World of Pots: National treasures

In the Chines Arts and Crafts museum in Beijing, there are four national treasures of jade carvings. These art pieces were carved between 1985 and 1986 using 4 jade boulders that were kept in the store house since 17th century during the reign of Qianlong emperor of the Qing dynasty. There is a bit of history as to why 4 jade boulders from the 17th century which were only being carved into carvings of national treasures in the 80s.

Taishan

A screen

Incense container

Basket of flowers

There was a jade carftmaster from a National Jade Factory in Beijing who had heard of the story of 4 jade boulders which were originally kept in the palace during the 17th century but were lost due to the collapse of the empire. The 4 boulders were originally cut from a huge jade boulder (803kg) discovered by a jade trader during the 17th century. As the jade boulder was of exceptional quality, the trader reported this finding to the local official. The local official then gave the boulder to Qianlong emperor as a tribute. As Qianlong did not know what to do with it, he kept it in the royal storehouse. Only during the 19th century, the boulder was cut into 6 pieces, 2 were used to make into utensils for empress dowager (Empress Cixi) as her birthday gifts, the remaining 4 were then kept in the storehouse. These 4 boulders were eventually lost due to the collapse of the Qing empire.

During a meeting with some local officials, the craftmaster mentioned about the 4 jade boulders and he would like to know their whereabout. Next day, a local press published an article on the story of the boulders and an enquiry of their whereabout. The minister in-charged of arts & crafts then rushed to the jade factory and informed the craftmaster that these jade boulders were indeed recovered in 1950 and were kept in the national storehouse since then.

Article in search of the boulders

The craftmaster

The management of the jade factory then applied to the authority to retrieve the 4 jade boulders to be carved into 4 art pieces which would become the national treasures. When approval was granted, workers from the factory were sent to the storehouse and when they opened 4 thick wooden boxes, they found the 4 boulders from the early Qing dynasty. The boulders were indeed of very high quality in terms of colour, clarity and transparency. The heaviest boulder weighed 363kg while the lightest one weighed over 200kg.

Jade boulder #3

Jade boulder #2

A committee was immediately set up to oversee the project (Project 86) to turn 4 jade boulders into national treasures of art. More than 50 experienced artists were called in to work on the project. Over 70 drawings were received as subjects to be carved for theses boulders. Eventually, 4 drawings were selected and the jade boulders were to be carved into a mountain (Taishan), a big screen (from 4 slices cut from a rectangular slab) that depicts dragons, an incense container and a basket of flowers. The artists who were responsible for the design and carving of the boulders were both old and young talented workers with skillful hands.

After 2 years of hard work, the 4 pieces of art treasures were finally completed. They were really remarkable works of art. These pieces of jade were skillfully craved into their respective subjects to reveal the quality and colour of the jade. This works of art showcase the intelligence, creativity and talent of the masters in arts and crafts. A tradition that will pass from generation to generation.