Posted 11 years ago
dempseycol…
(89 items)
I had this for a while. I was told it was very old and used by families of soldiers back in the day to ask for them to come back safe to their families. They would hold it up over their heads and say the name of the loved o e three times. Can anyone tell me what they think this is made out of and it's possible age? Thank you
I'm afraid this is a typical example of touristy and decorative pieces. The body proportions are off and rigid legs reflect poor carving skills. Could be molded as well. Some sort of non-precious stone, may be serpentine? Certainly NOT the highly sought after Chinese hetian nephrite.
This is definitely not molded. It is a stone of some sort. I'm still thinking
It could be original and not a copy. I have seen others and it looks just as nice. I would think having rough cuts and not being perfect would make it less fake than more fake looking. I will have to take it to a antique dealer or a professional that knows more about these. Thank you though for your opinion.
The tourist ones I have seen are almost perfect. That should not be the case with an original. All are different I would think.
It's not serpentine. It's the wrong color. It does look like nephrite though.
Just don't get your hopes too high. There are many Nephrite types that are worth little or nothing. Yours is nowhere near the quality stuff. Poor material generally leads to poor carvings, hence modern decorative pieces. I believe that you have posted this before because i recall the funny story about raising above the head and say the name three times. Apologies. Study credible excavated pieces of Chinese Archaic jade, then you will realize the flaws of this piece. One will get into a lot of trouble thinking rough cuts and less exquisite workmanship are found in genuine archaic jade, it is the opposite my friend.
The problem with the Chinese antique market is that literally 90% of everything is fake. Literally, almost all of it is modern "replicas." And the genuine articles are almost all in China. There are a million people out there just like you with these replicas who are THOROUGHLY convinced that they are authentic, spending hours and hours comparing and researching.. And keep in mind the Chinese have developed sophisticated methods of antiquing and patination that regularly fool top auction houses, experts, and museums.
I agree with Dave, rough cuts like that are made with a Dremmel. It was extremely laborious to shape jade by hand in ancient China, basically it required them to work very, very slow and careful, resulting in exquisite, luscious work.