Ancient Jade Identification (Sui-Tang to Ming-Qing)

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Features: Over a span of 1,330 years from the Sui and Tang dynasties to the Qing dynasty, jade artifacts not only inherited but also discarded certain aspects of those from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, emerging with a novel appearance on the increasingly prosperous stage of jade culture. This thirteen-century period is also a significant historical era in the history of ancient Chinese jade. The sacrificial, hierarchical, funerary, and social functions of jade also underwent changes, with some additions and subtractions. With the prosperity of urban economies, the improvement of commoner status, the transformation of academic perspectives, the evolution of social customs, and the maturation of painting and craftsmanship, jade carving art further expanded its vast activity space and new development paths in appreciation, cultural play, and commercialization. In terms of form, patterns, art, and style, it underwent unprecedented major transformations. From a research perspective, jade artifacts from the Sui to the Qing dynasties were not given much attention by scholars of textual research. It was not until the Ming, Tang, and Song dynasties that jade artifacts were cherished by connoisseurs and collectors. Official appraisals and the subjective impressions, interpretations, identification insights, and evaluations of connoisseurs, as well as their praise and criticism, were recorded in official histories and some catalogs. However, few people truly understood the jade of the Tang and Song dynasties. Therefore, jade artifacts from the Sui to the Qing dynasty are a weak link in the appreciation and scientific research of ancient Chinese jade.