The locust lies with the katydid.
Go forth! Multiply! Find contentedness!
What was jade, is now crystal.
When the public was invited to vote on what they considered the single most important piece in the collection of the National Palace Museum (NPM), the Jadeite Cabbage emerged as the people's choice. Indeed, people find it hard to tear themselves away from the work when they come to it in the museum. Its lustrous semi-transparency is lush, yet understated. The fact that one of the antennae on the katydid is broken off does not diminish its preciousness in the least.
The world is full of fine jade and fabulously talented craftsmen, but it seems unlikely that another piece will ever come along to rival the beauty of the Jadeite Cabbage.
The year after the Japanese army touched off the Mukden Incident in September 1931, the NPM began its retreat to the south. All pieces were boxed and coded using a character from the Thousand Character Classic to identify which building they had been kept in at the Forbidden City. The character 歲 (sui) indicated that the Jadeite Cabbage came from the pavilion once occupied by the concubine Jin Fei, consort of the Guangxu Emperor. Jin Fei came from a Manchu clan called the Tatara, and was noted as a person of very refined taste. In addition to her love of fine cuisine, she liked to appoint her living quarters with flower vases and planters. The Jadeite Cabbage was part of her dowry and signified the purity of her family background, while the locust and katydid perched on the leaves symbolized a wish for many offspring and abundant happiness.
The Jadeite Cabbage was sculpted from a single piece of half-white, half-green jade full of imperfections, including cracks and discolored blotches. The clever craftsman, however, turned the defects to his advantage. The cracks, for example, became veins in the stalks and leaves. If ever the proverbial "skill surpassing the abilities of a god" did exist in a human, surely this was it!
While visiting the museum, I can't help overhearing the comments of a pair of young women speaking in a Shanghai accent at the souvenir shop: "Look, it's a stalk of bok choy!" "The small one next to it is nice, too." One of them murmurs to herself: "Are they made of glass?"
It is lead crystal, to be precise, with the same silica that goes into regular glass, but 24% lead oxide by content, which yields a higher refractive index and creates an attractive sparkling effect. These properties make lead crystal a popular material for the crafting of imitation jade.
I talk with Li Caiwang, a craftsman who makes Jade Cabbage adaptations for the NPM, to learn more about how he does his work. His home and workshop are both located in Yingge, Taiwan's premier ceramics town, where he stands out from the crowd by working with crystal rather than ceramics. His original works and pieces made on contract include Buddhist statues and decorative items.
Production includes the following steps: preparation of a wax model (1st and 2nd photos from left), then creation of a plaster mold°?dewaxing°?filling of the mold with glass pellets°?firing for three to seven days°?removal from the mold°?touch-up and polishing (right).