Soapstone pieces old and new

Press, 20 October 1981, Page 16

Soapstone pieces old and new

I was happy to hear from so many people interested in netsuke' and do hope you all find your endeavours fruitful .enough to keep searching. 'Even if your finds are some..what infrequent each will : most certainly prhye well, worth the effort.

>■ Wandering through Ballantynes a few days ago. still in an oriental mood left over s from my journey among the netsuke.' 1 made another discovery - a showcase full of Chinese soap-stone carvings. They are contemporary carvings ' following ancient styles and dealing with traditional subjects. As I have emphasised before. unless you are deliberately collecting things from a specific period, there is no need-to limit your activity to' antiques... Objects- with a common subject or made from the same material form a valid collection even

if gathered up from every period of the world’s history. In fact variation in time of origin provides additional interest. For the soapstone collector, one of these modern carvings ..from China will be a worthwhile addition. Also known as steatite, soapstone is a hydrous magnesium silicate (talc) in massive form, sometimes mistaken’ for jade which it closely resembles in appearance. ’ In my opinion it is often equally beautiful and is available in quite a variety of colours — green and ail shades from black to grey and white and from brown to red. It has the added advantage of being less expensive than jade or nephrite, probably because it is very much softer . and more easily carved, enabling the’sculptor to complete even the most intricate design in a fraction of' the "time required for

working the harder stone. Scarabs, the beetle-shaped gems so greatly prized in ancient Egypt, were often made of soapstone: Assyrians and Babylonians used it for their cylindrical seals and ■the earliest soapstone artifacts found in China date from 3000 B.C. Eskimos., too. carve soapstone. Their small sculptures are among the most beautiful I have seen, but except perhaps in a private collection one is not likely to come across these in Christchurch. I can only suggest once again that if you have globe-trotting friends you might ask them to look but for one for you. Although carved in' so many parts of the world over so long a period, it is probable that most soapstone carvings likely to come our way will be from China. Best known are the seals which were once carried bv all

Chinese of any consequence. They ranged ' in size from about half an inch to more than a foot, and were often surmounted by a lion or mythical animal. These were of course made in other materials, particularly jade and nephrite, but there are many soapstone examples. Extremely popular in the eighteenth and nineteenthcenturies. and probably most numerous among the ornamental soapstone sculptures, are the figures of the eight immortals of Chinese mythology — Chang-ko-Lao, usually shown with a mule and a' bamboo tube drum: Chung-li. a. fat • man with bare belly: Lu Tung Pin. a scholar wielding a fly-whisk: T'sao Kuo-ch iu. who wears formal Court dress: Li T'iehkuaim, a begger with a crutch: Han Hsiang-tzu with a flute: Lan Ts’ai who carries a flower basket and Ho

Hsien'ku with a lotus in her hand. The goddess Kwan-Yin is also a popular subject. Examples of Chinese soapstone sculpture are on display in the Hall of Oriental Art at Canterbury Museum. In the jade case are two figures — Lan Ts’ai. one of the eight immortals, and Shou Lao. the god of longevity. who carries a peach, the symbol of. long life. In another case is a much larger sculpture of a rather regal figure in a horse-drawn carriage. accompanied by two attendants on fool. All' these date from the seventeenth century. \- Local antique dealers tell me- that older soapstone carvings are x quite often available but are usually quickly sold, so fairly frequent rounds of the appropriate shops are indicated for any keen collector. I found a small carving in the second

shop I went to. There- are probably others scattered around' the city antique shops.

One thing to be careful about when purchasing either antique or contemporary carvings, is that you buy the piece as soapstone, priced accordingly, and that it is not passed off. as jade at a correspondingly higher price. I feel quite certain that no such fraud is likely to be perpetrated by any established Christchurch dealer, but if buying privately from a seller unknown to you. it is as well to be careful. It is fairly easy to differentiate between the two substances. Jade is hard and much colder to the touch, while Soapstone warms very quickly to the hand and> is so soft that it may be scratched even by a fingernail.