How to ruin a beautiful jade carving

Phillips will hold an auction of antique clocks and watches in Hong Kong on the 24th and 25th of May. Two of the pieces on offer are Chinese jades from the Ming and Qing dynasties which lapidaries from Cartier made into clocks in the 1920s. The auction catalogue goes into rhapsodies about how Cartier designers used gold, rubies, sapphires, pearls, coral, mother of pearl, marble and lord knows what else to transform them.

The one pictured is a jade carving of a landscape from the Qing dynasty with a poem by the emperor Qianlong etched into it. The catalogue states that ‘in order to not disturb the etched painting that is the core of the screen, Cartier only chose to make small additions. Jade, pearls, and rubies carefully dot the trees, and gold highlights the structure of buildings and branches weaving across the jade backdrop’.

The catalogue talks about these works being ‘creative’ and ‘unorthodox’. They have a saying in China huà shé tiān zú which translates as draw a snake and add feet to it. It means to ruin the effect by adding things that are superfluous. Instead of the words unorthodox and creative, which Phillips uses to describe these clocks, I would describe them as common and vulgar. Beautiful jades ruined by vulgar baubles to cater to those with money but no taste. The Chinese have a saying for people like that as well.’ Learn more about jade at www.jadefiend.com