More photos from the National Palace Museum (故宮). These are from the jade collection.
TL;DR: jades were tools first before they became jewelries. From a practical stand point, it makes sense. We use diamonds as tools now too. Other than in a social setting blinging others into blindness, diamonds are set into gold cutting and carving machines, for example. They are rocks, after all.
TL;DR: jades were tools first before they became jewelries. From a practical stand point, it makes sense. We use diamonds as tools now too. Other than in a social setting blinging others into blindness, diamonds are set into gold cutting and carving machines, for example. They are rocks, after all.
If that looks like a face to you, that's because these are funerary jade, used to cover and/or plug bodily orifices of the deceased. Check out this short clip from the Smithsonian.
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2 comments:
I love looking at jade and stones whenever I visit a museum but I am slowly transitioning to pearls now. Anyway, I finds those little trinkets more interesting than the chunky pieces from the imperial family.
Hey Mina,
Agree. I don't like chunky jewelries to begin with. But that jade room divider though. Imagine that whole thing falling over with a wee bit of shaking from an earthquake. Nooooooo
D.
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