Meat-Shaped Stone

This carved stone, looking remarkably like a joint of pork, is a masterpiece of the Ching dynasty. Although described as being made of jade, the piece is in fact carved from a piece of stone whose appearance suggested a piece of meat.

In ancient times all precious stones of fine quality were referred to as jade, including crystal, agate, lapis lazuli and turquoise. Today, scientists have divided true jade into two types, the more valuable jadeite, which is sodium aluminum silicate with a crystalline structure, and hephrite, a calcium magnesium silicate with a fibrous consistency.

The meat-shaped stone is remarkably lifelike, even down to the pores in the oily skin of the salted meat and the alternate fat and lean layers. It took the genius of an old master to see this shape in an unworked piece of stone.