Broken Bangle  •  The Blunder-Besmirched History of Jade Nomenclature

Liu Shang-i, Richard W. Hughes, Zhou Zhengyu and Kaylan Khourie  |  2024

In recent years, jade nomenclature has been upended by the discovery by gemologists that the gem being sold as "jadeiite" is actually a rock composed of three different pyroxene minerals. But the problems of jade nomenclature run much deeper, literally to the application of the words nephrite and jadeite to jade in the mid-19th century. Already by the 1930s, mineralogists realized that one should not apply the name of a mineral species to a rock, but this knowledge sadly never made its way into the gemological lexicon. Broken Bangle tackles jade nomenclature from the earliest times to the present day, advocating that the mineral species names jadeite, omphacite and kosmochlor not be used because their application to rocks does not follow standard mineralogical/geological practices. In addition, breaking down rocks into their mineral components is not done anywhere else in gemology. Instead, the authors suggest that the traditional Chinese term fei cui be used for the pyroxene jade gems.

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Recent studies show that the gem known throughout the non-Chinese world as "jadeite" jade is actually a rock composed of three major mineral components – jadeite, omphacite and kosmochlor. These components grow in a submicroscopic aggregate with grains so small that normal lab instruments cannot easily determine the true composition. As a result, China's gem trade has adopted the traditional term "fei cui" (pronounced 'fay choy') to cover all the pyroxene jades. Lotus Gemology has done the same starting on 1 July 2023, dropping the names jadeite/omphacite/kosmochlor in favor of the scientifically more correct "fei cui."

Richard Hughes examines the nomenclature of jade, along with the remarkable renaissance in Chinese jade carving that has occured since the 1990s.

Richard Hughes examines the nomenclature of jade, along with the remarkable renaissance in Chinese jade carving that has occured since the 1990s.

Richard Hughes examines the nomenclature of jade, along with the remarkable renaissance in Chinese jade carving that has occured since the 1990s.

Richard Hughes examines the historical sources of jade, along with the remarkable renaissance in Chinese jade carving that has occured since the 1990s.