Since ancient times, whether in the East or in the West, jewelry has been what people yearn for and pursue. People need to be respected by others after realizing their own survival needs, that is, they will have the demand of self-esteem, and jewelry can just express this symbolic demand well. There are great differences between eastern and western cultures, which are also reflected in jewelry. Let's briefly talk about these differences from different aspects.
The first is to distinguish from the material. In the choice of jewelry, China people prefer jadeite, Hetian jade, turquoise, Nanhong and so on, which are also an important part of our Chinese jade culture; Westerners pay more attention to superficial things and like shiny, dazzling and straightforward things, such as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, cat's eyes and aquamarine, as well as tanzanite and topaz, which have risen in recent years. These are westerners' favorites. Let's take the most representative materials to explain them in particular.
Diamonds that westerners like are single crystal minerals, which are composed of carbon. In the earth, the arrangement and combination of elements change because of high temperature and high pressure, and the finished product is usually cut by a crystal in a tetrahedral way. The preciousness of a diamond lies not in the element itself, but in the way it is rearranged. Diamonds are also the hardest substances in nature known to mankind. If diamonds are put together with other jewels, they will be unscathed, but other jewels will be scratched, which is also the characteristic of diamonds.
Diamond is a single mineral, and its defects will be very obvious. GIA once gave four parameters, which are known as 4c. One of these 4Cs is clear. The one with the best clarity is invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen under a magnifying glass of ten times. As a 4C standard, flawless is the best, and there are grades to judge diamond defects, which are very clear and detailed internationally.
The jadeite and hetian jade that orientals like are composed of countless tiny mineral particles and belong to an aggregate. There is not much talk about the specific formation process of jadeite and hetian jade, but they are all made up of many crystals gathered together to form a large piece of material, which is different in material properties.
Diamonds in the world will have a clear standard for pricing, while jadeite does not. We are talking about, for example, glass seeds, ice seeds, waxy seeds, bean seeds, etc., but it is only a range, and there is no such accurate standard at present.
For example, diamonds, rubies and sapphires have high hardness but poor toughness. Diamonds are cut into different shapes to meet the different characteristics of the original diamond. Different rough stones have different crystal structures and optical effects. The shape design of diamond should first dissect the original diamond, and deal with its defects according to its cleavage, purity and weight, so as to maintain its weight to the maximum extent.
Although jadeite is not as hard as diamond, both jadeite and hetian jade have very strong toughness and can be processed into various shapes. We have seen egg noodles, bracelets, pendants and ornaments made of jade, but diamonds are only cut into small crystals, and there are almost no other forms of expression.
Cultural differences between the East and the West are also reflected in the theme of jewelry. As far as jewelry is concerned, orientals prefer traditional themes such as dragon and phoenix, ganoderma lucidum and peony. Or some religious Guanyin, Buddha, Tara and so on; Or some expressions with auspicious meanings, such as leaves pay attention to golden branches and jade leaves, one leaf becomes famous, beans symbolize peace and so on.
However, the west will use more shapes in jewelry themes, such as lions representing victory and showing courage; Or like Bulgari's snake bracelet, the expression is more straightforward, directly inlaid with diamonds, so that you are a very shiny thing from any angle, and people can know at a glance that he is wearing jewelry made of diamonds.
The reason why there is such a big gap between eastern and western gem cultures can basically be attributed to the different ways of thinking. For example, China people like to think from the height of life, jump out of reality, think about the meaning of life, and do more thinking about the expression between people and between people and nature; Westerners, on the other hand, pay more attention to logical relations and logical rationality. So we China belong to abstract or perceptual thinking. The west starts with the material world itself and then seeks to prove the source of the problem.
On the left is jade, which is a very common Buddha leaf and Guanyin. These implications are very auspicious, that is, I hope we can get the blessing of the gods and become famous overnight; The ruby, sapphire and yellow diamond on the right give people a flashing visual impact, which is an eye-catching performance, a self and a direct feeling for the individual.
Westerners are generally independent and extroverted, and some are tough, because I have stayed in North America for a long time, and I can feel that their culture is basically in a competitive atmosphere, that is, the relationship between people is a competitive relationship; The performance of China people is that they are more gregarious, introverted and gentle, and they prefer to live in harmony rather than tit for tat.
The bracelet in this picture is the work of the Italian brand Buchelati, a family with a history of hundreds of years, which makes jewelry for the Italian royal family; The following jade bracelet is very familiar to us. Since Empress Dowager Cixi in the Qing Dynasty, everyone likes jade, and one of their favorite ways of expression is to make it into a bracelet and wear it on their hands. In the conventional impression, diamonds are very hard and cold; Jade is soft, and suet jade is moist and delicate, because westerners pay more attention to principles, while orientals pay attention to human feelings.
The most beautiful thing about diamonds is that under strong light, from different angles, you can see that they produce colorful brilliance, which is the feeling that the west likes. He has an aggressive and outgoing personality. For jade, that kind of green with vitality is the embodiment of our oriental introverted personality.
Let's look at this picture. This picture is two pieces of Hetian jade I took at a jewelry exhibition on 20 12. One is Guanyin, and the other is the theme of expressing filial piety. The emerald and ruby chains in the picture below are very straightforward. When you wear it, you will feel that I am the shining point, and you can easily find me in the crowd. This is me. We in China will put our surnames first to show that we don't forget our ancestors. Foreigners like to put the word first and the surname last, which is also a reflection of cultural differences.
China people are more traditional, because thousands of years of history are feudal society. Basically, it belongs to a character of agricultural civilization, so China people will pay more attention to rationality and morality, seek stability and seek common ground, and it is one of our principles that "harmony is precious and patience is supreme".
The west is basically a marine civilization, and they like to explore the outside world. They are relatively extroverted civilizations. For example, Columbus's voyage exploration discovered the new continent; For example, the later industrial revolution; Westerners have a very strong fighting spirit and this kind of protection of their own interests, taking independence, freedom and equality as the principles. We call it the characteristic of industrial civilization. This kind of performance is the same in jewelry. Here are some photos for everyone to see.
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Look at the ruby photo above, it will issue a GIS certificate, which will record its size, weight, color, grade, origin and so on in detail, but for jadeite and Hetian jade, there is almost no measure of this weight. In fact, jade and diamond colorful treasure are interlinked. Maybe everyone will question the way I said, so let's talk about jade according to the standard of diamonds.
Diamonds have four main indicators: color, clarity, cut and weight, and the same is true if they are moved to jadeite.
The first is color. The color classification of diamonds starts with D and then goes down by letters. As far as colored diamond is concerned, there are yellow diamonds, blue diamonds, pink diamond and green diamonds. Compared with our jadeite, there are green, yellow, red, colorless, purple and so on. The green of jadeite can also be divided into sunshine green and sky blue, which is a big boundary, and then subdivided into king green, green, seedling green, apple green and so on.
Secondly, there is clarity. Diamonds can be divided into FL, IF, VVS, VS and SL. For jadeite, there can be glass seeds, ice seeds, waxy seeds and bean seeds.
And cutting work. For diamond gemstones, good cutting will make this single crystal gemstone more shiny, which is also known as good fire, and it is an important index to evaluate the quality parameters of a single crystal gemstone. For Jade and Tian Yu, cutting is their carving skill, and good cutting is a good sculptor. Such as,, Lu Kui,,,, Fan Junmin, Lu, etc. are all representatives of excellent sculptors.
Another is size, which is weight. Of course, the big emerald egg noodles are more expensive than the small ones, and the big handles are more expensive than the small ones. If the weight is higher under the same quality, so is the pendant. We like large carats of heavy diamonds.
I used to make jade. After 20 10, I turned my attention to colorful diamonds, so today I just want to talk to you about the differences between China jade culture represented by jade, hetian jade, pine and Nanhong and the western gem culture represented by diamonds, rubies, emeralds and cat's eyes, and how to better combine them. This combination is not only a simple combination in design, but also an innovation on the basis of tradition. For example, Dashu Jewelry and Mr. Wang Kun have done very well, and there is a point put forward by Mr. Wang Junyi in the last lecture, which combines the expression of jade and metal, giving people a very strong visual impact.
These photos were taken at the Hong Kong Jewelry Fair, which are some representative works of Dashu Jewelry and Teacher Wang Kun.
In fact, whether it is jadeite in the East, Hetian jade or diamond colored gems in the West, it is a very subtle expression of opposition and harmony, which is very interesting. If used properly, our works will have stronger vitality.
I think every country or nation doesn't want its traditional culture to be in an embarrassing position of narcissism. It also needs to go abroad, and it wants to be recognized by the world. Nowadays, some jewelry designs with China elements are very popular with high-end people in western society.
The differences between different cultures are rooted in the historical background and aesthetic differences of different nationalities. This is gradually formed in the precipitation of social development history and should be regarded as an eternal cultural phenomenon. It is necessary to understand the cultural background knowledge of different nationalities, regions and countries, as well as local customs and habits. Now, after all, it is an information society, and information transmission, including the Internet, is very fast. The whole earth is getting smaller and smaller in this era of rapid information development, and there are more and more exchanges between different cultural backgrounds and different nationalities. Therefore, it should be of great significance for our jewelry workers to understand these different cultural differences between the East and the West, improve our cultural adaptability and apply them to our jewelry.
Understanding the differences between Chinese and western cultures will help us rationally change the existing single expression of oriental sculpture art, which has both oriental harmony and western entertainment culture. The spark between this expression and generate may be quite dazzling. At present, some jade carving masters are absorbing some western culture and elements and applying western sculpture art to traditional jade carving.