When I worked as an assistant in the University Art Gallery, I presented this show using the Chinese jades in the Gallery’s general collection. Most of the items can be dated to the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) according to their styles and techniques as well as their exquisite wood stands. 

I studied the jades and redated some of them based on their styles and techniques. Then, I carefully selected examples of different materials to educate the audience to differentiate the two major kinds of jades in general: on one hand, nephrite and jadeite, and on the other, jade-like materials including bowenite, soapstone, and serpentine. Each object had a label telling the title, serial number, date, material, and a short introduction on the style, craftsmanship, historical and cultural background as well as the material itself. After doing research on the sources of jade materials, I put patches of different colors on a map to illustrate the locations of the sources of these three types of materials. I also included some illustrations of jade working processes from a book written duringthe Qing dynasty, each process has an English translation of the original text describing it. From these illustrations, the audience will notice the special tools used by the Qing Chinese artisans as well as the jade working techniques step by step. I also created an illustration panel with pictures collected from various publications showing the modern tools and jade working techniques as a comparison to those the Qing. All of these were displayed in the cases in the hallway in the Frick Fine Arts Building. Another free-standing case was in the Frick Fine Arts Library - it contained smaller pieces of nephrite, jadeite, bowenite, agate, turquoise, malachite, crystal, amber, and steatite. Brochures with an introduction to the show were placed on top of the case to help the audience to have a better understanding.

I would like to give my special thanks to Ms. Josienne N. Piller, curator of the University Art Gallery, for her constant and kind support of this project and her editing the introduction and the labels. Prof. Katheryn M. Linduff lent me the Map of China and gave me many suggestions. Ms. Amy Minchin generously volunteered her time in helping me create the illustration panels and put the objects on display. Mr. Robert Gerwing took pictures of the exhibit. Ms. Jane N. Vadnal  created the web page for this show to make the images and information about these objects available to a broader audience. I also want to thank the donor of these Chinese jades and friends of the gallery who have supported the gallery financially for years in making this show available to the audience. 

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