View allAll Photos Tagged nephrite
According to popular Han-dynasty belief, jade pieces worn by the deceased could prevent physical decay. In addition to the jade suit, small jade carvings were often put inside the ears, nose, mouth, or anus, over the eyes or chest, and in the hands. Pigs, a token associated with abundance, were among the most favored animals during the Han dynasty. Besides ceramic pid models for burial, pig-shaped jade rods were often put in the hands of the deceased as an indicator of their substantial property.
Photographed at the "Tomb Treasures" exhibit at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California.
Jadeite jade with weathering rind from the Jurassic of Burma. (public display, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA)
“Jade” refers to more than one specific type of metamorphic rock. The four categories of “jade” are:
1) jadeitite (jadeite jade)
2) nephrite/nephritite (nephrite jade)
3) chromian jade (maw sit sit)
4) serpentine jade
Jadeitite (= jadeite jade) is a rare metamorphic rock composed of jadeite pyroxene (Na(Al,Fe)(Si2O6)). Published research on Burmese jade generally indicates that the jadeitite rock masses formed by metasomatism of albitites (= plagioclase feldspar metamorphites) at the periphery of serpentinized mantle peridotite bodies. The mantle peridotite was part of a subducting slab of Mesozoic-aged oceanic lithosphere that was emplaced upward and against southeast Asian continental lithosphere by obduction.
The rock shown above is a boulder of deep green jadeitite. The light brown portions of the rock are a weathering rind. The gash in the rock is a "window", carved to show the nature, color, and quality underneath the weathered surface. This variety is "Imperial Jade".
Geologic unit: unrecorded/undisclosed (but probably derived from the Hpakan-Tawmaw Jade Tract, Hpakan Ultramafic Body, Naga-Adaman Ophiolite)
Age: Syngenetic zircons indicate that Burmese jadeitite formed at 147 Ma (late Tithonian Stage, near-latest Jurassic. The serpentinite host rocks formed (metamorphic age) at 163 Ma (Middle Jurassic). Older literature interprets Burmese jadeitite as Tertiary in age, hosted by Late Creatceous to Eocene serpentinized peridotites.
Locality: alluvial clast (placer jade) from unrecorded/undisclosed locality in Burma (possibly from the vicinity of Phakant, upper reaches of the Uyu River (Uru River), western Kachin State, Indo-Burma Range, northern Burma)
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References on Burmese jade:
Bender, F. 1983. Geology of Burma. Berlin. Gebruder Borntraeger. 260 pp.
Hughes, R.W., O. Galibert, G. Bosshart, F. Ward, Oo T., M. Smith, Sun Tay Thye & G.E. Harlow. 2000. Burmese jade: the inscrutable gem. Gems & Gemology 36(1): 2-26.
Qiu Zhili, Wu Fuyuan, Yang Shufeng, Zhu Min, Sun Jinfeng & Yang Ping. 2008. Age and genesis of the Myanmar jadeite: constraints from U-Pb ages and Hf isotopes of zircon inclusions. Chinese Science Bulletin 54: 658-668.
Rossman, G.R. 1974. Lavender jade, the optical spectrum of Fe3+ and Fe2+ --> Fe3+ intervalence charge transfer in jadeite from Burma. American Mineralogist 59: 868-870.
Shi Guanghai, Cui Wenyuan, Cao Shumin, Jiang Neng, Jian Ping, Liu Dunyi, Miao Laicheng & Chu Bingbing. 2008. Ion microprobe zircon U-Pb age and geochemistry of the Myanmar jadeitite. Journal of the Geological Society of London 165: 221-234.
Shi Guanghai, Cui Wenyuan, Wang Changqiu & Zhang Wenhuai. 2000. The fluid inclusions in jadeitite from Pharkant area, Myanmar. Chinese Science Bulletin 45: 1896-1901.
Shi Guang-Hai, Jiang Neng, Liu Yan, Wang Xia, Zhang Zhi-Yu & Xu Yong-Jing. 2009. Zircon Hf isotope signature of the depleted mantle in the Myanmar jadeitite: implications for Mesozoic intra-oceanic subduction between the Eastern Indian Plate and the Burmese Platelet. Lithos 112: 342-350.
Shi Guanghai, Jiang Neng, Wang Yuwang, Zhao Xin, Wang Xia, Li Guowu, E. Ng & Cui Wenyuan. 2010. Ba minerals in clinopyroxene rocks from the Myanmar jadeitite area: implications for Ba recycling in subduction zones. European Journal of Mineralogy 22: 199-214.
Shi Guanghai, Wang Xia, Chu Bingbing & Cui Wenyuan. 2009. Jadeite jade from Myanmar: its texture and gemmological implications. The Journal of Gemmology 31: 185-195.
Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, Sydney.
"The largest Buddha carved from gemstone quality jade in the world. Competed after eight years by more than 30 sculptors and Buddhist researchers from Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar and India. The statue is 2.7 metres high and sits on an alabaster throne of 1.4 high. The Jade Buddha itself weighs around 4 tonnes and has been valued at $5 million. Its size and beauty make it a wonder of the world."
On tour throughout major cities in Asia and Australia before being set up at The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, now under construction in Bendigo, Australia.
The Oscar Wilde Memorial (1997)
By Danny Osborne
Commissioned by the Guinness Ireland Group
The lens that I used is very sharp so you can now read the quotes on the black pillars if you view the higher resolution versions of the photographs.
I assume that that restoration work is underway as the two small bronze figures are missing from the two pillars which appear to be in better condition than they were the last time I paid a visit to the park.
Oscar Wilde’s (1854-1900) rich and dramatic portrayals of the human condition have made him one of Ireland’s most popular and loved writer’s. His short stories, plays and poems continue to inspire and entertain people the world over. This memorial fittingly captures Wilde’s dramatic and audacious personality. Commissioned by the Guinness Ireland Group, and created by Irish sculptor Danny Osborne, the memo- rial took almost two and a half years from conception to completion. Geologists, quarry owners, glass workers and foundries from all over the world were consulted. Osborne used complementary colour stones and also sought out stones with varying textures to give a much more lifelike representation of Wilde than in a conventional statue.
These stones and materials include bronze, glass, granite, jade, porcelain, quartz and thulite. As one can see Wilde’s green jacket of nephrite jade from Canada, is complimented by red cuffs made of thulite from Norway. The sculpture is accompanied by two stone pillars which are covered in quotations of Wilde’s writing. These quotes set out these thoughts, opinions and witticisms on art and life. The quotes were selected by a mixture of poets, public figures and artists who use Wilde’s own words to pay tribute to him. The etchings of the chosen quotes copy the personal handwriting of figures including Seamus Heaney, John B. Keane and President Michael D. Higgins. Placed on top of the pillars are two small bronze sculptures, one of a pregnant woman who represents Wilde’s wife Constance and the theme of life, staring accusingly across the path at her husband, while the other is a male torso representing Dionysus and the theme of art. With Wilde, reclining on his rocky perch, facing towards his childhood home at No. 1 Merrion Square.
Danny Osborne has worked as a very successful full time artist since 1971. He has travelled extensively, participated in expeditions to the Arctic, Andes and the Himalayas, and has documented his experiences through painting and sculpture. Osborne’s sculptures tend to be created using a variety of stones and porcelain like The Oscar Wilde Memorial.
Elephant's Head shaped Cane Handle (nephrite, rose-cut diamonds, metal, gold, engraving, carving, rolling, 1898-1903) - by Fabergé (workmaster Perkhin), Fabergé Museum in the Shuvalov Palace
Harder than steel and a density of about 2.7-3 (very rough measurement) so they're not serpentine. They also don't look like chalcedony (chert, jasper or agate) found there. If anyone can tell, let me know, please.
These were actually found at Russian Gulch Beach, but still on the Sonoma Coast
******
It looks like the two on the right are probably nephrite jade that was once botryoidal; the far left is jasper.
Nephrite jade from New Zealand. (public display, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Mineral Museum, Butte, Montana, USA)
Nephrite jade (nephritite) is a crystalline-textured to felted-textured metamorphic rock principally composed of one or more amphibole minerals (tremolite to actinolite, Ca2Mg5Si8O22(OH)2 to Ca2(Mg,Fe)5Si8O22(OH)2).
The gorgeous slice of green nephrite jade shown above is from New Zealand's South Island. New Zealand jade has long been collected as fluvial/alluvial clasts that were eroded from a segmented ophiolite called the Pounamu Ultramafic Belt. Ophiolites are fragments of oceanic lithosphere (basaltic crust + uppermost mantle) that have been metamorphosed and plastered onto the edges of continental lithospheric plates by obduction (the opposite of subduction). Pounamu nephrite jade has been interpreted as altered (tectonized) tremolite-rich rocks.
Geologic unit: Pounamu Ultramafics
Locality: unrecorded/undisclosed locality in the South Island of New Zealand (but very likely a fluvial or alluvial boulder ultimately derived from the the Pounamu Ultramafic Belt)
(~11.5 centimeters across at its widest)
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Nephrite jade (nephritite) is a greenish to blackish colored, crystalline-textured to felted-textured metamorphic rock. It is principally composed of one or more amphibole minerals (tremolite to actinolite, Ca2Mg5Si8O22(OH)2 to Ca2(Mg,Fe)5Si8O22(OH)2).
Some famous localities for nephrite jade in North America include Wyoming, California, British Columbia, and Alaska. The rock seen here is Alaskan nephrite jade. It has been eroded from glacial drift deposits in the Alaska Range and transported downstream in modern rivers.
Locality: fluvial gravel clast, Susitna River, unrecorded/undisclosed site at or near the town of Talkeetna, south of the Alaska Range, southern Alaska, USA
The Oscar Wilde Memorial (1997)
By Danny Osborne
Commissioned by the Guinness Ireland Group
The lens that I used is very sharp so you can now read the quotes on the black pillars if you view the higher resolution versions of the photographs.
I assume that that restoration work is underway as the two small bronze figures are missing from the two pillars which appear to be in better condition than they were the last time I paid a visit to the park.
Oscar Wilde’s (1854-1900) rich and dramatic portrayals of the human condition have made him one of Ireland’s most popular and loved writer’s. His short stories, plays and poems continue to inspire and entertain people the world over. This memorial fittingly captures Wilde’s dramatic and audacious personality. Commissioned by the Guinness Ireland Group, and created by Irish sculptor Danny Osborne, the memo- rial took almost two and a half years from conception to completion. Geologists, quarry owners, glass workers and foundries from all over the world were consulted. Osborne used complementary colour stones and also sought out stones with varying textures to give a much more lifelike representation of Wilde than in a conventional statue.
These stones and materials include bronze, glass, granite, jade, porcelain, quartz and thulite. As one can see Wilde’s green jacket of nephrite jade from Canada, is complimented by red cuffs made of thulite from Norway. The sculpture is accompanied by two stone pillars which are covered in quotations of Wilde’s writing. These quotes set out these thoughts, opinions and witticisms on art and life. The quotes were selected by a mixture of poets, public figures and artists who use Wilde’s own words to pay tribute to him. The etchings of the chosen quotes copy the personal handwriting of figures including Seamus Heaney, John B. Keane and President Michael D. Higgins. Placed on top of the pillars are two small bronze sculptures, one of a pregnant woman who represents Wilde’s wife Constance and the theme of life, staring accusingly across the path at her husband, while the other is a male torso representing Dionysus and the theme of art. With Wilde, reclining on his rocky perch, facing towards his childhood home at No. 1 Merrion Square.
Danny Osborne has worked as a very successful full time artist since 1971. He has travelled extensively, participated in expeditions to the Arctic, Andes and the Himalayas, and has documented his experiences through painting and sculpture. Osborne’s sculptures tend to be created using a variety of stones and porcelain like The Oscar Wilde Memorial.
Jade is a dense, hard, silicate-based metamorphic stone admired throughout the world for its color and symbolic properties. Jade (actually two different materials: nephrite and jadeite) occurs in a variety of colors, from white and creamy yellow to brown and black, although the green and grayish-green varieties are most familiar. Some varieties are semi-translucent, and can seem to glow with an inner light.
The Chinese word for jade is yu. The use of jade in Chinese culture dates back at least to Neolithic times, and examples of jade objects have been found in Chinese burials as early as 6,000 BCE. Jade was believed to have healing and protective powers. Ritual objects made of jade were placed near the bodies of the deceased, as the stone was associated with the soul and immortality. During the Han Dynasty, imperial and aristocratic burials often included whole jade suits enclosing the entire body of the deceased: small, thin rectangles of jade were pierced at their corners and attached together with fine copper wires.
In later Chinese dynasties, jade was widely used for ornamental purposes in objets d’art created for scholars. Large pieces were even carved into “jade mountains,” their surfaces decorated with high relief scenes and poetic texts expressing Daoist spiritual and philosophic beliefs.
But the Chinese were certainly not alone in having a high regard for jade. Other ancient cultures, from Pre-Columbian Meso-Americans to the Maori of New Zealand, also sought jade, and worked it into valued objects that were regarded as significant enough to include in the burials of important individuals. Today, many people still believe in the healing properties of this magical green stone, and use it to cure their headaches and abdominal pains.
See MCAD Library's catalog record for this material.
Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA.
Flask Vase with Peony Motif
worcester.emuseum.com/objects/39049/flask-vase-with-peony...
Early 19th century, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
Spinach-green nephrite
Gift of John and Maria Dirlam, 2008.122
Nephrite jade ventifact from the Precambrian of Wyoming, USA. (public display, Wyoming Geological Survey, Laramie, Wyoming, USA)
Nephrite jade (nephritite) is a crystalline-textured to felted-textured metamorphic rock principally composed of one or more amphibole minerals (tremolite to actinolite, Ca2Mg5Si8O22(OH)2 to Ca2(Mg,Fe)5Si8O22(OH)2).
This gorgeous piece of green nephrite jade has a lustrous polish, the result of natural abrasion polishing by winds. Any rock that has natural wind polish is called a ventifact.
Nephrite jade was discovered in Wyoming in the 1930s, resulting in a "jade rush" that lasted for several decades. Most recovered material is alluvial jade, produced by paleoerosion of jade outcrops. Eroded clasts of jade were transported downstream and subsequently buried with other poorly-sorted sediments. Some Wyoming jade has been collected from in-situ outcrops.
This 218 pound specimen of nephrite jade is a large paleoclast, ultimately derived from Precambrian outcrops in the southern end of the Wind River Range (most Wyoming nephrite jade has a geologic provenance in the Granite Mountains.). The Wind River Range mountains were uplifted in the Late Eocene and eroded, producing much fanglomerate debris, which was buried to form the Ice Point Conglomerate (Upper Eocene). The Ice Point Conglomerate itself was buried by post-Eocene sediments and later re-exposed during the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene by downfaulting of the Split Rock Syncline. Nephrite jade clasts from the Ice Point Conglomerate were eroded and surface-exposed to abrading-polishing winds during the Pleistocene and Holocene.
Age: Precambrian (probably Proterozoic)
Locality: unrecorded locality at Crooks Mountain, south of the Sweetwater River & south of the western end of the Granite Mountains, southeastern Fremont County, central Wyoming, USA
Provenance: collected by Ray Morgan & Irene Morgan in the 1940s; donated to the Wyoming Geological Survey in 2000.
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Mostly synthesized from:
Love, J.D. 1970. Cenozoic geology of the Granite Mountains area, central Wyoming. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 495-C. 154 pp. 4 pls.
Natural Jade Necklace accented with micro-faceted White Topaz and Black Onyx rondelles on Sterling Silver 925. Natural Nephrite Jade Necklace. Fashion Style Jewelry ~ Custom Orders by Request
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/starlitedesigns
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Fashion Jewelry Blog ~ www.starlitejewelry.wordpress.com/
Elegant Bridal Jewelry Blog ~ www.babebridal.wordpress.com/
The Oscar Wilde Memorial (1997)
By Danny Osborne
Commissioned by the Guinness Ireland Group
The lens that I used is very sharp so you can now read the quotes on the black pillars if you view the higher resolution versions of the photographs.
I assume that that restoration work is underway as the two small bronze figures are missing from the two pillars which appear to be in better condition than they were the last time I paid a visit to the park.
Oscar Wilde’s (1854-1900) rich and dramatic portrayals of the human condition have made him one of Ireland’s most popular and loved writer’s. His short stories, plays and poems continue to inspire and entertain people the world over. This memorial fittingly captures Wilde’s dramatic and audacious personality. Commissioned by the Guinness Ireland Group, and created by Irish sculptor Danny Osborne, the memo- rial took almost two and a half years from conception to completion. Geologists, quarry owners, glass workers and foundries from all over the world were consulted. Osborne used complementary colour stones and also sought out stones with varying textures to give a much more lifelike representation of Wilde than in a conventional statue.
These stones and materials include bronze, glass, granite, jade, porcelain, quartz and thulite. As one can see Wilde’s green jacket of nephrite jade from Canada, is complimented by red cuffs made of thulite from Norway. The sculpture is accompanied by two stone pillars which are covered in quotations of Wilde’s writing. These quotes set out these thoughts, opinions and witticisms on art and life. The quotes were selected by a mixture of poets, public figures and artists who use Wilde’s own words to pay tribute to him. The etchings of the chosen quotes copy the personal handwriting of figures including Seamus Heaney, John B. Keane and President Michael D. Higgins. Placed on top of the pillars are two small bronze sculptures, one of a pregnant woman who represents Wilde’s wife Constance and the theme of life, staring accusingly across the path at her husband, while the other is a male torso representing Dionysus and the theme of art. With Wilde, reclining on his rocky perch, facing towards his childhood home at No. 1 Merrion Square.
Danny Osborne has worked as a very successful full time artist since 1971. He has travelled extensively, participated in expeditions to the Arctic, Andes and the Himalayas, and has documented his experiences through painting and sculpture. Osborne’s sculptures tend to be created using a variety of stones and porcelain like The Oscar Wilde Memorial.
Museum of Historical Cultural Heritage "PLATAR", Kiev,
Diadem, 2nd-1st c BC, gold, nephrite, agate, cornelian, glass, garnet: hammering, brazing, grinding, curving
Natural Jade Necklace. Solid Sterling Silver 925. Accented with Micro-Faceted White Topaz and Black Onyx. Natural B.C. Nephrite Jade Necklace. Custom Orders by Request
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/starlitedesigns
Facebook: www.facebook.com/StarliteJewelry
Fashion Jewelry Blog ~ www.starlitejewelry.wordpress.com/
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Jadeitite with weathering rind from Burma. (USNM R6628, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA; public domain photo provided by the USNM)
“Jade” refers to more than one specific type of metamorphic rock. The four categories of “jade” are:
1) jadeitite (jadeite jade)
2) nephrite/nephritite (nephrite jade)
3) chromian jade (maw sit sit)
4) serpentine jade
Jadeitite (= jadeite jade) is a rare metamorphic rock composed of jadeite pyroxene (Na(Al,Fe)(Si2O6)). Published research on Burmese jade generally indicates that the jadeitite rock masses formed by metasomatism of albitites (= plagioclase feldspar metamorphites) at the periphery of serpentinized mantle peridotite bodies. The mantle peridotite was part of a subducting slab of Mesozoic-aged oceanic lithosphere that was emplaced upward and against southeast Asian continental lithosphere by obduction.
Locality: alluvial clast (placer jade) attributed to Mogoung, northern Burma
--------------
References on Burmese jade:
Bender, F. 1983. Geology of Burma. Berlin. Gebruder Borntraeger. 260 pp.
Hughes, R.W., O. Galibert, G. Bosshart, F. Ward, Oo T., M. Smith, Sun Tay Thye & G.E. Harlow. 2000. Burmese jade: the inscrutable gem. Gems & Gemology 36(1): 2-26.
Qiu Zhili, Wu Fuyuan, Yang Shufeng, Zhu Min, Sun Jinfeng & Yang Ping. 2008. Age and genesis of the Myanmar jadeite: constraints from U-Pb ages and Hf isotopes of zircon inclusions. Chinese Science Bulletin 54: 658-668.
Rossman, G.R. 1974. Lavender jade, the optical spectrum of Fe3+ and Fe2+ --> Fe3+ intervalence charge transfer in jadeite from Burma. American Mineralogist 59: 868-870.
Shi Guanghai, Cui Wenyuan, Cao Shumin, Jiang Neng, Jian Ping, Liu Dunyi, Miao Laicheng & Chu Bingbing. 2008. Ion microprobe zircon U-Pb age and geochemistry of the Myanmar jadeitite. Journal of the Geological Society of London 165: 221-234.
Shi Guanghai, Cui Wenyuan, Wang Changqiu & Zhang Wenhuai. 2000. The fluid inclusions in jadeitite from Pharkant area, Myanmar. Chinese Science Bulletin 45: 1896-1901.
Shi Guang-Hai, Jiang Neng, Liu Yan, Wang Xia, Zhang Zhi-Yu & Xu Yong-Jing. 2009. Zircon Hf isotope signature of the depleted mantle in the Myanmar jadeitite: implications for Mesozoic intra-oceanic subduction between the Eastern Indian Plate and the Burmese Platelet. Lithos 112: 342-350.
Shi Guanghai, Jiang Neng, Wang Yuwang, Zhao Xin, Wang Xia, Li Guowu, E. Ng & Cui Wenyuan. 2010. Ba minerals in clinopyroxene rocks from the Myanmar jadeitite area: implications for Ba recycling in subduction zones. European Journal of Mineralogy 22: 199-214.
Shi Guanghai, Wang Xia, Chu Bingbing & Cui Wenyuan. 2009. Jadeite jade from Myanmar: its texture and gemmological implications. The Journal of Gemmology 31: 185-195.
Nephrite jade (nephritite) (14.8 cm across at its widest) from the Precambrian of South Australia.
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Nephrite jade (nephritite) is a microcrystalline-textured metamorphic rock consisting of 1 or more amphibole minerals (tremolite to actinolite). This rock is from the Cowell Jade, a para-nephrite jade deposit having large, lensoidal nephrite masses in tremolite-chlorite-epidote-zoisite-talc alteration zones along the margins of chloritized feldspar rock that has intruded dolomitic marble & banded calc-silicate rocks (it also occurs in cross fractures).
It took no less than four metamorphic events to get this rock. High-grade metamorphism of the protolith occurred during the Paleoproterozoic, at 1.84 Ga and 1.78 Ga during the Kimban Orogeny. The nephrite jade itself formed during late Paleoproterozoic recrystallization and replacement events during retrograde metasomatism at 1.70 Ga + early Mesoproterozoic alteration at 1.59 to 1.60 Ga.
Locality: Mount Geharty Jade Mines, Cowell Jade Province, Mount Geharty area in the Minbrie Ranges, Gawler Craton, ~20 km north of the town of Cowell, eastern Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.
Interlayered hydrogrossular garnetite and chromitite ("Transvaal jade") from the Precambrian of South Africa. (7.4 centimeters across at its widest)
This attractive rock is nicknamed "Transvaal jade", but it is not jade. "True" jade refers to either nephrite or jadeitite metamorphic rocks. Transvaal jade is a greenish garnetite, a crystalline-textured metamorphic rock composed of hydrogrossular garnet. The black bands are layers of chromitite, which is a granular, crystalline-textured, intrusive igneous rock composed of the mineral chromite (FeCr2O4 - iron chromium oxide).
This rock has been metamorphosed. The precursor, or protolith - the original rock before metamorphic alteration - was anorthosite having bands of chromitite. Anorthosite is a scarce, coarsely-crystalline, intrusive igneous rock composed exclusively, or almost exclusively, of plagioclase feldspar (NaAlSi3O8 to CaAl2Si2O8 - sodium aluminosilicate to calcium aluminosilicate). The plagioclase feldspar has been metamorphosed to grossular garnet, while the chromitite bands have retained their original mineralogy.
Stratigraphy: Critical Zone, Western Lobe of the Rustenburg Layered Suite, Bushveld Complex, Paleoproterozoic, ~2.05 Ga
Locality: old diggings on the grounds of a Lonmin platinum mine, apparently at or near Buffelsfontein, Bonjanala Platinum District Municipality, North West Province, South Africa
Botryoidal nephrite jade from California, USA. (public display, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Nephrite jade (nephritite) is a crystalline-textured to felted-textured metamorphic rock principally composed of one or more amphibole minerals (tremolite to actinolite, Ca2Mg5Si8O22(OH)2 to Ca2(Mg,Fe)5Si8O22(OH)2).
Locality: unrecorded/undisclosed locality in California, USA
This rock is nicknamed "Transvaal jade", but it is not jade. "True" jade refers to either nephrite or jadeitite metamorphic rocks. Transvaal jade is a greenish garnetite, a crystalline-textured metamorphic rock composed of hydrogrossular garnet - this sample is cryptocrystalline. Some specimens have black bands of chromitite.
Stratigraphy: unrecorded/undisclosed (but possibly from the Critical Zone, Western Lobe of the Rustenburg Layered Suite, Bushveld Complex, Paleoproterozoic, ~2.05 Ga)
Locality: unrecorded/undisclosed site in Transvaal, South Africa (but possibly from old diggings on the grounds of a Lonmin platinum mine, apparently at or near Buffelsfontein, Bonjanala Platinum District Municipality, North West Province, South Africa)
Ngọc Miến Điện thuộc dòng sản phẩm jadeite, đẹp và có độ cứng cao hơn dòng ngọc nephrite của Trung Quốc. Ảnh chụp 3 kiểu trang sức bằng ngọc Miến Điện, đặc biệt thuộc type Sơn Thủy (nhiều vân xen lẫn, đa sắc), type hiếm gặp ở các trang web về Ngọc. Vòng bên trái: gần như bán trong, loang vân lý nhẹ tợ mây, điểm xuyết vài điểm lục thẫm, chột lá hẹ dày rất hợp thời trang. Vòng bên phải: nền xanh đậm hơn, vân lý loang nhiều và đều khắp như mạng lưới màu lục biếc, vân xanh thẫm cũng xuất hiện nhiều và dàn trải chứ không tụ đốm. Tuy ít trong hơn vòng thứ nhất, nhưng sự đa dạng về màu sắc gây nên cảm giác khác biệt về độ sâu, như làn nước chảy len dưới tán rừng già, có bóng mây, bóng lá, có đá rêu phong. Chiếc nhẫn ngọc nhỏ bên phải lấy cùng một khối ngọc, tuy nhỏ nhưng may mắn lại được nằm ngay thớ ngọc lên màu lý xuất sắc hơn cả, một màu lý tươi gần như ngọc lục bảo. Thiên nhiên thật kỳ diệu, khối ngọc bị phong hóa nằm đâu đấy như một tảng đá xấu xí vô danh, có biết đâu chứa trong lòng bao sắc màu gợi cảm đến như vậy !
Natural Jade Earrings. Solid 14K Gold, Accented with Micro-Faceted White Topaz and Black Onyx. Natural Nephrite Jade Earrings Jewelry ~ Starlite Jewelry Designs ~ Custom Orders by Request
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Moving on from the Changling Tomb site, we visited a jade factory where you could watch the various pieces being carved.
After having lunch at the attached restaurant, people had a chance to pick up an expensive souvenir from the factory outlet. Some beautiful jewellery, but expensive.
Of more interest was what our guide had to say about jade - many Chinese believe that jade should be worn at all times for its health benefits. Many also swear that the color and opacity of the pieces changes as a reflection of the wearer's health.
There are two minerals that are associated with the gemstone known as "jade" - Jadeite and Nephrite. Both are highly valued in China, but depending on color and translucency, Jadeite is the rarer and more highly prized. Jade is attributed with longevity, purity, and an ability to ward off bad spirits. Jadeite is denser and harder than nephrite - Jadeite density 3.30 g/cc and hardness 6.5 on the Mohs Scale, Nephite density 3.02 and hardness 5.5 on the Mohs Scale - Nephrite can be scratched with a steel blade whilst Jadeite cannot. Interestingly, Jadeite has not be found to occur naturally in China but is sourced from Burma / Myanmar.
webmineral.com/data/Jadeite.shtml#.Ugn4AMsaySM
webmineral.com/data/Jadeite.shtml#.Ugn1scsaySM
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness
Beijing, China.
Phone 4 - Photograph taken with the camera on an iPhone 4.
Camera - The native camera app was used with the HDR option.
Filterstorm - Opened the photograph in the native Photos app on my iPad3. Copied the image, opened the Filterstorm app, pasted the contents of the clipboard, and saved a copy of the image to the Camera Roll. This manoeuvre simplified the subsequent processing by having this copy as the most recent image in the Camera Roll.
Frontview - Trapezoidal crop applied to change the apparent perspective.
Photoshop Express - Noise reduction and Sharpening filters applied with manual settings.
ExifEditor - EXIF data from the original photograph transferred to the final image.
(Filed as 20130805_iPad3 007 Filterstorm-Frontview-PSExpress-ExifEditor.JPG)
Nephrite on copper...
Rustic nephrite jade rondelles are wire stitched to a very rustic primitive large ring, that was hammered and fired.
I fired the ring to a beautiful bronze and black patina, without any use of chemicals. The copper is left untreated, so it will continue to develop it's own warm color patina over time.
The size is US-8.5
The ring is 10mm large (7/16inch).
In the Tower of London, large as life,
The ghost of Anne Boleyn walks, they declare.
For Anne Boleyn was once King Henry's wife,
Until he had the headsman bob her hair.
Oh, yes, he did her wrong long years ago,
And she comes back at night to tell him so.
With her 'ead tucked underneath her arm,
She walks the bloody Tower,
With her head tucked underneath her arm,
At the midnight hour......
*****************************
this necklace was inspired by the famous second wife of king henry VIII, anne boleyn! even while she was imprisoned in the tower awaiting her fate, rats scurrying and water dripping, i imagine that she was dressed in fine silks and jewels.... perhaps even something like this?
this necklace is really special: made of sterling silver, it is set with four luscious slices of nephrite jade! the stones are clustered with silver discs, and have a seductively cleave-enhancing profile, creating a regal and queenly jewel, to be worn at the throat above a creamy bosom....
Starting work on the chain.
The bone-shaped elements on the right will be arranged to reflect the pattern of the triplets in the percussion/synth after the statement of the main melodic theme.
Taken with Panasonic 20mm f1.7 lens on Panasonic GX7.
He has a really special eyes color same as nephrite.
www.flickr.com/photos/pinneepop/tags/nephrite/
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Nephrite, Cat, Cats, Cute Animal, Cute Animals, Cute Pet,
Looking At Camera, Outdoors, Selective Focus, Domestic Animals,
Cat, Day, Color Image, One Animal, Portrait, Animal Themes, No People,
Photography, Pets, Color Image, No People, Photography, Focus On Foreground,
Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde_Memorial_Sculpture
The Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture is a collection of three statues in Merrion Square in Dublin, Ireland, commemorating Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde. The sculptures were unveiled in 1997 and were designed and made by Danny Osborne.
History
Statue and companion pieces
English sculptor Danny Osborne was commissioned by the Guinness Ireland Group to create a statue commemorating Oscar Wilde, which was unveiled in 1997, by Wilde's grandson Merlin Holland. The initial budget of IR£20,000 was later increased to IR£45,000. Since marble alone was deemed inadequate, the statue was formed from different coloured stones from three continents. The torso is of green nephrite jade from British Columbia, Canada, and pink thulite from Norway. The legs are of Norwegian Blue Pearl granite with the shoes being black Indian charnockite and finished with bronze shoelace tips. The statue also wears a Trinity College tie made from glazed porcelain, and three rings – Wilde's wedding ring and two scarabs, one for good luck, the other for bad luck.
The statue is mounted with Wilde reclining on a large quartz boulder obtained by Osborne himself from the Wicklow Mountains. The sculpture also includes two pillars flanking the boulder with one pillar having a nude pregnant representation of Wilde's wife Constance Lloyd on top. The other one has a male torso representing Dionysus, the Greek God of drama and wine, atop it. Both flanking sculptures are in bronze and granite, and both pillars have inscriptions from Wilde's poems carved onto them. The inscriptions of the quotes copy the personal handwriting of figures including Seamus Heaney, John B. Keane and Michael D. Higgins.
Three people, living at the time near to the artist's West Cork studio, posed as models for the three sculptures.
When the statue was unveiled in 1997, it was the first statue commemorating Wilde, who had died 97 years earlier. It received near-unanimous praise for the materials used and for its location near his childhood home at 1, Merrion Square. In 2010, the porcelain head of Wilde had to be replaced because cracks were forming on it. The porcelain head was replaced by a new one made of white jadeite.
Impact and significance
In a May 2001 article in the Irish edition of The Sunday Times Mark Keenan commented on the surprisingly long wait for a commemoration of Wilde in his native city and suggested an explanation for the delay, "... a decade ago, more conservative elements among the Dublin public may not have dared allow his city to commemorate his name." Art historian Paula Murphy agreed, saying, "It has taken nearly one hundred years for an Irish body, public or private, to risk suggesting that we might consider Oscar Wilde worthy of such commemoration. But then it has taken the same length of time for Ireland to awaken, reluctantly, to the existence of sexuality and the reality of the way in which it dictates a lifestyle." It took as long for London, where Wilde spent most of his adult life, to commemorate the dramatist: Maggi Hambling's A Conversation with Oscar Wilde was unveiled in 1998.
Discussing the work in her 2012 article "Sculpting Irishness: a discussion of Dublin's commemorative statues of Oscar Wilde and Phil Lynott" for Sculpture Journal, Sarah Smith writes:
Another distinction is the figure's facial expression, which, disrupting the realism of the figure, might be described as a rather contorted sneer. Intended by the artist to represent two antithetical sides of Wilde, one half of his face is smiling widely ... while the other bears a somber expression ... and this divide is echoed in his posture on either side. Because of its positioning at the corner of the park on the turn of the outer pathway, the visitor to the monument sees one side of Wilde when approaching and another when walking away. One is the witty Wilde who is most often remembered in popular culture, the other the "broken man" he became following his two-year incarceration for committing homosexual acts.
Smith argues "we cannot help but read this work according to today’s conventions of dress and gesture", saying:
The choice of pose for Wilde, which invokes familiar art historical and popular images of 'feminized masculinity', the use of colour for this ‘colourful character’ and his gaze directed at the nude male torso all coalesce with our knowledge of his homosexuality. We consequently see an overemphasis on his sexuality in this work, augmented by the nicknames given to it by Dubliners.
Most of the world's major nephrite deposits are found along the faulted margins of serpentinised ultramafic rocks. The common colours of nephrite, varying from white to yellowy-green to grey-green to almost black-green, are the result of varying quantities and oxidation states of iron ions taking the place of some of the magnesium ions within the crystal lattice. Rarely, chromium can also be present, imparting a more vivid grass green colour.
The pebbles have the characteristic oily feel of nephrite, similar to that of serpentine.
We made it to Hokitika on the West Coast on our third day of my friends from the UK, trip around the South Island. We left Christchurch at 6:30am as we had a long day of travelling making our way over the Lewis Pass to Punakaiki and our first night stop over at Hokitika on the West Coast.
November 3, 2013 New Zealand.
Hokitika is a township in the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River.
Hokitika is a Te Reo Maori word meaning 'place of return', a name referring to its riches in greenstone (pounamu) or nephrite.
For More Info on Hokitika: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokitika
Any one interested in following our trip around the South Island.. here is a map: www.wises.co.nz/l/lewis+pass/#c/-41.801671/172.516537/8/
I recently found a large piece of black nephrite jade in the rock pile at the Sacramento Mineral Society, so large in fact, that after I got the thing crammed into the slab saw, the thinnest slab I could cut for me first cut was a full cm thick! This is a test cabochon from that first slab.
This picture was taken in bright light which shows the deep, deep green and dark grey swirled together, showing a landscape not unlike some Oregon jaspers.
This stuff is hard! It made the 80 and 220 grit wheels (the metal-bonded ones) scream. Working with it was alot more like working with high-quality agate or jasper than any other jade I've ever worked with (which were all jadeite).
One of the members of the Sacramento Mineral Society has identified this material as likely hailing from either Victorville or Porterville, CA (most likely, Victorville). Unlike some of the black jade from the region, what I have is not ferromagnetic.
Interlayered hydrogrossular garnetite and chromitite ("Transvaal jade") from the Precambrian of South Africa. (8.6 centimeters across at its widest)
This attractive rock is nicknamed "Transvaal jade", but it is not jade. "True" jade refers to either nephrite or jadeitite metamorphic rocks. Transvaal jade is a greenish garnetite, a crystalline-textured metamorphic rock composed of hydrogrossular garnet. The black bands are layers of chromitite, which is a granular, crystalline-textured, intrusive igneous rock composed of the mineral chromite (FeCr2O4 - iron chromium oxide).
This rock has been metamorphosed. The precursor, or protolith - the original rock before metamorphic alteration - was anorthosite having bands of chromitite. Anorthosite is a scarce, coarsely-crystalline, intrusive igneous rock composed exclusively, or almost exclusively, of plagioclase feldspar (NaAlSi3O8 to CaAl2Si2O8 - sodium aluminosilicate to calcium aluminosilicate). The plagioclase feldspar has been metamorphosed to grossular garnet, while the chromitite bands have retained their original mineralogy.
Stratigraphy: Critical Zone, Western Lobe of the Rustenburg Layered Suite, Bushveld Complex, Paleoproterozoic, ~2.05 Ga
Locality: old diggings on the grounds of a Lonmin platinum mine, apparently at or near Buffelsfontein, Bonjanala Platinum District Municipality, North West Province, South Africa
Please be aware... I am no stamp expert. Posted titles here are either what I was told when acquiring these or are from a simple Google search. I make no claim as to them being 100% accurate but I make an effort to be as factual as I am able when posting. There may well be some duplication of type or variety, but I try not to double post any single items. My feeble brain may slip on that from time to time. These are all from my semi worthless collection from over the years. Little to no value exists in most (if not all) of them. They are just a hobby.
Bring the ocean to you with this lovely chunky starfish bracelet. A little brass seahorse keeps the starfish company.
The copper color bracelet is adorned with star-shaped ocean jasper in amazing colors that nature has to offer - maroon, beige, pink, green, yellow, white and light grey. It's just amazing how beautiful natural gemstones are.
Each star is about 5/8 of an inch in diameter. Some are decorated with round gemstone beads of about 3/16 inch in diameter. These gemstones include gren nephrite, yellow jade, cherry quartz and sea blue chalcedony, which bring out the colors of ocean jasper.
The bracelet is about 7 inches long and can be custom-made to your size.
Check out my Etsy store: