Jade in Jewellery
What's the first colour you associate with the word 'jade'? Green. Cool, deep, mineral. In reality, this stone's colour palette is considerably broader - from pastel lavender through sky blues to shades of sand and honey. Interestingly, the very word 'jade' refers, in mineralogy, to two different minerals - historically hidden under one commercial name. So before we look at the colours, it's worth establishing what stone we're actually talking about.
Jadeite or Nephrite? Two Minerals Under One Name
What has been called 'jade' in trade for centuries actually covers two separate minerals: jadeite and nephrite. They look similar, but they differ in their mineralogical make-up.
Jadeite belongs to the pyroxenes, is harder (6.5-7 on the Mohs scale), rarer and more highly valued. It comes mainly from Burma, but also from Guatemala, Russia and California. It's jadeite that produces the most exotic colours - lavender, blue, yellow, and the vivid green of imperial jade.
Nephrite is a rock composed of amphiboles (actinolite and tremolite), slightly softer (6-6.5) and historically far more common. It was the stone of the Chinese yù for millennia, and in New Zealand the Māori called it pounamu. Nephrite's colours usually fall into shades of green, olive and grey.
Mineralogy separated the two minerals relatively late - in 1863, thanks to analyses by the French chemist Alexandre Damour. Today, artisan jewellery uses both names, distinguishing between the two different stones.
Jadeite's Colour Palette
Jadeite's colours come from trace elements in its crystal structure: chromium gives deep green, iron produces blue-green tones, and manganese and iron together create its distinctive lavender. Nephrite, in turn, owes its shades of green to iron and magnesium content.
The result? A stone whose colours settle naturally into all sorts of designs and pair beautifully with a range of other materials.
The 'Green Apples' earrings: cool jade spheres in a lime-green shade, 8 mm in diameter, suspended from hand-forged copper discs finished with a patina, and completed with sterling silver 925 hooks. This is the colour everyone thinks of when they hear 'jade'.
The first departure from the stereotype comes with the 'Lavender Provence' earrings. Faceted jadeite pieces 4 mm in diameter in a subtle, 'smoky' lavender shade, set on sterling silver 925 studs with an oxidised and brushed finish. This colour comes from traces of manganese and iron - natural, not dyed. In itself, it answers the question of why mineralogy is worth taking an interest in.
The 'Heaven Blue' earrings take us further still - smooth polished jade beads (0.8 cm in diameter) in a soft pastel blue with notes of grey and white. The stone's naturally uneven structure gives the colour depth and character, and simple sterling silver 925 hooks let the jade take the leading role.
Finally, the 'Sand' bracelet - jade in a shade of pastel sandy yellow, with traces of lighter natural veining and an uneven internal structure, complemented by golden brass elements. The 8 mm spheres are strung on an elastic band. A warm, summery tone - as far as it gets from the 'green stone' stereotype.
Four designs - four colours. One mineral.
The Cultural History of Jade
In China, jadeite and nephrite together made up, for thousands of years, a stone valued more highly than gold. In the Confucian tradition, yù (玉) was ascribed eleven virtues - among them wisdom, justice, honesty, loyalty and music (the distinctive ringing sound when two pieces of the stone are struck together). Imperial jade - that deepest, most vivid green - was reserved for the emperor. Han dynasty tombs have yielded burial armours made of thousands of jade plaques joined with gold wire; one such suit, belonging to Prince Liu Sheng, contains 2,498 plaques.
On the other side of the world, the Olmecs, Maya and Aztecs treated jade as a sacred stone, associated with water, vegetation and life. The only documented high-quality jadeite deposits in Mesoamerica lie in Guatemala's Motagua Valley - the source of the material for both Olmec funerary masks and Aztec-Toltec ritual craftsmanship.
In New Zealand, the Māori carved hei-tiki from nephrite (pounamu) - amulets that protected the family line across generations. The stone held such deep cultural significance that its extraction on the South Island is still legally controlled by the Ngāi Tahu iwi, under a 1998 settlement.
Three different civilisations on three continents - all recognised the same stone as one of the most important on their soil.
How to Wear Jade
Jade is a rewarding stone to style, because its colours are usually nuanced and pastel - they rarely shout. The classic green (as in 'Green Apples') works best with earthy tones - a linen shirt, brown, khaki - but also contrasts strongly with white and navy. The lavender of 'Lavender Provence' can complement delicate tones - pink, grey, nude - but will also work with a classic white shirt. The blue of 'Heaven Blue' pairs naturally with denim and a blazer, and looks more striking against whites and creams. The sandy jade of 'Sand' sits tonally closest to golds and beiges - perfect for summer looks in linen and cotton.
Designs with jade work in summer with classic outfits - jeans and a white shirt, or a little black dress - and just as well with floral-print dresses, where they pick up the colours of the pattern. In winter, they bring out looks built around jumpers or thin roll-necks.
Three Facts Worth Knowing
In Chinese, jadeite and nephrite share one name: yù (玉). Until the 18th century, this term referred exclusively to nephrite – jadeite arrived in China from Burma only during the Qing dynasty and quickly rose to a higher status than nephrite, despite the fact that, in philosophical tradition, it was nephrite that represented the classic Confucian virtues.
One of the most recognisable jade sculptures is the Jadeite Cabbage at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Carved in the 19th century from a single block of jadeite, it draws on the stone's natural transition from white to green - the sculptor 'translated' that boundary into a white cabbage with green leaves. It's one of the most visited pieces in the museum.
The auction record belongs to the Hutton-Mdivani necklace - 27 imperial jade beads of extraordinary green intensity, from Barbara Hutton's collection. Sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong in April 2014 for 27.44 million dollars, it still stands as the record transaction for jade jewellery.
A Stone with More Than One Colour
Jade in artisan jewellery is a lesson in how many nuances nature offers us - in materials we can wear every day and enjoy for their variety and refinement.
