gems, jade, nephrite, Chinese jade carving

gems, pearls, Australia, Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, jade

Sinkankas: Kornitzer’s first book. Fascinating and eminently readable accounts of adventures as a pearl buyer in the Philippines (an especially valuable part), in Broome, Australia, and at many other places and cities in the Far East. One chapter is devoted to jade. This work established the style that was adopted for all his other books, each written in a humorous, sometimes wry manner, and emphasizing the human side of the gem trade but by no means neglecting the practical and scientific aspects of the business. Rev. G & G, 2, 5, 1937, 89. This work, much edited, appeared serially in The Gemmologist, London, in vol. 12, issues: p. 36–39, to vol. 20, no. 234, p. 19–21, 1951, ca. 2–3 pp.

jade, nephrite, jadeite, fei cui, China, Chinese jade, Burma, gems

Sinkankas: Brief descriptions 275 items, mainly jades; some provenance notes; excellent plates. GM Born, 253.

jade, jadeite, fei cui, nephrite, Burma, China, gems

Burma, jade, jadeite, fei cui, gems

gems, jade, China

An appreciation of Chinese jade stressing its spiritual significance and qualities; includes some information on sources, varieties, and lapidary treatment. Not free of errors.

jade, nephrite, China, Xinjiang, Khotan, gems

Sinkankas: Nott gives this title in several later works but sans pagination or other details; not in C Denman; Yang 1730 but only title & date. Possibly Nott's earliest formal treatise on jade.

gems, jade, China

gems, mineralogy, gemology, jade, jadeite, fei cui, nephrite, amphibole jade, yu, pyroxene jade

Sinkankas: A substantial technical article covering the chemistry and analysis of jade, including the investigations of Heber Reginald Bishop published in Investigations and Studies in Jade (1906). Topics discussed include physical properties, cohesive properties, melting points, reactions to acids and other reagents, the mineralogical characteristics of nephrite and jadeite, and their occurrence and origin. The article was also issued separately as an offprint.

gems, jade, China, Chinese jade carving, Chinese lapidary arts, archaic jades, ancient texts

Sinkankas: In: Bishop, R. H., The Bishop Collection: Investigations and Studies in Jade, New York, 1900, which see, p. 321–370. Cont.: tp.; tab. cont.; title of another jade work; text; append. (biblio., p. 367–370, containing titles to 71 books quoted in text). Bushell’s translation is preceded by his own remarks which actually begin on p. 285 and note that T’ang’s work “is remarkable not only for its research into the vast store of native literature, but also for the knowledge it shows of ancient and modern work in jade. It has been written to illustrate the importance and recherché collection of Mr. Heber R. Bishop, who requested “a condensed article on jade by a native Chinese scholar, treating upon its uses in China from the earliest period down to the present day.” Further, “the author has … divided his article into nine sections, entitled I. Sources of Jade, II. Crude Jade, III. Value of Jade, IV. Objects made of Jade, V. Jade used by the Son of Heaven, VI. Jade used by the State, VII. Colors of Jade, VIII. Ancient Jade, and IX. Pei-ts’ui. It concludes with an Appendix, containing the titles of 71 books quoted in the article, which range through at least three thousand years, and belong to every class of literature, from official annals to the relations of Taoist legend. I have given the names of most of the writers of these books, and their approximate dates. The Discourse itself I have translated as literally as possible, so as to try to convey the spirit of the original.” Concerning this article, Laufer, Jade, 1912, p. 7, states that it “is composed of a conglomeration of literary quotations from ancient texts which are rather inexactly and sometimes incompletely cited. Dr. Bushell did not verify them from the originals.”