Page 21 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

Sawing the Crude ade and
Open
andPounding
Grinding the Sand
Openwork
CarvinganydPercing
Holes

from Investigations Studies inJade, vol. 1, New detailed examination of jade production during and "grinding and pounding the sand," include
and
R.
York, 1906. Gift ofHeber Bishop, 1906 the late nineteenth century by Stephen Bushell, an explanation of the importance
of three kinds
a physician at the British legation and one of of sand-red, yellow, and black-from differ-
ated six to seven on the Mohs' scale of the Western pioneers in the study of Chinese ent parts of China, shown and labeled at the
is
hardness (talc one, diamond is ten), art, and thirteen watercolors the little-known bottom of the painting. The text states that
by
jade is difficult to work and must be labori- artist Li Shichuan, showing the various steps each must first be prepared and that the abra-
ously ground away by an abrasive such as in the manufacture of jade objects. Each was sive is as crucial to the grinding of jade as
of
quartz sand (hardness seven). This process the responsibility of a specialist, and at least the tools.
is about to be undertaken in one of these ten steps took place-from choosing the stone The illustrations for "openwork carving"
charming watercolors showing craftsmen to drilling, carving, polishing, and aging by and "piercing" show holes first being cut with
sawing, preparing the abrasive, carving, and dyeing or other means. a diamond-borer and then sawed with a steel
piercing the stone, reproduced from a large Paintings of this type, documenting the wire stretched on a bow. The smaller objects
two-volume catalogue to his collection pri- processes in the manufacture of luxurious are placed in a bamboo container filled with
vately issued by Heber R. Bishop in I906. objects, flourished during the late nineteenth water, which supports the jade, leaving one of
as
Copiously illustrated, the book marks the century part of the greater interest in the the artisan's hands free for more delicate tasks.
initial publication of the objects now in the decorative arts of China fostered by increased All of these operations are depicted taking
Museum's collection. It also includes scientific, trade with the West. Each operation shown place out of doors or in domestic settings in
of
geological, and other analyses jade work- here is described in a Chinese text on the bor- which the craftsmen work, enjoying the beauty
ing in China and other parts of the world ders. Additional information, such as the of bamboo in the wind or the charm of ceramic
as this medium was understood in the late identification of tools, is written on the image cups and teapots and other luxuries.
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. itself. For example, the first two steps in these DPL
Volume i includes the Chinese text of a illustrations, "sawing open the crude jade"

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