Chinese Jade Masterpieces That STUNNED Antiques Roadshow!.

I was in college in New York City in 1965-66, and I went home for Thanksgiving vacation. My birthday usually falls on Thanksgiving vacation, and a very good friend of mine who was an antiques dealer in Baltimore called me up and said that he had a piece that he had just gotten from an estate that he thought that I should have. White jade has been treasured in China for thousands of years, prized above almost every other material for its purity of color and the quality of its translucence. This elegant censer is carved from a single piece of fine, evenly white nephrite, the traditional jade of Chinese art, and every detail was cut from that one block of stone. What makes it especially impressive is the technical skill in the handles, which are fitted with loose articulated rings carved entirely from the same piece, a feat that requires removing stone without breaking anything away. The body is carved in relief with lotus vines that branch and multiply around the sides, while a butterfly forms the graceful handle of the lid. In style, it closely follows the manner of the great Qianlong period imperial workshops of the 18th century, when carvers set the highest standards in jade. This example dates to the early 20th century, and was made for a market that deeply admired that refined classical tradition. I think that the figure that was given in the 80s was pretty stiff for the time, and if you wanted to sell this at auction today, my sense is that it would be in the $50,000 to $80,000 range at auction, which is a pretty good price. My mother gave them to me about 30 years ago, and she acquired them, so she told me, in the New York Chinatown in the 40s probably. These two graceful figures are carved from jadeite, the brilliant dense stone mined in Burma and imported into China from the 18th century onward. Each holds a peony, a flower associated in China with wealth, nobility and righteousness, and the stone itself was chosen to reflect those same virtues, since jade in Chinese culture symbolizes purity and clarity of spirit. Both figures have skins of pale lavender, a color highly prized by Chinese and Western collectors, with touches of apple green in the peonies and headdresses. Jadeite is a different mineral from the older nephrite jade, and carving it takes exceptional skill since the stone is dense and unforgiving. Made around the end of the Qing dynasty, they were crafted for the Western market, which is why they appear in Victorian and Edwardian homes, sometimes converted into grand lamp bases. The peonies also carry a secondary meaning tied to spring and renewal, adding another layer of symbolism that Chinese buyers have always deeply appreciated. Even with the inclusions in the stone, these pieces, if they were up at auction, would have a pre-sale estimate of $25,000 to $40,000. That's amazing. My dad got it when he was in Formosa. It was in the middle of the 50s. All he told us was that a family that he had stayed with and was friends with gave him that as a parting gift when he came home. These two proud rams are carved from white jade, each biting a stem of lingzhi, the sacred mushroom of Chinese tradition that serves as a symbol of immortality. The lingzhi is paired with a sun rising through swirling clouds on their flanks, and the complementary carved wooden bases pick up the same spirit. The ram is one of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, and carries long associations with male strength and vitality. Their style closely follows the great Qianlong period imperial workshops of the 18th century, when jade carvers set standards that Chinese craftsmen continued to admire and emulate for generations. This pair was made during China's Republic period, from 1911 to 1949, when traditional carving skills remained very much alive. The natural russet skin of the stone, the warm patches left on the exterior, was deliberately preserved and worked into the design. A touch that connoisseurs appreciate as evidence of honest, thoughtful craftsmanship. At auction, they would be worth, or carry a pre-sale estimate, of at least $15,000-$25,000. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Wow. I believe them to be jade. They were both purchased at Housing Works thrift shops right here in the city. And I bought them over ten years ago, individually from two separate events that they had, and I believe them to be jade. I don't know. This small hinged object was almost certainly misidentified for decades, having been fitted with a mirror at some point in the early 20th century, and sold as a compact. In reality, it is a Chinese jade belt fitting of the Qianlong period, dating to around 1760 to 1780. Its pure, nearly inclusion-free white jade ranks among the finest of that era. The front is carved with few bats, symbolizing happiness and good fortune. Set within a beaded scrollwork border, accented by shoe medallions for longevity, what happened to many fine Chinese hardstone objects in the early 20th century is exactly this. The antique dealer Edward Farmer of New York was famous for repurposing such pieces, turning belt fittings and plaques into Western objects, like compacts and cigarette boxes, to appeal to buyers unfamiliar with Qing court dress. The mirror inside was never part of the original design, yet it does not diminish the jade, which remains a genuinely exceptional piece of Qianlong period carving. Let me start by saying this is probably worth what you paid for it or less. Okay. Now, the white jade hinged belt fitting would carry a very conservative auction estimate of around $4,000 to $6,000. Wow. I'm impressed. This is a piece that's been in my family as long as I can remember, and I believe it was originally purchased by my grandfather. Do you know about what date your grandfather acquired it? If I had to guess, it would probably be sometime in the early 1900s. It looks like a piece that would have been acquired somewhere around 1890 to 1920. This bowl is carved in the shape of a peach, and that choice of form is full of meaning. In China, the peach has symbolized longevity and immortality for thousands of years, so a bowl shaped like one made a deeply auspicious birthday gift for a very wealthy person, which is almost certainly what this was. It is carved from jadeite, the brilliant stone imported from Burma, and what makes it exceptional is its color. A rich play of apple green, emerald, and pale tones running through the stone all worked into the peach's natural curves. The carver added leaves and branches in low relief, wrapping the exterior, and the whole piece is presented on a beautifully carved rosewood stand. Jadeite carving surged in the 1980s until prices collapsed under a wave of machine-carved imports, but fine hand-carved work like this stands entirely apart. The quality of both the stone and the carving marks this as a genuinely outstanding example of its type. At auction, currently, this piece would carry a pre-sale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. You're kidding. Really? I was told it was a jade item, and I would really like to know if that's so. I bought it from an antique dealer. I paid $600. Table screens like this one played a quiet but important role in the cultured Chinese home. Placed on a scholar's desk or in a reception room as a visual retreat from daily work, this example is carved from pale green nephrite jade and decorated with peonies, bamboo, and plum blossoms. Three plants heavy with symbolic meaning, peonies stand for beauty and prosperity, bamboo for resilience and integrity, and the plum blossom for perseverance through hardship, qualities any scholar or official would aspire to. The jade panel sits in a beautifully carved hardwood stand in the style of the late Qing dynasty. With Indian lotus motifs worked into the frame, table screens could be made from many materials, including marble with its cloud-like natural inclusions. But a jade screen was always the finer object, since jade was considered morally elevating rather than merely decorative. Dating to around 1900, this is a quiet, elegant example of a tradition rooted deep in Chinese scholarly culture. In today's market, a conservative auction estimate would be between $2,000 and $3,000. Okay. And it should be insured for between $4,000 and $5,000. Okay. Well, that is good news. Well, I know it's a carved jade vessel, and we got it on a state sale about 18 years ago in Nashville, and I really don't know a whole lot about it. Some of this vase's most impressive features are almost hidden. Suspended from the rim handles are loose rings carved from the same block of stone, each completely free to move, demonstrating the extraordinary skill of the carver who freed them without a single break. On the body, carved on either side, is the figure of Guan Yin, the Chinese goddess of mercy, one of the most beloved figures in Buddhism. On one side she appears with a carp, the fish associated with good luck and perseverance, and on the other she stands in flowing robes in a different manifestation. The vase is carved from pale green jadeite, the stone characterized by a granular crystalline structure and the possibility of vivid emerald color, though the green here is subtle rather than brilliant. It was made in the early to mid-twentieth century following the elegant forms of ancient Chinese bronze vessels that inspired craftsmen across generations, and continued to define the vocabulary of Chinese decorative art. In an auction market, this is likely to realize somewhere between $12,000 and $18,000 in today's market. We call it the Green Bowl because we don't know anything else about it. It was a gift from a friend who's, I apologize for giving her age on national TV, but she's 82 and she knew that I liked all things Chinese and brought it to me and said I should have it. Everything about this heavy, richly colored vase looks Chinese, from its deep jade green glass to the chrysanthemum design covering its surface. Yet it was made in Corning, New York, at the Steuben Glassworks during the 1920s. Frederick Carder, the brilliant English glassmaker who co-founded Steuben, was fascinated by Chinese and Japanese decorative arts and his acid-cut jade glass was his most direct tribute to that tradition. Two layers of colored glass were fused together and the design was cut through the upper layer using hydrofluoric acid, exposing the paler glass beneath and creating dramatic raised relief. Applying the protective resist that guides the acid required real skill and the result has the visual weight and depth of carved stone. The vase was documented in Steuben's own design records under shape number 607A, listed simply as carved. Unsigned, as many Carder-era pieces were, it is a fine example of the ambition and craft that defined Steuben before the company shifted direction toward purely clear crystal. Today, in a retail shop, this would sell for between $3,000 and $3,500. Wow. So it's a very nice gift. Yes, it was. These were pieces that my great-aunt, who lived in Peking, gave to my mother and father. These two jadeite figures were made to sit on a fine table as display objects for a wealthy household. Their scale and elaborate lotus-leaf bases, both pointing to that kind of formal prestigious setting. They take the form of dragons with characteristically large heads seated on carved rectangular plinths in a pose more usually associated with Buddhist guardian lions. The stone is pale lavender jadeite shot with greens, a combination that catches the light beautifully and reflects the Burmese origin of the material. Jadeite is distinguished from nephrite jade by its granular crystalline structure and the possibility of vivid translucent color. Made around the 1920s, they were produced for a sophisticated Beijing household rather than the export market. Also in the collection is a small ceramic camel in the Tang Dynasty style, though its glaze, clay and proportions all point to a 20th century copy made in the spirit of those ancient tomb figures rather than an original. All of us agreed that I think that a value in the neighborhood of around $20,000 to $30,000 would not be unexpected and that would be at auction. Right. It's a, we think a jade piece that we picked up in China in a small village near the Great Wall in about 1988 at a small little junk shop. Guy had a drawer full of just rusty items and like marbles and I happened to see that in there and I asked how much it was. He held up three fingers for 3 yuan which was about $1 at the time. I actually looked around in the drawer for the missing, broken piece. It was nowhere to be found so I still thought it was a good value. This small jade plaque is around 600 years old. Placing it in the Ming Dynasty and it carries the evidence of its age in every worn corner and softened edge. It was one of many such plaques strung together to form an ornamental or ceremonial belt worn by a nobleman or official at court. The layered carving is its most impressive feature with three distinct levels of relief rising one above another, the lowest a flowing liwen interlace, the middle scrollwork and the uppermost a Buddhist lotus leaf that floats above it all. Chinese belt jade of this kind was highly valued by the Ming court and the care taken in the carving, even now worn by centuries of handling, shows how important such accessories were as markers of rank and culture. The missing corner, likely lost not long after it was made, only adds to the sense of genuine age rather than diminishing it. If this were to show up at auction, I would expect a reasonable value is $1,500. Wonderful. Given the condition, I think that's a very good price. If it were fully intact, could be about $3,000. All right, well thank you very much. I inherited it. It was my great-aunt Hazel. She brought it out of China in the 40s or 50s. This ring is a meeting of two worlds. An older piece of Chinese jadeite recarved and fitted into a bold Art Deco gold and diamond mounting from around 1920. Jadeite was deeply fashionable with Western jewelers through the Art Deco period when European houses like Cartier began setting it alongside diamonds in platinum and gold. That marriage of Eastern stone and Western design became one of the defining looks of the era. This ring follows exactly that tradition with pale jadeite carved to fit snugly into a 14 carat gold mount surrounded by old cut diamonds. Jadeite differs from the more familiar nephrite jade in its crystalline granular structure and its capacity for brilliant emerald green, though many varieties are lavender, white or pale green. The pale stone here is trimmed by the sparkle of the diamonds around it, each material making the other look better. It is a wonderful example of the jadeite and diamond style that swept fashionable jewelry in the 1920s. At auction today, this ring would be worth in the $8,000 to $12,000 range. Wow. Well, this was originally my grandparents'. I know it dates back to at least the mid-30s because I have a picture of my grandparents with my father when he was about four years old. He was born in 1931, so I would make it the mid-30s. This was, I guess, a cigarette case of hers, and now I use it for my cigar utensils. The most important thing about this object has nothing to do with its 20th century bronze box. The treasure is the white jade garment hook mounted across the lid, a piece of 18th century Chinese court dress that found a new life in a Western home. Garment hooks, when made of fine white jade, were status objects of the first order. This example glows with the even pure white color most prized by Chinese connoisseurs, with none of the inclusions that would diminish its quality. Sometime in the first half of the 20th century, someone had the hook set into the box, giving it a new function as a cigarette case, a practice common among dealers adapting court objects for Western clientele. The age built into the jade's recesses and the dusty patina that settles into every carved groove over centuries is exactly what collectors and experts look for as evidence of genuine antiquity, rather than modern production. An auction or fair market value would be $2,000 to $3,000. What? Well, I'd buy a lot of cigars, wouldn't I? There you go. Wow. The only thing that I know is that it belonged to my mother, and she collected some objects that were Asian origin. This elegant little figure is Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, one of the most widely venerated figures in Chinese Buddhism, and one of the most frequently depicted in Chinese art. She stands carved in white nephrite jade, the stone whose pure color has been associated in China with virtue, purity, and moral clarity for thousands of years. In her raised hand, she holds a lotus blossom, a Buddhist symbol of enlightenment, rising above worldly life, and in her lowered hand, a fly whisk, signaling her divine status as a bodhisattva freed from earthly concerns. The silver mount that frames and supports her is beautifully chased, with the reverse worked in fine detail, and the whole composition resting on a base shaped as a lotus blossom. Made in the late 19th century around 1880 to 1890, this is a devotional object that would have graced a household altar or a fine collector's cabinet, admired both for what it depicts and for the quality of its quiet, luminous stone. And at auction today, I think it would easily bring between $3,000 and $5,000. Wow. Okay. Well, thank you very much. That's a nice estimate for such a small little stone, isn't it? It certainly is. My wife received it after her grandmother passed away, and I did a little background checking while I was waiting to get out here, and found out that it was passed down from her great-grandmother, and that's about as far as I could find the rest of the information on it. This small, beautifully carved piece is a Chinese jade belt hook, a functional object that once fastened a gentleman's belt by threading fabric loops over the hook at one end and the knob at the other. Jade was the material of status in Imperial China, and wearing jade accessories marked refinement and rank. This example is carved from celadon jade, the soft, pale green variety named after the famous glazed ceramics it resembles, and it takes the form of a dragon. What gives the carving particular charm is the baby dragon at the father's side, clutching in its mouth a branch of lingzhi, the mushroom of immortality that appears across Chinese decorative art as a symbol of good fortune and long life. The quality of the carving, and the subtle natural inclusions in the stone, both help date it to the 18th century, when Chinese jade carvers were working at a very high level for the Imperial court and the wealthy official class who collected fine jade. So all these things sort of add together to make this a pretty special object. Would it surprise you if I told you it was worth about $1,000? That's great. Love it. That's what it is. It's a very nice example, beautifully carved, and not something that we see every day, so I'm really glad that you came in with it. My grandmother collected Asian art, and she especially loved jade, and this is a piece from her collection. I've had it in my possession for maybe five to six years. She told me that she understood that when she purchased it, that it was given to General MacArthur from Chiang Kai-shek. A Chinese scholar's desk was never just a place to work. It was a carefully arranged world of small, beautiful objects, from brush pots and inkstones to brush washers, each a miniature work of art. This celadon nephrite jade brush washer held water so the calligrapher could rinse and reshape his brush between strokes. Its form is a lotus leaf, a choice loaded with symbolism, since the lotus grows out of muddy water and blooms pristine above it, a Buddhist image of purity rising from impurity. The deep celadon color was named after the famous glazed ceramics it resembles. The darkly polished Zitan wood stand, one of the most prized of all Chinese timbers, continues the lotus and pod motifs of the piece. A Qianlong rain date was added later, not to deceive, but as homage, acknowledging the golden age of Chinese jade carving that all later makers looked up to with deep admiration. In the current market, this added date makes it a little bit more interesting. How can you tell it's 19th century? A lot of times it's the quality of the carving and how crisp the detail is around the edge here. A Qianlong piece would be much tighter and much crisper. I would say this piece would bring about $5,000 to $7,000 at auction. Really? Great. If it was really 18th century, it would bring probably $30,000 to $40,000. This was given to me as a gift at the age of 10, and I won't say how long that was ago. I'm not going to ask. It was purchased in New York at Parc Benet Galleries. I was told that the jade pieces came from a ceremonial belt, Chinese. This extraordinary box is a collaboration of two different eras. Its jade panels, carved with show symbols and scrolling dragons, date to around the 16th century when they formed the plaques of a Chinese burial belt. Such belts were made for wealthy officials and buried with their owners, and these pieces likely surfaced during the Boxer Rebellion upheaval around 1900. Decades later, the New York designer Edward Farmer acquired them and commissioned this magnificent 18-carat gold box, a practice he was famous for. Farmer worked from the Carlyle Hotel through the 1920s and 40s, creating objects in the spirit of Cartier's Orientalism, taking ancient Asian materials and giving them elegant European frames. This example stands well above his typical work because of its gold, since most Farmer pieces are base metal. The jade's quality is exceptional, and mandarin-caught necklace beads incorporated into the mounts add yet another layer of Chinese dynastic history to an already remarkable object. Well, in fact, this is worth, I would say, between $80,000 and $125,000. That's a lot of money. Yes, it is. Well, I had a very generous mother-in-law, and these are both gifts from her. I found out that a lot of the things she gave me were not what they seemed, and that's what I would like to know exactly what this is. These two white jade pieces have been separated from their original context, but their quality is exceptional. The larger object combines two distinct elements from imperial court life, a garment hook that would have fastened a robe or belt, and a plaque from a Ruyi scepter. In Chinese, Ruyi means as you wish, and such scepters were placed on a table when receiving honored guests as a symbol of authority and goodwill. Both pieces are nephrite jade, and what distinguishes the finest nephrite is exceptional water, the Chinese term for the clarity and depth of translucence that separates great stone from ordinary. The carvings carry enamel accents and date to the 18th century, possibly earlier for the plaque element. The bracelet accompanying the set holds another white jade plaque of similar age, likely also from a ceremonial belt. Pieces like these left China during the upheavals of the early 20th century and are now being eagerly sought by mainland collectors, reconnecting with their cultural heritage. Again, conversing with my colleagues about this, on the mirror alone, they said $3,000 to $6,000. That makes me happy. On the bracelet, maybe $800 to $1,000. At auction, the Chinese market is so strong, so powerful, I would not be in the least bit surprised if this mirror sold for $20,000. Whoa, okay. And the bracelet, more like $2,000 or $3,000. Wow, thank you so much. My husband's great-uncle Jake was a correspondent for the Philadelphia Ledger in the 30s. He enjoyed traveling and collecting, and he particularly enjoyed collecting Asian pieces. This vase is a conversation with 3,000 years of Chinese history packed into a single object made at the end of the Qing dynasty. Its form is a hu, an ancient vessel shape from Chinese bronze ritual vessels dating back to around 1,000 before the Common Era. Across its body, the carver translated the vocabulary of those bronzes into nephrite jade, beginning with the Teyote spirit mask on the lower body, a face seen on Shang Dynasty bronze vessels of great antiquity. Around the neck, a waveform band references ancient Chinese jade carvings, and at the foot, a Liwen grid shows the geometric grounds of archaic bronzework. Even the animal head handles, each suspending a free-carved loose ring, deliberately echo bronze vessel handles from far earlier. The stone was chosen for its natural discolorations, deliberately suggesting the patina of burial. Made around 1880 to 1900, it is a masterwork of archaistic design by a carver who truly understood the tradition he was honoring. Today, if this came up for auction, we would expect it to sell between $8,000 and $12,000. Okay. I am very surprised. That's marvelous. If you'd come a few years ago, it wouldn't have been anywhere near that. The jade was from the last empress of China. It was originally set as cuff links. It was given to my mother's friend's father. They lived in China during the 1920s. This brooch comes with a dramatic family story linking it to the last imperial court of China, though no documentation can confirm the connection. What is clear is the quality of the piece itself. Two jadeite plaques, originally set as cuff links before being converted into this brooch, are paired with diamonds in a gold setting that speaks of mid-20th century jewelry design. Jadeite is distinct from softer nephrite jade in its crystalline structure and the intensity of color it can display. And the stone here carries the hallmarks of genuine jadeite. Stories connecting objects to imperial figures are common in the Chinese art market and must be treated with caution since they almost never come with documents needed to verify them. What matters regardless of provenance is the craftsmanship, and this brooch stands on its own as a handsome example of Chinese-influenced jewelry from the mid-20th century with the jadeite and diamond combination that remained fashionable through that entire era. They're actually jadeite. Diamonds, jadeite, and gold. There's no real way to prove that they belonged to Puyi's wife. If they're not, I think they would likely sell for $3,000 to $5,000, as they are. If they were, it's really hard to know. Somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000. Oh, my goodness. Well, they're beautiful, aren't they? They're memorials of my mother's friend and my mother. And the Empress of China, if that's the case. The ancient face found on Chinese ritual bronze vessels dating back to the Shang Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago. Around the neck, a waveform band references ancient jade carvings, and at the foot, a liwen grid echoes archaic bronzework. The form itself, called a hu, was an ancient vessel shape tied to Chinese ritual life. All of this points to a Ming dynasty maker, working between 1368 and 1644, deliberately reaching back to celebrate the oldest roots of Chinese culture. Cultural veneration rather than deception. The vase has one significant loss, a curved handle that once swept from the shoulder, broken away at some point in its long life. Yet even incomplete, it carries an enormous amount of history across its carefully worked work. My father, he and my grandmother had it on their mantle, and when he died in 1971, we inherited it. I don't know where he bought it or got it from. Yellow jade is so rare that this figure arrested the attention of experienced appraisers who had never encountered its particular form. The subject is a kilin, a mythical Chinese creature somewhere between a dragon and a celestial deer. Its body covered in scales, its swirling head somewhere between lion and dragon, rising from clouds of lingzhi mushroom, the fungus of good luck and long life. Beneath the creature sits what appears to be a decorative base but reveals itself on closer inspection as a deliberate stack of books, the Chinese symbol of knowledge and scholarly aspiration. The yellow hue of the nephrite jade is what makes the whole piece exceptional, since yellow jade occurs so rarely in nature that it has always commanded a serious premium among collectors. The carving style, broader and more freely done than the finest 18th-century imperial work, points to the Republic period, when craftsmen still working in traditional forms were looking back admiringly to the Qing Dynasty's artistic golden age. Okay, so I'd say for insurance purposes, somewhere around $40,000. All right, that's amazing. The last time it was appraised was in 1992 for $1,800. It has jumped.