Nephrite refers to Hetian jade in a narrow sense, and broadly includes more than ten kinds of nephrite such as xiuyan jade, Nanyang jade and Jiuquan jade. Many nephrite have the same long history, such as xiuyan jade. Jade only refers to jade.
These statements are what we call jade in a broad sense today, including not only Hetian jade and jadeite, but also traditional jade such as chalcedony, xiuyan jade, Nanyang jade, crystal, agate, amber, coral, turquoise, lapis lazuli and Huanglong jade. Modern mineralogy divides jade into jadeite and nephrite. Jade is jadeite, while nephrite mainly refers to Hetian jade in Xinjiang, which is a narrow definition of "jade".
Most valuable: suet white jade in Hetian jade! Glass is the best. This "species" refers to the transparency of jade. The more transparent, the more expensive. For example, the glass species (basically the same as the transparency of glass) is one level higher than the ice species (have you ever seen transparent ice, which is a little hazy and can't be seen clearly). The worst variety is generally called porcelain bottom (it can be said that there is no transparency).
1. Emerald: In ancient China, "Emerald" was originally the name of a bird with beautiful feathers. Generally speaking, red males are called "birds" and green females are called "kingfishers". Ancient women's jewelry is inlaid with jade feathers, and the name of jewelry has the word "Cui", such as fine Cui and pearl Cui. Because jade is a very beautiful jade, with the progress of time, people regard the beautiful bird name jade as beautiful jade, that is, the polycrystalline aggregate mainly composed of jadeite, omphacite and sodium chromate is called jade.
2. Nephrite: Nephrite is mainly an aggregate composed of tremolite-actinolite series minerals. In addition, it also contains trace minerals such as diopside, chlorite, serpentine, calcite, graphite and magnetite. There are many nephrite producing areas in the world, but nephrite produced in Hotan County, Xinjiang, China has the longest application history, the best quality and is well-known at home and abroad. Therefore, Hetian jade is now considered to be synonymous with all nephrite, and the name "Hetian jade" has no meaning of origin.
Nephrite is characterized by fine texture, moist luster, softness, uniform color, smooth as fat, slightly transparent, tough and not easy to break. On the polished surface (jade), obvious mottled structure (fiber staggered structure) can be seen.
3. dushan jade: dushan jade, named after Dushan, a suburb of Nanyang, China, is a unique jade species in China. Dushan jade has bright color, fine texture, good transparency and luster, and high hardness, which can be compared with jadeite. From the unearthed cultural relics, it has a history of 5000~6000 years.
Dushan jade is a collection of jade grade plagioclase and plagioclase zoisite formed in geological process. Unique jade has various colors, bright colors, delicate texture, good transparency and luster, and high hardness, which can be compared with jadeite.
Dushan jade's Identification: dushan jade's colors are bright but complicated. Generally, there are many colors on the same piece of jade, such as white, green, brown and dark green. This feature is not available in other middle and low-grade jade materials. Dushan jade has fine particle structure and good transparency, which is easy to be distinguished from jadeite and nephrite with fibrous structure.
4. Serpentine jade (Xiuyu): Serpentine jade is an aggregate mainly composed of fine fibrous serpentine minerals, which was formed during geological processes and reached the jade level. This kind of jade is mostly yellow-green to yellow-green, with less impurities, very delicate texture, translucent to nearly transparent, oily luster, and is widely loved by people at all levels of consumption.
Serpentine jade is mostly named after its place of origin. Produced in Xiuyan County, Liaoning Province, called Xiuyu; Produced in Xinyi Liu Si, Guangdong Province, it is called "Nanyu" or "Xinyi Jade"; Produced in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, it is called "Jiuquan Jade" and also called "Qilian Jade"; Produced in Lingchuan, Guangxi, known as "Lingchuan Jade"; Produced in the foothills of Kunlun Mountain in Xinjiang, it is called "Kunlun Jade"; Produced in Huili, Sichuan, known as "Huiliyu"; Yunnan jade produced in Yunnan is called "Yunnan jade"; Produced in Junan, Shandong Province, it is called "Junan Jade"; Produced in the Laojun Hall of the Ming Tombs in Beijing, it is called "Jing Topaz".
Identification of serpentine jade: The difference between serpentine jade and nephrite and jadeite lies in its low hardness, oily luster or waxy luster, while the latter two are glass luster or oily luster. Jade similar to light green or yellow-green serpentine jade includes prehnite and almandine. Eclogite contains a little calcite, so it is foamed with hydrochloric acid. The hardness of prehnite is 6~6.5, which can't be carved with a knife. Hydrogrossular has a granular structure and hardness, so it can't be carved with a knife. Yin Zhangshi, such as Qingtian stone and Shoushan stone, is similar to serpentine jade in color, luster and hardness, but it is different from serpentine jade because it has no fiber, scale, crystal structure and network structure.
5. Turquoise: Turquoise products are colorful and deeply loved by people at all times and in all countries, especially Muslims and people in the western United States. Gem-grade turquoise is a dense massive aggregate mainly composed of turquoise minerals, which was formed during geological processes and reached jade grade.
Identification of turquoise: turquoise is characterized by its unique opaque sky blue, light blue, green blue, green and its common white spots and brown-black iron lines on the background color. However, it should be noted that the characteristics of turquoise from different places of origin are not exactly the same. Jade similar to turquoise includes chrysocolla, artificially treated turquoise, dyed chalcedony and synthetic turquoise. Malachite looks like turquoise to the naked eye, but its refractive index, density and hardness are lower than turquoise.
At present, the methods of artificial treatment of turquoise include dyeing, injection of paraffin or paraffin oil, injection of plastic, etc. For dyed turquoise, aniline dye will drop a drop of ammonia water for bleaching. For turquoise with oil or wax injection, put a hot needle close to jade and observe it under a magnifying glass, and you can see melted and flowing paraffin or oil. For the turquoise injected with plastic, touch the jade surface with a hot needle, and the injected plastic will find an unpleasant smell. But the touch experiment should not exceed three seconds, because turquoise is afraid of heat and will fade. ?
The synthetic turquoise is sky blue and uniform in color, and the spherical structure can be observed under 50 times microscope.
6. Seasonal jade: the mineral composition is mainly seasonal, crystalline or aphanitic, and contains a small amount of impurity minerals. There are many kinds of jade in season, as follows:
A, quartzite:
① Dongling Stone: It is a quartzite with placer gold effect, and its color varies with different impurity minerals. Chromite is green, called green Dongling stone; Monazite is blue, called blue Dongling stone; Lepidolite is purple, which is called zidonglingshi. The green Dongling stone produced in Xinjiang contains green fibrous actinolite. Generally speaking, the timely grains of Dongling stone are relatively coarse, and the flaky minerals contained are relatively large, which can present a sparkling placer effect in the sun. Under the magnifying glass, you can clearly see the thick chromium mica sheet, which is roughly oriented and slightly reddish brown under the color filter.
② Miyu: It is named after being produced in Mixian County, Henan Province, and it is a relatively compact quartzite. Most of them are green, because they contain green sericite, and some are red, black and milky white. Red may be related to trace rutile and tourmaline, while black may be related to carbonaceous materials and trace iron and manganese oxides. Compared with Dongling stone, the timely particles are smaller and the structure is finer. Mica flakes are sparse and light in color, and there is no obvious placer effect.
③ Guicui: It is produced in Dachang, Jinglong County, Guizhou Province. It is a fine-grained quartzite containing green kaolinite. Its texture is very good, but its color is not as bright as that of Dongling stone and Mi language. Kaolinite scales are not obvious and unevenly distributed, so they are mostly light green with uneven color distribution, which looks like inferior jadeite to the naked eye.
④ Jingbaiyu: It is a white quartzite with fine texture and glossy oil. Because the earliest jade material used came from the suburbs of Beijing, it was named Jing White. In fact, this kind of jade material is produced in many parts of the country. It is white, uniform in color and free of impurities. The timely particles are fine, generally less than 0.2 mm in size, with fine texture, opaque or slightly transparent.
⑤ Mibaiyu: It is a white quartzite that appeared in the market in recent two years, and it is said to be produced in Xinjiang. Rice white jade is uniform white, fine in texture, glassy and oily, slightly transparent to translucent, and its quality is better than Beijing white jade.
B, aphanitic:
① Chalcedony: it is a collection of microscopic aphanitic materials, and the monomers are arranged in a fibrous, disordered or micro-directional manner. Intergranular pores are often filled with water and bubbles, which are mostly produced in blocks. According to the color, it can be subdivided into several varieties: white chalcedony, red chalcedony, green chalcedony (the famous "Australian jade" in the market is the green chalcedony containing Ni), blue chalcedony and black chalcedony.
② Agate: chalcedony with ring or strip structure. According to the color, stripes and characteristics of impurities or inclusions, many varieties can be subdivided: white agate, red agate, green agate, blue agate, purple agate, black agate, onyx, wrapped agate, moss agate, water bile agate and so on.
(3) Jasper: It is a chalcedony with many impurities, opaque and mostly dark red, green or variegated in color. According to the color, it can be called ruby, green jasper and so on. Sometimes it can also be named according to special patterns and spots, such as landscape jasper, blood stone and so on.
Explain the illusion of timely jade.
(1) Wood stone: It is a kind of silicified asbestos. Usually, according to the characteristics of color and fiber arrangement, wood stones are divided into three varieties, namely, wood stones, tiger eye stones and eagle eye stones.
② Silicified wood: Silicified wood is a real wood fossil, which was formed by SiO2 _ 2 in groundwater after the trees were quickly buried underground millions of years ago. It retains the wood structure and texture of trees. Colors are khaki, light yellow, tan, reddish brown, grayish white, grayish black and so on. The polished surface can be glassy, opaque or slightly transparent.
7. Lapis lazuli: Lapis lazuli jade is a multi-mineral aggregate with lapis lazuli as the main mineral and containing lapis lazuli, calcite and pyrite, also known as "Lapis lazuli".
According to the distribution of constituent minerals and colors, there are usually four varieties:
(1) Lapis lazuli: Lapis lazuli contains more than 99% minerals and does not contain pyrite and calcite, so it belongs to "gold-free Lapis lazuli". Pure and delicate texture, rich and uniform color, with deep blue and deep sky blue as the best varieties.
(2) Lapis lazuli: Lapis lazuli mineral with a density of 2.38 ~ 2.45g/cm3. Small pyrite crystals are disseminated or scattered in jade, and there is no white calcite. The texture is pure, dense and delicate, and the color is rich and uniform, with dark blue and dark sky blue as the top grade.
(3) Jin Kelang (Jin Gelang, Jin Guanglang): dense and massive, containing a lot of pyrite. Usually, the content of pyrite is more than lapis lazuli, and pyrite is not dispersed, but aggregated. White spots or white flowers containing calcite with uneven texture. After polishing, it is as golden as a chafer shell. The density of this variety is relatively high, which can reach more than 4 g/cm3.
(4) Fossils: lapis lazuli minerals are mixed with calcite, and generally do not contain pyrite. It is a mixture of blue and white. It is said that it is called "birthstone" because it was used as a medicine to help pregnant women "give birth" in ancient times. With white calcite as the main component and lapis lazuli as the auxiliary component, it is called "snowflake-induced stone", which is more common in China.
8. Malachite: What is different is its bright green, beautiful stripes, concentric ring patterns and delicate textures. Because its color and pattern are very similar to peacock tail feathers, malachite has such a beautiful name. The varieties of malachite are divided into: common malachite, malachite cat's eye, malachite and so on.
Chrysocolla: It is a silicate mineral of copper. Chrysocolla is often opal or enamel-shaped, and some are earthy or grape-shaped, but the banded structure is rare. It is also emerald, but the color is not exactly the same as malachite, and it is more blue, that is, blue-green or sky-blue, which is closer to turquoise. When there are more iron and manganese in the composition, it will appear brown or black. Opaque, glassy when silicified, usually waxy or earthy, and more fragile than malachite.
10, garnet: high-quality garnet is a very beautiful mineral, and it is also a jade material for making curved gems, beads and carvings. Its texture is as hard as jade and its color is pink, so it is also called "pink jade", "peach blossom stone" and "peach blossom jade" in the jewelry industry. Because the famous origin of Hongshi in China is in the suburb of Beijing, it is also called "Beijing Pink Vegetable". Its English Rhodonite comes from the Greek word "rose".
1 1, rhodochrosite (rhodochrosite): refers to rhodochrosite that can be used as jade. The colors are rose red, pink and so on, which are very nice. Parallel stripes with different shades are common, and fine stripes such as white, gray, yellow or brown can also appear on the pink background, and the hardness is low.
12. Carbonate jade refers to jade mainly composed of calcite (Ca[CO3]) or/and dolomite (CaMg[CO3]2). Geologically, it usually belongs to marble, limestone or dolomite. There are many varieties, including afghanistan jade, white marble, aragonite jade, lantian jade, Lingbi jade and chrysanthemum stone, all of which are carbonate jade.
13. Plum blossom jade: jade condensed from magma ejected from volcano. During the condensation of this volcanic rock, a large amount of gas forms many peculiar pores in the rock, which are filled with various minerals generated later, thus forming the so-called almond-shaped andesite in geology. These "almonds" (pores) are red if they are filled with iron-containing agate; Filling epidote, yellow-green; Filled with chlorite, dark green; When it is filled with calcite or calcite, it is white or colorless and transparent. After the jade is polished, these pores filled with various minerals form plum-blossom-like "flowers". There are often tortuous fine cracks between pores. When they are filled with minerals, they form branches of plum blossoms. Under the background of black or gray-black andesite, the wonderful picture of lush foliage is more obvious and breathtaking. Yu Meihua got its name. It is also called Ruyu because it is produced exclusively in Ruyang, Henan Province.
14. Lilac purple jade (lepidolite): It is a jade variety composed of lepidolite aggregate (lepidolite) and a small amount of timely and albite. It is a new variety of jade discovered in recent years. It is named "Lilac Purple" because of its lavender. The colors of lilacs are rose, lavender, violet, lavender gray and gray. High quality translucent, pearl to silk luster. The hardness of lilac is 3~4, the density is 2.8~2.9g/cm3 and the refractive index is 1.55~ 1.57.
15, Obsidian jade: Also known as Ten Victory Stone, it is a naturally occurring glass. Main composition: silica, hardness: 5, specific gravity: 2.339-2.527, refractive index: 1.48- 1.5 1, water content: 1-2%, belonging to conchoidal fracture's amorphous gem. Obsidian may be all monochrome, stripes or spots. The presence of small crystals is an identifying feature. Some inclusions of obsidian have nonmetallic luster, while some internal bubbles or crystals produce "snowflake" effect (namely snowflake obsidian) or are regarded as flashing rainbow color.
16, coal concentrate (plum rain): also known as jet, coal concentrate and black amber. Coal jade is a variety of lignite, which is carbonized by lower plants and some higher plants with the vicissitudes of geological changes. Warm hands, brown stripes, the smell of coal smoke from hot needles and low hardness.
17, sodalite: generally blue, a few are white, green, red, purple or gray. Generally, it has a glass luster, and on the cleavage surface, it has a greasy luster. Sodalite is rare in nature, and its appearance is quite similar to lapis lazuli, so it is often used as a substitute for lapis lazuli in the gem market, but sodalite rarely contains pyrite inclusions unique to lapis lazuli.
18, Wulanchui: This colored stone is named after it contains turquoise chrome spinel spots and is produced in Wulan area. The texture is hard and dense, and the color is white and green, which is very beautiful.
19, beeswax topaz: Named for its yellow beeswax color, it is a dense dolomite stone composed of dolomite. Good texture, soft and moist color after polishing, obvious waxy luster, generally opaque, and the appearance is very similar to Hetian jade.
Extended data:
The changes and baptism of the times have not diluted the development trend of jade culture. Today, China is famous for its four jade stones, namely Hetian jade in Xinjiang, dushan jade in Henan, xiuyan jade in Liaoning and turquoise in Hubei.
1. Hetian jade: Hetian jade is mainly composed of tremolite and actinolite, with different colors such as white, turquoise, black and yellow. Emerald is translucent and waxy after polishing. The economic value of Hetian jade is evaluated according to the purity of color and texture. Its main varieties are: suet white jade, white jade, blue white jade, sapphire, topaz, sugar jade and jet.
2. Duyu: Duyu's mining area is located in Dushan in the northern suburb of Nanyang City, also known as Nanyang Valley. Duyu is plagioclase jade, with fine and pure texture, oily or glassy luster, good polishing performance and transparency, and is a colored jade composed of more than three tones. The main varieties are: white jade, green jade, green white jade, purple jade, topaz, hibiscus jade, black jade and variegated jade.
Third, Xiuyu: named after Xiuyan County, Liaoning Province. The appearance is turquoise, yellow-green, pale white, translucent and waxy after polishing. The jade used in Hongshan Culture in the Neolithic Age was produced in Xiyugou, Xiuyan County, commonly known as old jade, which was tremolite nephrite. Most of the jades unearthed from the tombs of the richest people in Shang Dynasty are similar to those in Xiuyan Wagou Mine.
Fourth, turquoise: turquoise is a kind of ancient jade, which was known as early as ancient Egypt and was regarded as a mysterious thing. In ancient times, it was called Jingzhou Stone or Xiangyang Dianzi. Different shades of blue, green and other colors, with waxy luster. Hubei produces high quality turquoise, which is famous at home and abroad. Its jade crafts are deeply loved by people and sell well all over the world.
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