades from very pale almost white to almost black. Generally the medium to light greens are referred to as celadon, and the very dark green is referred to as spinach. There is one tone of green that collectors should try to avoid and you will know it when you see it. It is very ugly, soft and opaque some call it vegetable. The name vegetable can sometimes confuse collectors to believe all green is bad, not at all so. Sometimes green can take on a yellowish hue. Some refer to this as yellow. There is a yellow with a greenish hue. I would consider it yellow, and also gray and black. There is another jade color referred to as mutton fat white, which I consider to be a little off white. Others refer to it as a fine pure white. Onion is a very transparent stone and highly prized by the ancients. Imperial green is a beautiful green carved during the Qing period. There are others these are the most commonly referred to. The most commonly preferred seem to be the lighter colors white and celadon. Spinach and imperial green are mainly Qing Dynasty colors. Gray and black of good quality have a softer beauty. Black and gray Jade was exhausted by the Yuan dynasty. The most important thing is the quality of the Jade and it must be pleasing to your eyes. Because Jade is translucent many times in photographs; the colors will wash out from the flash and seem white. 

There are other stones that may look like Jade to those who have not handled a large quantity of carvings. They can seem dense and heavy. If you don’t have a lot of experience or you may have some doubt, buy yourself a good penknife, if you have a carving no matter how old and it has a spot that has original color, and is clear, translucent with a good finish. Try to scratch that area and put a little pressure on the knife, “it will not scratch because it is Jade” Many Chinese call it hard Jade. The only other stones that the Chinese carved that it could be, under the same condition I mentioned are Agate, and Jadeite these are hard, and can be easy to distinguish from Jade because of the brighter colors, Jade colors are more subtle, and these stones are not as abundant as Jade. In the ancient times there was a Jade material that was revered for its very soft look and feel. The supplies have been exhausted long ago. The examples I handle were very heavily infiltrated from contact with bronze and other elements with know sign of veins, fissures, or decay and a small area of original white color. It was opaque with a very soft feel and a little sheen and could be scratched. I believe this is where all the confusion comes in. There are ancient Jade Carvings that have been buried for thousands of years. Their structure and density has completely broken down every area has infiltration. Regardless of color, usually they are solid brown or multi-colors and there are no areas that have original color and the surface will scratch. The collector “should not buy the carving if it does not past the scratch test” and I don’t care who may be selling it or who owned it before. There is good chance it is not jade or could be re-carved sanded with a beautiful soft polish and you will be paying a large amount of money. In time you will or whoever inherits that carving will be surprised to fined out it is worth a fraction of what you paid. Why would anyone take that chance it is not necessary? I have seen many carving that would not scratch and were old but the details are very sharp and highly polished. This is a red flag for collectors, Their are those who sharpen the details and polish the carving to blend them in. These carving are being sold for at least five to ten times more than there worth. This is happening mostly to those in the upper end of the market. This is why it is imperative that Chinese Jade collectors have a good loupe for checking the surface. 

The finest carvings use the best materials and likely were highly polished when it was carved. The surface only needs to be washed and never cut into. Any polish on a carving that does not seem to fit the inclusion and quality of the material keeping in mind the more translucent Jade is the better. The high polished less translucent Jade carvings should get your attention. Collecting Chinese Jade is getting more refined and collectors must be able to identify these things, and not have someone say its OK it does not matter. These things can easily be identified; all you need is a Penknife and Loupe.   

Many collectors that do not have a lot of experience will see a carving that looks very old. If the carving is very dull and likely to have the look of an archaic carving, and it almost looks as though it just came out of the ground. There is a very good chance it is not Jade. I would suggest that you “don’t buy it” But if you love the carving because it looks very old, the chances are it will be a very poor quality Jade, likely ugly Green, or not Jade at all, and not older then the Ming Dynasty. If you know exactly what you are buying “Don’t pay much money.” Sometime given the right conditions Jade that was buried a long time, can actually have the look of very dry stone, this Jade is very fragile it can chip very easily, when chipped you can see the original Jade material, almost as if another skin formed. I have seen this patina on several Shang Dynasty and Six Dynasty carvings. Many Archaic and Neolithic Jades after being buried, a white opaque patina forms; many believe this is mainly caused by fire, because the ancients were believed to burn jade with the deceased. Jade materials changed throughout China’s history, Jade would be gathered in one area until the supply was exhausted, In many cases each area had there own unique materials, quality and colors. 

There are many different words use to explain the infiltrating elements from the soil, that Jade can take in after it has been buried along time. Some examples are, iron, specks, pepper, russet, clouding, veins, rivers, striations, inclusions, green oxidation form contact with bronze and there are other names. The important thing is, these inclusions only occur in carved Jade after it has been buried a long time. The Chinese artisans have been carving Jade for thousands of years, and from period to period their tools have changed and improved throughout their history. With these changes the carvings have become more complex, although everything was basically still done by hand, which was very tedious, and labor intensive. Rotary tool improvements may have sped things up slightly and not until modern times when power tools were developed did carving time actually speed up. The power tools move hundreds and thousands of times faster. The cutting abrasives are more refined and harder. Because of the high-speed cutting the tool marks on Jade carvings changed drastically. This can be very helpful to Jade collectors to identify old Jade carvings. This is useful for collectors who have not handled and observed a large amount of Jade carvings. You must have good 10x loupe. In old Jade carvings these tool marks can be seen in the holes that are drilled. You will see very tiny lines that can look like the threads inside a nut or threads on a bolt. These tool lines are because the rotary tool was moving slowly and the abrasives are cutting in to the stone slowly. Power drills and more refined abrasives and diamond tipped bits can cut Jade extremely fast and will not cause threads to form. This can also be seen in incised lines you will see tiny tracks of the tool because of slow cutting repetitive action of the carving tool and abrasives. The end of incised lines many times will taper down to a point. Under a loop you may see the tip and it is actually two or more tiny tips. Towards the later archaic periods the carvers started to angle there cuts in lines because this was a better technique to cut into Jade. The very edge of the incised lines under the loupe will not be smooth and even. Where lines form a curl or circle it will be uneven and you will be able the see how the tool had to make several angles to form it. In early archaic pieces the lines were carved with the sides straight up with no angle. During Neolithic times incised lines seam to be dug out in very small sections and do not show any tracks in the thin lines. The inside of the line will look uneven and gagged thru the loupe. This would have required a very hard tool and some think a diamond tipped knife could have done it. The holes will show threads. Power tools can make lines in one pass and the edges of lines will be smoother. Once you have a good idea what to look for and why and how these tool tracks formed you should start looking at other areas around the eyes, ears, teeth, feet between finger and toes.

 Many inexperienced collectors see tool marks that may look like circles and will assume they had to be done by power tools. You must realize that high speed tools will not leave marks like this and remember the Chinese have had rotary tools for thousands of years. Many times the less translucent carvings can actually soften and sag and these track marks cannot be seen or have smoothed out. When you look at the edge of a line it will look soft and rounded, on the inside of the lines will be soft and rounded like a U. This is similar to digging a trench, which after time will start to sag and fill in. The highly translucent Jade carvings this happens less. This takes a long time for this to happen to Jade. The surface of old Jade Carvings can be extremely helpful for collectors to identify old carvings. You must have a loupe10x when you check the surface. Remember when the skin of the raw Jade is removed the material is very clear of inclusions. When Jade is carved and polished very smooth is generally free of any marks on its surface. Most buried Jade develops some type of inclusions that take place after along time in the ground. These inclusions developed from a breakdown in the structure of the fibrous material; from the Microscopic expansion and contraction of the Jade and the pressures and elements in the soil will very slowly seep into the Jade. Burial often causes the elements to seep into the Jade and follow tiny microscopic fissures that develop from the expansion and contraction and spread thru the Jade. Often these are visible fissures called rivers or veins inclusions. These are very unique to Jade carvings because of its fibrous nature. There are elements in the soil that penetrate the Jade and cause it to cloud up. Other elements can penetrate the Jade and discolor it. Usually the elements that seep into the Jade can be traced back to a breakdown of the surface material of the jade. When you look at the surface of the Jade carving with a Loupe most times you can trace it back to the source or where it began. It may be a tiny bit of fissure that develop or a little decay. There is a weakness in that area of the Jade. Occasionally you may see a Jade carving that has areas that are discolored and there are no visible areas that could be a starting point. Look into the jade if it penetrates the jade and melts into it evenly and “ is not” just lying on the surface and penetrating slightly this could not have been induced artificially. Occasionally old buried Jade will discolor more in the carved areas and folds. These are usually hard Jades but not the best materials the tool marks were not sanded out and they seem to be cut rougher. Iron elements from the soil can stain the Jade easier in those areas and generally fissures and clouding can be seen. 

In China carving Jade has always been some type of a business. I look at the Chinese art market as levels and this can be very helpful to find your niche. There are ancient Jade carvings that were carved with very fine detailing and a lot of delicate hand work. Every crack and crevasse would be carefully sanded and polished. This would take a very long time and a lot of skill. The best carvers used the finest materials from small sizes to large. These were sold to the wealthy. There were the rougher carvings that were cut more with hand and some rotary tools and were not finely detailed and carefully sanded in every corner and crack These carving generally have a wonderful polish and more than likely these were carved by the less skillful carvers. That had to produce carvings as fast as possible to keep up with the demand. These carvings were basically originals and not knockoffs trying to exactly copy another piece. The same motifs were carved many times over. These carving would still take a lot of work. The Jade materials were good but not the best. These carving had a nice translucency and appealed to those who wanted good Jade and were valued more for the Jade material and forms than attention to detail. There are ancient Jade carvings that were carved with poor materials or stones that may look like Jade. These could be any size and mimic the motifs and forms of the day. The lines could be carved by hand, or rotary tools, sanded, and polished quickly because the material was soft. These carvings may have the illusion of detail and because of the soft material could be carved quickly. Those who purchased these carving did so because of the look and not the materials that were used. This is not any different than today when buys a knockoff Rolex watch, it looks the same as the original and serves the purpose it was purchased for at a fraction of the cost. This was not in anyway to cheat someone. The buyers understood exactly what they purchased. These levels continued the through most of China’s history because Jade carvings were use less for rituals and more for status, wealth, and power. Many inexperienced collectors will see tool marks and not consider the materials that were used and over value them. Jade value was more than gold and they ran it like a business. 

There are Fine Jade materials that do not show an absolute beginning where the infiltration began and are often wonderful carvings. With old Jade carvings that have been buried a long time the surface will show tiny scratch, chips, tiny holes just from the pressure of the soil. You will see these thru the loupe. Many times buried Jade carvings will have some black or brown specks. When you look thru the loupe these specks can be seen as they infiltrate the Jade. Interestingly they can penetrate into the jade below the surface with no evidence of a starting point. Often old buried jade may be polished; this is not a good idea. Fine old buried Jades will keep their luster depending on conditions it was buried in and the surface will usually only need to be washed. Often Chinese people will have an old buried pocket piece, which they will rinse off and rub it a few minutes a day by hand or very soft cloth. They may do this for up to ten years to bring out the beauty of the Jade without cutting into the surface. Sometimes the Chinese people will apply a thin coat of wax to old Jade to preserve the surface and to give the Jade a soft look. 

Occasionally you may see a very old Jade in a photograph and it looks perfect. With all the ways to evaluate old carvings there will be several things that can identify it as very old. At times Jade can decay. This can happen because of the conditions it was buried in. Most times good Jade will start to decay in small areas it does not decay all over evenly. There are fine ancient Jades that at times take on a very thin tan like skin after long time buried this is a form of decay. There are ancient Jades that take on a dry white decay in small areas, when you look through the loop it is not just laying on the surface its part of the Jade material. Some ancient Jades that have been buried seem to dry out the surface layer evenly. Some buried Jades have dry areas and dense clouding or are discolored on one side and the other side is almost perfect. There are Jades that have extensive clouding and the cracks and folds get very dry and powdery. There also is a substance buried Jade can take on and is white and powdery. This substance can coat the Jade and fill in all the carved lines and is not part of the Jade. This is picked up from the decaying corpse and can develop quickly. There are many surfaces Jade can take on from being buried a long time. There are Jade carvings that can go back thousands of years and have never been buried. These Jades can show some type of inclusion after thousands of years from sweat, dirt, and dust there will generally be something however minor. These carvings also will have soft edges, lines, carved places, and have fine scratches, and handling ware. This all can be seen through the loupe and the way it was carved, motif, and material will determine when it was carved. In the Ming dynasty Chinese Artisan started leaving some of the rind / skin in there carvings. The skin is very poor carving material and generally only a small thin area is left on carvings. This area looks very different from old buried Jade that started to reform the skin. If you are not sure just discount that area as if it wasn’t there and evaluate the rest of the Jade it will tell you the story. Every Jade is different and buried under different conditions. Throughout China’s history many different Jade materials were use until supplies were exhausted and most of these materials are just not available today.   

Dating Jade carvings has many collectors confused because the Chinese artisans did similar carvings using parts of motifs and forms that had previously been carved earlier. This is why it is very important to view as many properly dated pieces as possible. Dating Jade carvings is slowly improving as more collectors take the time to publish their collections. Jade carvings motif, styles, tools, and materials continued to evolve from period to period. When a collector views a Jade carving it is important to observe areas such as eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, wings, tail, legs, feet, toes, hair, beard, clothes, hands, fingers, muscles, shapes, forms, materials, colors, infiltration, translucency, size, carving details. Attention to these areas will be helpful to recognize the stylistic changes that gradually took place. Anyone can make an honest mistake dating Jade carvings. 

Often you can learn something from misdated pieces or poorly carved pieces. You may have observed two areas that will help you in the future to date a carving. I saw an Internet site with a small generic animal Jade carving dated 19^th century. It was very poorly carved, and had extensive inclusions that left one small area white and there was no details that would indicate any date. Another carving was so decayed you could barely see the eyes. This was dated Tang Dynasty. No person in the world could responsibly date either carving. Often those who do this are trying to create the illusion of knowledge. If it does not add up don’t buy into it. This is done far to often and only confuses new collectors. There are no secrets to dating Jade carvings the more carvings that are published the easier this will become. Often carvings can fall into two different periods. For example Qing / Ming if you don’t have information to nail it down to one period or another. Often in time you will come across a carving that will help you to attribute it to one dynasty. When you have a good understanding of styles and motifs and Jade materials. You will see why the finest early pieces used the finest quality Jade and why many believe the Warring States to be the peak of Jade carving in China. The fine Ancient Jade animal carvings are very detailed and can often be distinguish by the lifelike feet. Often in the Qing and Ming Dynasties the feet were not carved with a lot of lifelike details. 

The Song Dynasty is considered the time when Chinese Jade carvers started to copy Archaic forms and motifs. Archaistic styles continued in the Ming and Qing Dynasties as well. To less experienced collectors this can seem very difficult to distinguish these pieces from archaic originals. These Song archaistic carvings are not exact copies; there are subtle differences in the style of the motifs. The forms are generally more stylized and sophisticated. As an example, a person can easily distinguish a 56 Chevy and 57 Chevy once you have seen them together.

The Ming dynasty had subtle differences from the archaic and Song dynasty pieces. Ming period archaistic animals can be more difficult than the vessels to identify. During the Ming period many archaistic animals were carved using poor quality material and flamboyant styles. These carvings were either very soft flat ugly green, or not Jade. They were generally carved using hand rotary tools. These carvings had such flamboyant archaistic motifs there was a market. They were sold to those who did not care about the quality of material and attention to detail. These types of carvings continued through most of China’s history. There seems that more were produced during the Ming Dynasty, “ do not pay much money for these pieces. “ 

As in the past the Ming carvers produce carvings using good Jade material, but not the finest and not a lot of attention to detail. These carvings would take a good polish and would be purchased by those who wanted good Jade, more than attention to detail. These carvings were original Ming style; the carvers were less skilled and would carve many copies of the same piece. Often Chinese Jade collectors may think a form or motif is original, it is likely to have been done before and carved in the style of that period. 

Qing Dynasty Jade material and carving tools and abrasives seemed to take a leap forward. Qing carving often included some part of an archaistic motif with the Qing style. The Qing carvers often tried to improve archaic traditional motifs Qing dynasty often used good materials that were usually plentiful. Starting in the Ming period and continuing to peak in the Qing period, there were other softer stones carved. These are often called soapstone; they filled that gap in the market for the lower end collectors. These stones are easier to carve and often very beautiful. 

Qing Dynasty carvers “raised the bar” so to speak and arguably many believe Qing carvings are the absolute pinnacles of Chinese Jade Carving. Qing Jades are the most plentiful and most published. Generally good Qing Jades are the easiest to identify and date. Fakes have many collectors afraid to even trust in their own collections and knowledge. Chinese Jade artisans have no secret processes to fake Jade carvings they are great artisans not magicians. It makes no sense; rumors only make collectors who enjoy collecting Chinese Jade, stay on the sidelines. Personally I won’t play this game. Good quality Jade was more expensive than gold in the ancient times and very expensive today. Most of the Jade materials that were used over China’s history have been exhausted and are not available anymore. 

What can be actually done to age Jade? I have heard they put acids on them. Acids in the 

soil can decay Jade after thousands of years. I don’t know of any acid that can attack Jade material in a short period of time and cause it to look like it is decayed in a small area and blended in. It could be dyed or stained. Good Jade is tough and fibrous and not a crystalline material. I don’t know of any process that could dye and penetrate good nephrite Jade. It could be stained, but this will only penetrate slightly and will lie on the surface. Old Jade carvings that have been dyed will most likely be fine old pieces, and if buried at some point, the dye will to start to ware off in areas. These areas can be infiltrated. Under the loupe you will be able to see what has been dyed and what is natural inclusions from burial and how easy they can be recognized one from the other. They can dye Jadeite to make fake jewelry; Jadeite is a crystalline material and can be dyed. It could be burned and it would turn whitish like a chicken bone. Old whitish jade can be identified easily with very little experience. They would have to carve and age it in the same way as the ancient piece. After Jade has been burned and buried for thousands of years there are differences. I have not seen one piece of this type of Jade that even had a remote chance to be a fake. If you have no experience and are not sure, don’t buy these ancient white opaque pieces. It could be smoked, by covering it with clay and put it into a kiln. This may discolor the surface of the jade evenly with a very small even crackle surface. I have never seen this on any piece, only in a video. I would assume because the Jade structure was so broken down it would scratch with a knife. The Veins and rivers occur in Jade after burial for a long period. These inclusions are not very small even crackle and do not discolors the entire carving evenly. Carvings with veins and rivers likely have areas with no inclusions and likely will have some original color or several colors.

They could have buried carvings with dead dogs. It is known that if Jade is buried with a corpse for a short period of time, several months it could develop a powdery white substance that sticks to the surface and can fill in the cracks. I don’t exactly know what this white substance is and I’m not sure if this would happen with dead dogs. I have seen this very rarely on two pieces. This substance does not penetrate the jade and is a rare occurrence. Consequently, my pieces had several areas that would date them to late Ming or early Qing, and they were not at all important pieces. This rumored Jade secret formula may use acid, dye, burned, smoked, and then bury them with dead dogs. I don’t believe the Chinese artisan would waist there time or money.

At times, during the Ming / Qing Dynasty Jade Carvers would use the rind / skin by leaving a small area to enhance and bring attention to a particular area. In no way was this rind / skin left on Jade carvings to fool their purchasers. These areas of skin have a different look than if the jade was buried a long time and started to reform the skin. They stained parts of a carvings to enhance particular areas and bring attention to them, and possibly give a little of the character of older Jade carvings. I have not seen one archaistic carving with the Rind/ Skin left on the carvings. They were carved in the present day style and this was a new original artistic way of carving Jade. These Jades were not carved to fool their purchasers or to do an exact copy of something archaic. The purchasers of such pieces were the wealthy. They were more interested in owning something with these new techniques. Cheating customers is not very good business for expected future purchases. 

There were old fine Jade carvings that had been passed down for many generations in many families. Today we see photographs of Neolithic carvings oozing from tombs that were there so long they just broke open and exposed their contents. Quality Jade was very expensive and carvers would not take the chance to fake something using good materials. There is a very poor quality Jade vegetable green and other stones that mimic Jade. These have been carved for those who did not want to pay the price of good Jade. There was a market for these types of Jade carvings; they were made all through Chinese history. Those who purchased these pieces knew exactly what they were buying. What concerns me is that some people will use these Jade carvings and call them modern fakes, simply not true. Many of these pieces are as old as some of the finest ancient pieces. The problem comes in were the buyer does not have the knowledge and does not know the difference and pays to much money. For those who call them modern fakes they have different agenda. 

Today in China there still filling the niches of the market. There are finely detailed Jade carvings in the style of today using the finest material available with highly skilled artisans. These carvings are sold to the wealthy collectors. There are carvings with good Jade materials and less skilled artisans with less complicated motifs and not finely detailed and not sanded and polished well. These Jade carvings are translucent and glosses and no question their material is Jade. These will be sold to those who want good Jade nice carvings and not concerned with fine detail and complicated motifs. There are carvings that use the poorest quality of Jade or not Jade materials, these mimic quality motifs and the Jade look. These are sold to those that buy for the look only. 

I have seen a Ming Dynasty horse clearly done in the Ming period. In the description the carving it said be modeled and cleverly used. This can only confuse collectors. Who modeled the patina was it nature, or the carver. This carving had several small dark inclusions that were connected by very small veins and the surface clearly looked to be buried at some point. One of the dark inclusions was in an area that in no way could have been part of the original un-carved Jade. This area would have fell in the middle or heart of the stone. Good Jade material does not have inclusions in the heart of the stone.

It is apparent the carving had no inclusion when it was carve and pick up these inclusions from being buried. There was no patina modeling by the artisan and he did not cleverly use any inclusion marks. They were formed from being buried for a long period. They used in the description, cleverly used. This only confuses collectors and the way the carving was described. The only thing that was clever was the person that described it. 

There are Jade carvings that I consider to be forgeries, are those that clean up the details of the carving. I saw one Ming animal carving that was very small and the stone was totally infiltrated. The details were very fine and crisp and the body had a beautiful soft sheen. This carving looked very much like a carving from the Ming dynasty that had been re-carved right over the original carving to sharpen the details. It was sanded and polished to cover the tracks of what had been done by blending the surface into the carving. If this were done the value would increase by at least five to ten times. It is important for collectors to look out for these types of carvings. 

If you see a carving that is very old and clearly was buried for at least hundreds of years not real translucent and the details are perfect and the surface has beautiful soft sheen. Be careful chances are it was re-carved over the original lines or entirely. Then would be softly sanded and polished to match surface ware to the re-carved areas. These two things will not match the age of carving. These carvings look very fine because of the infiltration and the very soft look of the Jade and are clearly old. Re-carving details can also happen in Jade that would not scratch and will show some original color. These are nicely polished with sharpness in details, which do not fit the carving and should be examined under your loupe. The surface and carving should match the age and infiltrations and translucency. 

The most translucent carvings hold their carvings, original polish, original color, with often less infiltration regardless of the age. These fine carvings do not have to be re-carved. This is the reason most believe the more translucent materials are the best. Sooner or later these re-carved Jade carvings will be worth a fraction of what you paid. These are the most important things to look for because often these pieces are being sold for much more than they are worth to the high-end market. Often sold by those who will tell you something that just does not add up. You may think that no one would ever doubt this piece because it is old so it really does not matter, simply it does matter. Because of this you should not polish out the surface of Jade carvings. This is the reason Chinese people are willing to spend Ten Years a few minutes a day rubbing a carving by hand so the Jade materials and details remain the same. Collecting jade is basically the same as collecting coins you would not polish a coin. Only the collector can be faked, and with a little effort to recognize good pieces this will not happen to you. The finest quality translucent old Jade carvings cannot be faked and remain as it has always been the most collectable art of China. 

All old Chinese Jade carvings are collectable it is up to the collector to find his niche. The basis of good old Jade carvings is simply the Jade material. Use your penknife and loupe if you have any question about the carving. View as many pieces as possible, from the Internet, books, and in person. Observe the details and surface carefully, and you will get the feel of the period, style, quality of Jade, and carving. The Chinese artisans are running a business as they have done for thousands of years. Hopefully this will help those that have fears or doubts about there collections. And help them identify good old carvings and make collecting more enjoyable.