"Full of absurd words, a handful of bitter tears. All cloud authors are stupid, who understands the taste? ”
A five-word poem opened the curtain of sadness and joy in "Dream of the Red Chamber". The miserable wood and stone former alliance, the good fortune of gold and jade that has been disturbed one after another, this good drama of Jia Fu, starting from the birth of the jade, and ending with the departure of the jade. Just like the end of the poem: A dream must finally wake up, and the unjust debt is paid off and dispersed. In the end, it was just a piece of stubborn petrified "psychic treasure jade" that walked through the human world, and the fossil returned to the sky.
In the book, this "psychic treasure jade" can not be said to be an important clue to the fate of each character, but what is it like? But it is not clearly pointed out. From this, we may wish to explore one or two.
The origin of the psychic treasure jade in "Dream of the Red Chamber"
Turning over the book, we can find that the beginning of "Dream of the Red Chamber" tells the origin of the psychic treasure jade: it was originally a five-colored stone refined when Nuwa made up for the heavens, and it was abandoned because of lack of talent, and later encountered the vast master and the vague real person. With the attendant of the god Ying (Jia Baoyu), he created a history of devastation and transformed into the beautiful jade in his mouth when he was born.
In different places in the book, there are also descriptions of this "precious jade", such as:
In the eighth time in the book, it is written that when Baoyu went to Lixiangyuan to visit Baochao, who was recuperating at home, Baochao took it down and carefully appreciated it because he had remembered the piece of psychic treasure jade hanging on Baoyu's neck. Baochao was held in the palm of his hand, only to see that it was as big as a bird's egg, as bright as Mingxia, as fluorescent as crisp, and with five-color patterns wrapped around it.
In addition, it is also described that the seal on the front of the psychic treasure jade reads "Psychic treasure jade, do not lose and forget, immortal life Hengchang", and the back seal text "one to remove evil spirits, two to cure unjust diseases, three to know the misfortunes and blessings".
It can be said that the basic form of this psychic treasure jade has emerged:
From the appearance, its size is like a sparrow egg;
From the color point of view, the bright as mingxia refers to the dark yellow and reddish shades of light;
From the texture point of view, it is as smooth as crisp, that is, it is more delicate and fine, pure and clean.
At the same time, the front and back sides of this piece of treasure jade are also engraved with multiple characters.
In addition to the above descriptions, there are several records of psychic treasure jade in the book that cannot be ignored. The third time, after Baoyu heard that Lin Daiyu was not wearing jade, he took off the jade and fell to the ground; on the twenty-ninth time, Baoyu heard him say "good marriage", so he gambled and grabbed the psychic treasure jade on his neck, gritted his teeth and fell to the ground.
From these descriptions, it is not difficult to judge that the jade worn by Baoyu is very hard and not fragile.
However, combined with the above characteristics, it is still difficult for us to clearly distinguish what kind of jade this is. The relevant red scholars and scholars and masters in the jade world are also divided.
The material of the Psychic Treasure Jade
Regarding the material of psychic treasure jade, there are four more popular theories in the academic community: Hetian jade, jadeite, rain flower stone, and agate. Let's analyze the possibilities of each statement one by one.
▌ Wada Yu said
Hetian jade is a good product of Chinese jade, and is loved by dignitaries and nobles because of its lustrous crispness, but it rarely exists as a whole piece of red jade, which is slightly inconsistent with the judgment of the psychic jade. Moreover, because Hetian Yu was the supreme in jade, in the case of a very strict etiquette system in the Qing Dynasty, if the psychic jade was Hetian Jade, Jia Fu would be suspected of colliding with imperial power. Therefore, It is unlikely that Hetian Yu will be able to do so.
▌ Jade said
Jadeite is also a treasure in jade, and has always been "red for jade, green for jade", the color seems to be very likely. However, although jadeite has high hardness and toughness, it is a brittle gemstone, and it is easy to cause jadeite to break when it is broken and falls, so it does not match it.
▌ Rain flower stone said
The yuhuashi theory mainly originates from the birthplace of the author Cao Xueqin. Cao Xueqin was born in the stone city of Jiangning Weaving Province (now Nanjing), and yuhuashi is mainly produced in Liuhe District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and its stone texture is hard, rich in color, and the size of the finches is also quite consistent, so there is this saying. However, from the perspective of "lustrous as crisp", yuhuashi obviously needs to be excluded. And the rain flower stone is not a rare thing in Nanjing, and it is basically unlikely that a large household like Jia Fu regards it as a treasure.
▌ Agate said
Agate, is a kind of chalcedony minerals, high hardness, quite layered color, with different colors of chalcedony, usually green, red, yellow, brown, white and other colors. From the color, texture, hardness of the appearance are quite consistent, and good agate is also the best in jade, is a treasure genus.
In addition, the book also mentions that the psychic treasure jade was "carried into the red dust and led to the other shore" by the vast masters and the insignificant real people, and they wanted this stubborn stone to "go to the land of prosperity and prosperity, the clan of poetry and books, the flourishing place of flowers and willows, and the gentle and rich townships." Based on this idea, the Vast Master and the Misty True Man should choose one of the Seven Treasures they are familiar with, and Agate is the only "jade" among the Seven Treasures.
Moreover, the author Cao Xueqin's ancestral home is a Liaoyang person, and he is from an aristocratic family, and often goes to Liaoxi to plate goods. Fuxin and Chaoyang in western Liaoning, together with the adjacent Chifeng in Inner Mongolia, are the birthplace of the Hongshan culture, unearthing the world's earliest jade dragon and jade pig dragon, and the world's earliest group of people to use agate. In summary analysis and comparison, the most likely material of the psychic treasure jade is agate.
Rare red jade species
After saying "Psychic Treasure Jade", we can't ask for such a treasure in the sky, but the beautiful jade on the ground can still say, appreciate one or two. Looking for the current red jade, the more popular ones are the following:
1
Red Emerald
Red jade refers to emeralds whose colors are yellow-red, orange-red, brownish red, bright red, etc. Its red color is mainly formed by foreign iron mineral elements entering the gap between jadeite crystals, which belongs to the secondary color of jadeite.
Red jade is generally dark red or bright red, because of its bright color, delicate texture, festive color, so it is very popular, is an auspicious color of jadeite.
Naturally colored red emeralds are extremely rare and rare gemstones that can be found. Among them, the best red is called "chicken crown red", the red is bright and bright, the jade is delicate and transparent, and it is the top product in the red jade. Sotheby's auction house once auctioned a superb bright red emerald carving for a whopping HK$3.8 million.
2
Southern red
Nanhong is a kind of bright color, lustrous red agate specially produced from southwest China, so it is called chiqiong, which has been used in China for thousands of years. Due to the limitations of the location of the place of origin and the conditions of formation, the production of southern red agate that can meet the standards of bright colors and few cracks has always been very low, so since the Warring States period, southern red jewelry has been loved by successive royal families and dignitaries.
Because of this crazy love, in the late Qing Dynasty, Nanhong once ran out of mining, and in recent years, a small number of mining areas have been found in Sichuan and Yunnan. At present, the most well-known Nanhong works should be the Nanhong Agate Phoenix Cup collected in the Palace Museum, which has been loved by successive emperors for its high-quality materials and ingenious design.
3
Warring States Red
Warring States Red refers to the red agate mined in recent years in Chaoyang Beipiao, Liaoning and Xuanhua, Hebei, which is the same material as some agate ornaments excavated from cultural relics in the Warring States period, and the Book of Later Han contains, "Ru Lou, Ancient SuShen, Buyeo out of red jade", so it was named "Warring States Red".
The Warring States red agate is dominated by red and yellow silk, which is fictitious and impermanent, and the waterline runs through it, and the brilliance is introverted and flashy, which is deeply loved by everyone. Most of its products are beads, pendants, occasional handles, carvings, etc. are of great value.
4
Bloodstone
Chicken blood stone is one of the "four national stones" in China, named because of the bright red sand like chicken blood, and because the color is as delicate and luxurious as a peony, so it is called "Queen of Stone". Chicken blood stone texture is warm and luxurious, crystal clear, is an excellent material for seal or craft carving, in the jade carving process even formed a unique genre of "chicken blood" carving, its works are known for "magnificent, exquisite, elegant, colorful". Since the production is quite limited, the price in the market is also enduring.
Chinese culture is still red in ancient times, with red as precious, and it is considered that red is festive and auspicious, and red jade is also highly sought after. However, there are many kinds of red jade, and the value is also high or low, like friends please choose carefully