Notes on Jade

In a largely futile effort to jettison some of the papers I've amassed over time (I fear the only truly effective method would involve a blowtorch), I've been going through my "New York" folder to remove things that are out-of-date and/or don't relate to New York.

One gem of sorts: Some notes I made at a museum on the back of a mini-brochure for the Hotel Monaco. The name of the museum? Unknown. The date and location of the trip? Unknown. Although my guess is it might have been either Seattle or Chicago (two of the 7 locations of Hotel Monaco listed on the brochure) in 2004, when I was seeking a federal clerkship.

Highlights of the intelligible portion of my notes on jade from the Museum of Mystery (obviously not its real name):

• Jade's warm luster represents benevolence; its translucence stands for loyalty; its clear tone when struck, wisdom; its strength ("steadfastness"), courage; and its purity, integrity.
• The form of jade known as "nephrite" is dense and heavy, with long fibrous interwoven crystals. Prior to the 18th century, essentially all jadework is in nephrite.
• By contrast, "jadeite" is brighter and clearer because it is formed with clusters of granular crystals. It is apparently not found in China, and it comes in a wide variety of colors, including lavender and red-orange.

From my notes, I further learn that the Chinese word for "bat" is a homonym for "happiness", and gourds symbolize fertility. So a gourd-shaped vase with bat and gourd motifs might be an appropriate wedding present.

This past summer, in Bath (England), I visited a "Far East" museum which went into a lot more detail about the puns that routinely inspire Chinese art. Let's just say that bats and gourds merely scratch the surface of rebus-type messages that look like innocuous decorations to the uninitiated Westerner.