The Beauty and Spirituality of Jade

For a few thousand years now, jade has played an important role in the culture and religions of East Asia. When this stone was first discovered, the people of these civilizations quickly appreciated its strength, hardness, and resilience. They used it to make crude bowl, utensils and even weapons. Much later after the initial discovery of jade, people found ways to shape and polish this hard stone. They then came to appreciate its beauty. Soon this stone changed from being a utility stone, to one of physical and spiritual significance. Over the years, jade has been used for making ornamental and religious carvings and amulets, and has been elevated to a position of high honor in Eastern culture and philosophy.

There are many temples throughout East and Southeast Asia that have life-size and larger-than-life statues of Buddha that have been carved from jade. The Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai is one of the famous temples of this type. A Chinese monk traveled to Burma in the 19th century, where he was gifted five large Buddha statues carved from jade. He brought two of them back to China and using donated funds, built a temple to house these two statues. The temple was destroyed during the Revolution. The statues however, remained intact, and a new temple was constructed at the present site in 1928. Mention is made of this particular temple because it is considered to be the most modern Buddha temple in Asia today. There are other lesser known temples throughout East Asia which have a longer history, and have withstood the ravages of man and nature, each time emerging stronger and more revered than before.

Jade is unique to gemologists because it represents not one but two different minerals - jadeite and nephrite. Jadeite was discovered before nephrite was, and to this day, is primarily mined in China and Myanmar. Chinese production dates back at least five thousand years; documentation on the Burmese production is less clear. Jadeite can occur in nature in many different colors and shades including white, pink, green, red, black, and violet. Jadeite is primarily a combination of sodium aluminum silicate, Albite, and Nepheline.

It was formed under tremendous pressure and so is very dense with a specific gravity of 3.3 to 3.5. It is also quite hard, and can actually be tougher than steel! Jadeite is rarer of the two minerals and is usually more costly nephrite. Nephrite is found in more locations than jadeite. In addition to East Asia, nephrite is also found in South America, Central Asia, and Canada. Naturally occurring colors of nephrite are not as varied as jadeite. Typical colors for nephrite include white, green, and occasionally yellow and red. Nephrite is a complex silicate of calcium, magnesium, and iron. The iron content of the stone plays an important role in the appearance of nephrite. Trace amounts of ferrous compounds give the stone its characteristic green color. It is generally opaque, with a hardness rating of about 6.5. It is extremely tough though, and is often harder than jadeite.

Over the last several decades, jade has become quite popular for jewelry, especially pieces inspired by Eastern themes and motifs. The stone is usually combined with base metals such as copper or pewter, and on rare occasions, set in silver to create sterling pendants or earrings. Because of the disparity in value of most jade and gold, only jade of the highest quality is paired with gold settings. When used in jewelry, the stone is usually used in the form of smooth cut cabochons to bring out the inner beauty of the stone. Facet cut stones in jade are quite rare.