White jade jewelry - A new approach

In summer 2006 I meet in Hotien/Xinjiang Mr. Ni Guo Dong, the commercial sponsor of the 2006 Jade conference there.
Mr. Ni has made his fortune in the booming Chinese Real Estate business and then decided that following his early passion for jade was a better way to spend his days. He established a new company, the Jiangsu Shengshi Jade Co. or Senphrite. Ltd (see also www.senphrite.com) and began to built a commercial and associated private museum complex in Nanjing. This facility is located not far from the Imperial Ming tombs at the foot of the Purple Mountain in the eastern suburbs of Nanjing and abutting the area where the Mausoleum of Sun Yat Sen, the father of the Republic of China stands.

Mr. Ni has been able to convince Mr. Yang Bo Da, the former deputy director of the palace Museum in Beijing and renowned jade expert, to act as scientific adviser and consultant for the company.

The building of the newly built private museum of Mr. Ni not far from the Imperial Ming tombs in Nanjing.

In this configuration Mr. Ni wants to promote the beauty and uniqueness of the Hotien white jade with, in the background, philosophical ideas from Confucianism and Buddhism.

I have met him several times  in Nanjing in association with a white jade mountain carving which his specialist, Mr. Ma from Suzhou was preparing for me.

Mr. Ni next to a thin polished section of Canadian Polar Jade in the shape of a stylized Chinese Mountain painting brought as gift to him

He has set up a jewelry workshop in the Nanjing facility where about 30 persons are involved in the design and production of jewelry based on the incorporation of small and uncut pebbles of white jade in the design.

The jewelry workshop during a break and a fortune in Yurungkax white jade pebbles destined for transformation

With this historically unorthodox approach of displaying uncut Chinese jade associated with gold, silver and platinum, Mr. Ni wants to educate his fellow countrymens in modern China to marry the Old and the Modern, the Past and the Future of China.

Below some of the output of his workshop.

Thumb sized white jade pebble incorporated in a tabletop jewelry display piece as produced by Senphrite in Nanjing

Necklace with two first class white jade pebbles together with white, blue and red precious stones all set in yellow gold

Two pebbles mounted as “buds” on a white gold broach

Mr. Ni hopes to inaugurate his private museum very soon and is busily expanding his jade realted activities.

He plans to produce under the guidance of master carver Mr. Ma, next to the above uncut jade pebble jewelry, also in a limited quantity per year reproductions of ancient bronze vessels in superb white Yurungkax River jade.

He is also active in Hetian itself trying to foster there the preservation of the Yurungkax jade resources and national and international tourism.