CHINESE TREASURES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20077, 6 April 1935, Page 11

CHINESE TREASURES

THE STORY OF JADE During recent years jade has had tremendous popularity. It is greatly prized in the East, especially by the Chinese, and is found in China, Burma, and in some parts of Central Asia. But it is the Chinese jade we think most highly of in this country, and it is from China that some of the finest specimens come. Jade to the Chinese is what diamonds were—and still are—to many Westerners. It is to them the most precious of precious stones. Centuries ago this stone, carved in the form of bats and storks, was worn to ensure long life. It varies in colour from deepest kingfisher blue—now rare—to white, but in China they gauge the value of jade not by its colour but by its texture—the experts “feel” it. The Queen is a wonderful judge of jade and has added many specimens of her own selection to her collection. When the Princess Royal was married she received gifts of jade from the Chinese Government—both white and green, and the little Princess Elizabeth, according to another authority on precious stones, wears a small pendant of jade hanging from a bracelet

which was given her by the ex-King George of Greece.

Our own New Zealand “greenstone” is also a type of jade, generally much darker in colour than the jade necklaces we look upon as the typical colour. Jade is a mascot for gamblers and gives success in any games of chance, particularly in racing. As it is green it was regarded as beneficial in eye troubles. From ancient days down' to the Middle Ages it was also supposed to have special powers against kidney and digestive ills. One reference book says that a great deal of jade is found in Peru, and it was worn as ornaments by the natives to safeguard them against those particular ailments when Central America was discovered.