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Jade in the Land of China 217
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"She
turned slightly towards a mirror, looking at her aged face for a long
time before answering. 'No,' she said. 'We do not look well enough,
vital enough, at present. We would like to wear these earrings, but not
to-day.' . . .
"Her
Majesty held the brilliant bits in her hands for a long time, seeming
to glory in the smooth feel of them against her skin. Then she put them
regretfully away. 'We cannot wear them to-day,' she repeated. 'What we
should wear to-day is pink coral. Its colour does not clash with tired
face and weary eyes. . . . Jade is for a happy mood. It is for life,
and youth, and laughter.' "
There are two other notable varieties of Chinese Jade, one of rather macabre origin and another which has music in its heart.
The
so-called tomb Jade, which has either been buried with its former owner
or has been expressly placed in the coffin, presumably has been put
there to help the departed with his spiritual progress in the next
stage of life. That kind of Jade is of a deeply stained brown and has
the undeniable appearance of a substance which has long been in close
contact with human bodies in process of chemical disintegration. How
ancient are these objects? Who can tell? For me infinitely greater
charm resides in "musical" Jade.
The
resonant qualities of select pieces of Jade are already mentioned in
records going back something like four thousand two hundred years. They
are referred to as sounding stones. It was noticed that if suitably cut
pieces of a certain kind of Jade were freely suspended and struck
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