Word: jades
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...craftsmanship of the past, there are few remnants of Korean art. Out of the tombs have come such works as the stoneware Mounted Horseman, wearing a noble's peaked cap and leather armor of the 5th-6th century. Even more impressive is the antlerlike gold crown ornamented with jade found in a tomb of the Old Silla dynasty (57 B.C.-668 A.D.), whose hardy kingdom in Southeast Korea gradually extended its sway over the whole peninsula. With its similarity to the animal motifs of the Scythians, it suggests that early Koreans had more in common with the nomadic horsemen...
Since they lived in a rainy region where only the toughest relics avoid disintegration, almost nothing would be known about the Olmecs if it had not been for their curious custom of carving in jade and hard stone and burying the carvings. To judge by their figurines, they bound their babies' heads to make them abnormally highbrowed. They probably worshiped a jaguar god, or at least they carved fierce stone images of beasts half man, half jaguar. They also carved monstrous human heads nine feet high with petulant baby faces. They floored their ceremonial rooms with clay tinted...
...Jade Mountain, an anthology of T'ang Dynasty poetry, translated by Poet Bynner from the texts of Kiang Kang...
Today the best of the old imperial collections reposes safely at Peikou, a rural hideaway in the central foothills of Formosa. There, stacked in three concrete warehouses and a large tunnel, are nearly 400,000 art objects-paintings, ancient bronzes, porcelains, gold plate, lacquer and jade. Many of the objects have been in packing cases since they were first hurriedly put away in 1934, when the Japanese armies approached Peking. Most have never been seen outside China. Now, with the opening of a small museum in Peikou, Chinese art lovers have their first chance in a generation...
...great pottery works of the Sung emperors were revived and expanded. For Emperor Hsuan-te's Dragon Soup Bowl, craftsmen ground rubies to powder to achieve richness of color; court ladies dipped their fingers into exquisite candy dishes for the cardamoms and nutmegs that served as breath sweeteners. Jade was in such demand that by the time of the Manchus there were thousands of workmen carving and polishing objects, many so precious that they were used only for display...