The Chinese and Japanese prize jade highly. In their countries, tradition has assigned to jade medicinal and spiritual values, and has associated with it the cardinal virtues of charity, modesty, courage, justice, and wisdom. As a consequence, these peoples long ago developed the carving of jade as a high art. Among the magnificent Chinese jade carvings in the National Gem Collection are 130 pieces produced mostly during the Ching Dynasty (1644-1912), when the art of jade carving was at its peak. Many of these jades were carved in imitation of the revered bronze ceremonial vessels of ancient times. This collection was presented to the Smithsonian Institution in 1959 by Mr. Edmund C. Monell in behalf of the estate of his mother, Mrs. Maude Monell Vetlesen of New York.
This pale green jade vase of the Ch’ien-lung period is 14½ inches high without the base. It is one of a matched pair presented as part of the Maude Monell Vetlesen collection of carved jade.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME COMMON GEMS
| Approximate average of | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) hardness | ||||||
| (2) specific gravity | (4) Dispersion | |||||
| (3) refractive index | (5) Durability | |||||
| Species | (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | Usual color range |
| Beryl | 7¾ | 2.70 | 1.58 | Low | High | Green (emerald), blue-green (aquamarine), pink (morganite), colorless (goshenite) |
| Chrysoberyl | 8½ | 3.71 | 1.75 | Low | High | Yellow, green, brown |
| Corundum | 9 | 4.00 | 1.77 | Low | High | Red (ruby), various (sapphire) |
| Diamond | 10 | 3.52 | 2.42 | High | High | Colorless |
| Garnet group | 7½ | 3.70-4.16 | 1.74-1.89 | Medium to high | High | Yellow, red, green, brown |
| Jade (nephrite) | 6½ | 2.96 | 1.62 | None | High | Green, white |
| Jade (jadeite) | 7 | 3.33 | 1.66 | None | High | Green, white |
| Opal | 6 | 2.10 | 1.45 | None | Low | Red, dark gray, orange, white, with or without varicolored fire |
| Pearl | 3½ | 2.71 | None | None | Low | White |
| Peridot | 6½ | 3.34 | 1.68 | Low | Medium | Yellow-green, brownish green |
| Quartz | 7 | 2.65 | 1.55 | Low | High | Purple (amethyst), yellow (citrine), colorless (rock crystal) |
| Spinel | 8 | 3.60 | 1.72 | Low | High | Shades of red, green, blue, violet |
| Spodumene | 7 | 3.18 | 1.66 | Low | Low | Colorless, pink, yellow, green |
| Topaz | 8 | 3.54 | 1.63 | Low | Medium | Colorless, sherry, pink, blue |
| Tourmaline | 7 | 3.06 | 1.63 | Low | High | Wide range, except bright red |
| Zircon | 7 | 4.02 | 1.81 | High | High | Almost colorless, blue, brown, green, yellow |
GEMSTONES FOR THE COLLECTOR
A number of mineral species have produced cut gemstones that fulfill every necessary requirement of beauty, durability, and rarity, but their popularity and commercial success have been sharply limited because of insufficient supply. In some cases of even adequate supply such gemstones do not compete with other, more plentiful kinds that exhibit the same characteristics. The scarcity of these minerals does not diminish their standing as potential gem material—it merely points up the effect of accidental natural distribution of these species.
A magnificent set of 16 matched sphenes from Switzerland, gift of Nina Lea, almost encircles a 110-carat sinhalite (a rare magnesium borate) and a 22-carat kornerupine, both from Ceylon. The man’s gold ring indicates the sizes of these unusual stones.
Among the rarer minerals that produce good gemstones are cordierite, benitoite, euclase, phenakite, beryllonite, willemite, wernerite, danburite, datolite, axinite, brazilianite, andalusite, sillimanite, kyanite, kornerupine, enstatite, diopside, epidote, sphene, sinhalite, and orthoclase. Willemite, a rare zinc silicate found in only a few localities, is typical of these rarer minerals. The famous zinc mines at Franklin, N. J., produced a few large gemmy crystals of willemite, and some fine gemstones were cut from some of these. Willemite’s borderline hardness of 5 to 5½ and its extreme rarity effectively eliminate it from the gem market, but the collector who is able to obtain a good stone of this material is indeed fortunate.