David's Blog

Tiny bottles from the Qing dynasty that became masterpieces of jade, glass, porcelain and silver: the story of Chinese snuff bottles and what to look for.

A young apprentice asks her father why anyone would love such a stubborn stone. His answer comes from Confucius himself.

A poor man finds the finest jade in the world hidden in a rough rock, and no one believes him. The ancient Chinese legend of the Heshi Bi, told in a rainy teahouse.

In 1968, a young soldier's shovel broke into a hillside and found a prince who had been sleeping in a suit of jade for more than two thousand years.

Treasured above gold in China, buried with Maya kings and gifted as pounamu in New Zealand: the legends and true stories of jade.

A grandmother slips a jade bangle onto her granddaughter's wrist, and tells her about the winter morning her own bangle broke to protect her.

A hidden staircase, four years of digging, and a Maya king who became ruler at twelve, buried with a mask of jade. A grandmother in Palenque tells the story.

On the night before his grandson leaves home, a Māori grandfather gives him a greenstone pendant, and tells him the legend of Waitaiki, the woman who became the river's stone.

What makes jade carvings special, what bats, fish, peaches and dragons mean, and how to choose a genuine piece.