During a recent visit to Hangzhou I have picked up a catalogue of a December 2007 auction of jade organized by the Haohan International Auction House in Hangzhou.

I have scanned the relevant pages showing the small jade carvings of recent manufacture as also of the white Yurungkash/Hotien jade pebbles and boulders. As each illustration was accompanied by the weight of the jade and the estimated lower to upper auction price, I have normalized the upper price limit to US$ per gram so to give you a comparison yardstick of current jade prices. Haohan Auction House did not want to give me the actual reached auction price.

100US$ are valued 670 Chinese RMB and 100g amount to 3.5 ounces.

The next auction will be held in October 2008 with several jade boulders announced to be in the auction program.

As these carvings are of recent manufacture and labor costs are low in China, you can evaluate for yourself how the raw material cost through the combination of colored skin, translucency and size, influences the estimated auction price. The price of uncut pebbles from the Yurungkash River ranges from a low of 10$/g to an absolute high of 502$/g depending on the translucency and homogeneity of the material (true mutton fat jade).

For the value of carved items, the presence of russet colored skin, adroitly incorporated into the design of the carving, is essential for asking an elevated price. Its absence or a patch with only a dull brown color immediately lowers the price as the origin of the white jade cannot anymore be related to the Yurungkash River. This value adding russet skin is however now also reproduced artificially and the suspicion lingers on that at least one boulder offered in this auction has seen such a color enhancing step.

Carving of an unborn chicken (?) in white (river) jade with russet colored skin
78g – 115$/g

Carving of a fruit in white (river) jade with small russet colored skin patch
148g – 71$/g

Yurungkash River boulder in white jade with russet skin
25.5Kg – 9.5$/g

Carving of a duck in white (river) jade with tenuous russet colored skin patches
206g – 159$/g

Yurungkash River boulder in white jade with russet colored skin
22Kg – 20$/g

Carving of a sage in white (river) jade with a small russet colored skin patch
48.8g – 108$/g

Five small Yurungkash River white jade pebbles
80.9g – 14$/g

Carving of a sage in white (river) jade with small russet colored skin patch
218.7g – 21$/g

Necklace with 42 naturally shaped white (river ) jade pebbles
124.1g – 66$/g

Carving of a fruit and a bat in white (river) jade with tenuous russet colored skin patch
167.7g – 27$/g

Carving of two catfishes (?) in white (river) jade with russet colored skin patch
153g – 29$/g

Small Yurungkash River white jade pebble with very tenuous russet colored skin patches
112.1g – 27$/g

Five small Yurungkash River white jade pebbles
80.4g – 15$/g

Carving of a monkey in white jade
18.5g – 306$/g

Carving of lion cub in white (river) jade with russet colored skin streaks
18.4g – 203$/g

Carving of a scene with a rooster in white (river) jade with a tenuous russet colored skin patch
57.1g – 78$/g

Carving of a horse in fetal position (?) in white (river) jade with a tenuous russet colored skin patch
151.4g – 37$/g

Carving of a fruit with monkeys in white (river) jade with an intense russet colored skin patch
20.1g – 245$/g

Carving of a scene with a peach tree, monkeys and dogs in white (river) jade with russet colored skin
133.4g – 179$/g

Necklace with 44 naturally shaped small white (river) jade pebbles with russet colored skin
90.2g – 165$/g

Carving of a sage in white (river) jade with a tenuous russet colored skin patch
32.8g – 127$/g

Carving of a sage in white (river) jade with a russet colored skin patch
21.3g – 196$/g

Carving of scene (upside down) with a rooster in white (river) jade with russet colored skin patches
11.5g – 285$/g

Carving of two carps in white jade with a small brown colored patch
26.9g – 36$/g

Carving of a Buddhist religious figure in white jade
33.4g – 36$/g

Carving of a scene with two bats and a bamboo stalk in white (river) jade with an intense russet colored skin patch
16.7g – 53$/g

Carving of a goat in white (river) jade with russet colored staining
12.6g – 61$/g

Small Yurungkash River white jade pebble with very tenuous russet colored skin patches
31.9g – 187$/g

Carving of a fruit with butterfly in white (river) jade with localized russet colored skin patch
11.6g – 45$/g

Carving of a sage in white jade
15.8g – 47$/g

Carving of lion cub playing with a ball in white jade with some brown colored spots
99.1g – 60$/g

Pendant carving of a fruit and a butterfly in white (river) jade with russet colored spots
6.2g – 46$/g

Carving of a small lion cub in white (river) jade with russet stains
18.7g – 28$/g

Carving of a scene with a ram and monkey in white (river) jade with an intensive russet colored skin patch
20.4g – 36$/g

Carving of a fruit with monkeys in white (river) jade with a small russet colored spot
121.4g – 37$/g

Yurungkash River white jade pebble with an intense russet skin color and blackened fracture lines
1444g – 21$/g

Yurungkash River white jade pebble with a thin russet colored skin
463g – 48$/g

Carving of a sage in white (river) jade with russet colored patches
128g – 41$/g

Carving of a group of animals in white jade
20g – 373$/g

Small Yurungkash River unblemished white jade pebble
54g – 105$/g

Small Yurungkash River white jade pebble
53g – 138$/g

Small Yurungkash River white jade pebble with russet colored spots
103g – 43$/g

Small Yurungkash River white jade pebble with a small russet colored spot
103g – 116$/g

Bracelet with 7 Yurungkash River white jade pebbles with russet colored skin
72g – 62$/g

Carving of a fruit and two monkeys in white jade
26g – 172$/g

Small Yurungkash River top quality white jade pebble with russet colored spot
29.7g – 502$/g

Yurungkash River greyish white jade pebble with extensive russet colored skin (oiled)
106g – 140$/g

Yurungkash River white jade boulder with russet colored surface (oiled)
78Kg – 13$/g

Rectangular flat pendant with the carving of a sage in white (river) jade with a tenuous russet colored volume
52g – 115$/g

Yurungkash River white jade boulder (oiled) with heavy russet colored skin and with two windows showing the white jade core
37Kg – 12$/g

Yurungkash River white jade boulder (oiled) with fractures and a russet colored surface
38Kg – 10$/g

Yurungkash River white jade boulder (oiled) with a russet colored surface
21Kg – 26$/g

Yurungkash River white jade boulder (oiled) with a russet colored surface
15Kg – 57$/g

Russia has vast resources of brilliant green and immaculate white Nephrite jade and its artist have been busy transforming it into beautiful objects of art.

The best known sources of such objects of art in Russian nephrite jade are the workshops of Carl Fabergé in St.Petersburg, Cartier in Paris and Dennisow-Uralski, the supplier of raw and finished hardstone objects from Siberia.

Peter Carl Fabergé (May 30, 1846–September 24, 1920) was a Russian jeweler, best known for the famous Fabergé eggs, made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, but using precious metals and gemstones rather than more mundane materials.

He was born in St. Petersburg to the jeweler Gustav Fabergé and his Danish wife Charlotte Jungstedt. Gustav Fabergé’s father’s family were Huguenots, originally from La Bouteille, Picardie, who fled from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, initially to Germany near Berlin, then in 1800 to the Baltic province of Livonia, then part of Russia.

Young Fabergé began his education at St. Anne's Gymnasium, the German school in St. Petersburg. In 1860, the family moved again, to Dresden, and shortly thereafter, the teenage Carl went on a study trip, learning the jeweler’s craft at the House of Friedman in Frankfurt. In 1864, he returned to St. Petersburg and joined his father’s business, taking over its management in 1872.

Carl and his younger brother Agaton were a sensation at the Pan-Russian Exhibition held in Moscow in 1882. Three years later, Tsar Alexander III appointed him an official Court Supplier, as a reward for making him a splendid Easter egg to give to his wife. Thereafter, Fabergé made an egg each year for the Tsar to give to the Tsaritsa Maria. The next tsar, Nicholas II, ordered two eggs each year, one for his mother and one for his own wife, Alexandra, a practice which continued from 1885 to 1917.

He became the Tsar’s Court Goldsmith in 1885. The Imperial Easter eggs were a sideline; Fabergé made many more objects ranging from silver tableware to fine jewelry. Fabergé’s company became the largest jewelry manufacturer in Russia, with 500 employees and branches in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Kiev and London. It produced some 150,000 objects between 1882 and 1917. He left Russia during the Revolution in 1917 and died 1920 in Cannes, France.

A very good review of Fabergé and Cartier objetcs of art in jade is available in the 2003-2004 exposition catalogue : Fabergé-Cartier - rivals at the court of the Tsar , published by Hirmer in Munich/Germany.

One of the most famous objects in jade from the Faberge workshops is the Easter egg which the Russian gold mine tycoon Alexander Ferdinadowitsch Kelch had offered to his wife Barbara on Easter 1901. It was made under the supervision of one of Faberge’s jade specialists, Michael Perchin.

Fabergé Nephrite Easter Egg – Two hollow egg halves in Siberian green jade about 14cm long with four feet in red gold in the shape of apple tree branches. The petals of the white apple flowers are in enamel with their center formed by diamonds on a pink background. (Collection A.P.Goop, Lichtenstein)

Fabergé Eternal Calendar – A cube in green nephrite about 10cm high showing the month, day of the month and day of the week with golden knobs and diamond decoration. Late work of the Fabergé workshops and now in the New Orleans Museum of Arts.

Fabergé Quadratic Nephrite Box – Very simple box 9.7cm square with cover decorated with a diamond studded monogram “EK” and with an inscription 23 juillet, 5 août 1902. The box was made for Count Kinsky, Ambassador of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in St. Petersburg (New Orleans Museum of Arts).

Fabergé Jade Kosch – An oval, boat shaped, 25cm long ceremonial drinking cup with golden handle with diamonds and a “NII” monogram. This was a gift of the tsar Nicolas II to Ambassador Boutiron, the French ambassador to Russia in 1906(Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris).

Fabergé Jade Cigarette Case – A 8.3cm long box with white enamel decoration, chiseled laurel leaves and 8 ruby cabochons. Made by Henrik Wigström, the other jade specialist of Fabergé (Collection John Traina, San Francisco).

Fabergé Jade Box – A 8.4cm long box with gold frames and two closures with two sapphire cabochons. The box was purchased on December 1911 by Countess Hatzfeld, born Claire Huntington, at the Fabergé’s subsidiary in London (A la Vieille Russie New York) .

Fabergé Tsar Puska Cannon – A copy of the famous 5.3m long cannon of the tsar in green nephrite with gold decoration. This was a gift of Tsar Nicolas II to his nephew, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany (Collection Stichting Huis Doorn).

Fabergé Desk Set in Louis XVI Style – An eleven piece set of office desk objects in green jade with gold and gilded gold decoration comprising stand clock, ink vessel, stamp container, bell, ink blotter, pen holder, pen, pencil, table clock, glue pot and two candle holders. Objects made in the Wigström workshop (Collection Thyssen-Bornemisza).

After a long pause, such beautiful jade objects are once more made in Russia. If you look carefully during televised interviews, you can see such jade objects, not unlikely the Fabergé desk set, also on the desk of the actual tsar in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin.

A small company, located in Obninks, a high technology town about 150Km south-west of Moskva has revived the making of similar objects, minus their diamond and gold decoration, in a vivid green Siberian (Sayan) nephrite. Next to green jade also selected articles are made in black and white Eastern Siberian jade. Views of the object made and contact details can be found under www.nephrite.ru and the English version of the homepage.

Black Siberian jade set

White Vitim jade set

The Carving Workshop participants not only learned new carving techniques but shared many of their own techniques with the group.

New Zealand jade master Donn Salt shared many of his working procedures with younger carvers and made new friends wherever he went.

And here is another small piece just about finished.

This large piece of jade was marked up before cutting.

Some worked outside and some inside..... but the experience was wonderful for all.

Matt Glasby is a young California jade carver who has made a considerable reputation already.

This small piece in progress lies on a large jade slab. The week's workshop provided plenty of time to collaborate on techniques, share concepts, and make new friends.

As the sun set at this years Jade Festival, most of us Jade fanatics felt like those heading home from a pilgramage to our Jade Mecca. After basking in the warm coastal sun and seeing and touching Jade for three days we had to resolve ourselves to the promise of "next year" as we re-enter our respective "regular" lives. However for a select few this year's Jade Festival was only the beginning of a once in a lifetime experience in Jade. As Joan and I packed up and rushed home we did so with the urgency of knowing that in three days our home would be packed with six students and (in my opinion) two teachers who are among the worlds best Jade carvers. Deborah Wilson and Donn Salt were here to pass on to California carvers lessons that have taken decades to perfect. From the first day I was captured by the thought that from locations near opposite poles of this planet (British Columbia and New Zealand) two carvers were meeting in the middle ( California ) to impart their respective knowledge and passion for carving jade. Each of these carvers come from areas where there is a rich Jade carving culture. In contrast to this, California has had only a few carvers, with Don Wobber leading the charge as our standard bearer.

For years J.C.Buller (a fellow Jade Festival dealer) and I talked of the potential California Jade could have if a new generation of carvers were raised up to create a distinctive California style and culture.

A few years ago the Festival faithful met Deborah Wilson and her art, being introduced to us through J.C. Buller. It was just last year J.C. showed one of Donn Salt's exceptional carvings. Through his contacts with Don and Deborah this year we hosted the first ever California International Jade Carvers Workshop with Donn Salt and Deborah Wilson teaching.

Upon our arrival home our plan was to look over my workshop with Deborah and Donn to see what we needed to set up an inside and outside workspace. The inside space would primarily be used by Donn for demonstrating and instructing students on his unique style of carving small pieces. The outside was set up for Deborah to do a carving project using a one hundred ten pound piece of Polar Jade. The planning and preparation time was frantic and when the workshop started on Friday our students were greeted by two instructors, a modest setting and a sense of something special about to take place. Donn spoke in the morning and both instructors began their projects in the afternoon. By mid-afternoon all of the students had chosen a project of their own and were hard at work stopping only to ask a question or to observe Deborah or Donn at work. It was fascinating to see how quickly Donn could carve a definning line in the small piece he was working on. However, for Deborah that same definition would take an hour as she would have to remove pounds to the grams Don was taking away. At times students were allowed to use Donn's air tool under his supervision and then go outside and use Deborah's huge angle grinder to help shape the project she was carving. What a dynamic process to be exposed to. As the six day workshop reached the mid-point we were seeing some wonderful pieces of art emerge. Donn's Jade Cove cobble was well on it's way to becoming a treasure. Deborah's large piece was showing its shape and the students were showing everyone there was a reason to hope for California carvers.

The students who attended the first international Jade carvers workshop are: Justin Barrett, David Clayton, Alex Connell, Matt Glasby, Stan Henneman, Cheyenne Sun Hill, and Christopher Larson.

Many of the students were already good carvers and a few show promise of being great. However, even our new carver, Stan Henneman, was able to produce a beautiful Jade bowl under Deborah's guidance.

On the evening of the last day we celebrated this first ever workshop in style with a home cooked California abalone dinner. For me as one of the hosts I was proud to have been associated with this wonderful fraternity of people who set everything aside to teach and to learn how to work with this stone we all love. It comes to us with the richest history of any stone ever. It influences every culture that embraces it and history shows that it provides the artist that works with it the potential to impress generations with its beauty. I believe this workshop was a way of investing in these California carvers so that they would be the ones to create wonderful things for future generations to appreciate. This is the great hope of those of us who were involved in presenting this workshop. As each student goes out we wait with high expectations at what they will carve.

Mike Burkleo