Chapter 119 Jade Book
According to the treasure hunting instrument, the value of the mutton-fat jade plaque is about 500,000 US dollars.

“What about yours?” The uncle looked at the object in his nephew’s hand.

I saw that it was also made of jade.

I don’t know whose nest those three guys robbed just now, why are there so many jades. If nothing unexpected happens, it should be a Chinese family who likes to collect jades.

“This is the Jade Book.” Lin Yuan slowly unfolded it and said.

Uncle and Henry were a little embarrassed because they couldn’t recognize all the words on it.

However, the jade book in front of him is made up of 10 jade plates, and each page is 28.2cm long, 12.8cm wide and 0.8cm thick.

The first page and the last page are engraved with gold-filled ascending and descending cloud dragon patterns. Three of the remaining eight pages are engraved with Chinese characters, and five are engraved with Manchu characters. The text of the book is filled in blue, and the emperor’s name, temple name, and posthumous title are filled in gold.

Holes were punched between the jade plates and they were strung together with yellow ribbons, and each page was separated by a bright yellow brocade pad.

“What’s it about?” Henry asked.

Paul couldn’t help but complain: “Don’t you know Chinese? Can’t you understand it?”

Henry defended himself: “There are too many Chinese characters to remember. Besides, this is probably the legendary traditional Chinese characters, which I don’t understand even more!”

It’s remarkable that he can learn some simplified Chinese.

Lin Yuan said, “This is the Jade Book of Emperor Shizu Zhang. The contents of the book record the life achievements of Emperor Shunzhi and the temple name and posthumous title he gave on the 24th day of the third month of the 18th year of Shunzhi’s reign.”

It is said that in history, there were four jade books of Emperor Shunzhi presented to the Taimiao.

Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong all made them. Kangxi and Yongzheng each made one copy, while Qianlong made two copies.

The Manchu part of the book in front of us is finely engraved, but the Chinese part is a bit sparse and not neat. This style is common in jade books in the early Qing Dynasty, and it is also based on the posthumous title engraved on it.

This should be the original copy of the posthumous title of Emperor Shunzhi that was presented to the Taimiao by Emperor Kangxi himself.

“It’s a bit like ancient Chinese bamboo slips,” Henry said.

He has watched some Chinese costume dramas. In China, before paper was invented and became valuable, people wrote on bamboo slips and then made them into volumes.

Lin Yuan nodded, it was indeed made based on the bamboo slips.

In the primitive society, writing had not yet taken shape, and there were no bamboo slips or paper as a carrier of text. People recorded their daily lives in the form of images on stone walls.

Even though bamboo slips, wood chips, and hemp paper were later used as writing utensils, the method of recording by carving words on stones was not abandoned. It was just replaced by an expensive material – jade.

The jade was polished into thin slices, decorated with important documents, and compiled into volumes in order. This created a precious book that can be passed down through the ages – the jade book, also known as the “jade strategy”.

Lin Yuan added: “However, the jade books in ancient times were not affordable for ordinary people, so they were often related to emperors. For example, when the emperor performed Fengshan sacrifices, he would bury the jade books to inform heaven and earth.

The Jade Book was also used when the emperor ascended the throne, appointed the crown prince and concubines, and recorded the royal family genealogy.”

As far as he knew, the imperial families of the Ming and Qing dynasties attached particular importance to jade books. One type was used for government affairs, such as conferring titles or determining posthumous titles; one type was the literary book, which recorded the emperor’s important articles; one type was the calligraphy and painting book, which recorded the emperor’s favorite calligraphy and painting works; and there was also another type of Buddhist jade book.

The calligraphy, paintings and texts on the jade album are all very exquisitely carved. Some are written directly with gold mud, while others are engraved and filled with color or intaglio gold. Intaglio gold should be of the best quality, as it not only has the splendor of gold and jade, but can also be preserved for a long time, so that a copy can be passed down forever.

“This jade book records the life achievements of Emperor Shunzhi and the temple name and posthumous title he was given on the 24th day of the third month of the 18th year of Shunzhi.

Everyone should know that items related to the emperor are usually extraordinary.

This jade book is worth at least a million dollars.” Lin Yuan finally made a conservative estimate.

David and others: “…” Another starting point of one million dollars?

Isn’t this money earned too quickly?
They find it hard to imagine that at this rate, earning a small goal seems easy!

At least it’s not difficult for their boss.

They only bought it for $1000, and the profit could be a thousand times, which made their scalps tingle just thinking about it.

They don’t know that jade books in the Qing Dynasty were often made of green jade, jasper or white jade. In addition to being used for conferring titles, there were also jade poetry and prose books engraved with poems, praises, notes and inscriptions written by Qing emperors.

The jade albums made for the Qing Dynasty court were only for use and collection in the imperial palace. Their number is extremely limited, and very few remain in the world. They have extremely high auction and collection value. They are regarded as the representative of imperial jade wares among Chinese jade wares, and are also rare national treasures.

It is only natural that this jade book is worth a million dollars.

But to be honest, if it was from the Qianlong period, it might be better and more valuable.

Although Qianlong is often criticized by later generations as a prodigal son and a seal-stamping addict, it cannot be denied that many handicrafts reached their peak during his reign.

Objects from the Qianlong period are obviously of a higher value.

Take the jade books for example. There are many fine jade books from the Qianlong period, including many fine Buddhist jade books.

As a believer in Buddhism, he could issue orders and decrees according to his intentions. From the palace where he lived during his lifetime, the gardens where he usually played, the underground palace after his death, and even the temples in the capital and the whole country, all changed under his “imperial edict”.

Emperor Shunzhi once said that although he believed in Buddhism, he did not allocate huge sums of money to build temples, which means that worshipping Buddhism was just his personal behavior.

Compared with Emperor Shunzhi, Emperor Qianlong practiced his Buddhist beliefs in both personal and state behavior.

When the power of a country is used to do something, or an item, it becomes a powerful thing.

Emperor Qianlong always used the power of the state to promote something, such as creating something. That is why the artworks of his time were often very exquisite, almost reaching the extreme.

“There are a lot of people over there. Should we go and take a look?” Paul pointed in a direction.

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed, and indeed, there was a large group of people gathered together, seemingly fighting over something.

“Forget it. Even if there is a treasure, there won’t be a share for us if we rush over there!” Lin Yuan said.

He had a treasure-hunting instrument, so there was no need for him to get together with those people, lest he find the treasure and then have to compete with them.

But my uncle had other ideas: “Let’s go and have a look. If those people find treasures, we can still pick up some.”

Just now, he had tasted the sweetness.

If you buy it at a low price, isn’t that just picking up a bargain?

Although there are many people who come to search for treasure, there are even more people who don’t know what treasure is. Even if they find a treasure, they don’t know it. Like the three people just now.

My uncle thinks that instead of working hard to find treasure himself, it is better to collect treasures from others and just spend some money.

David and others also nodded.

Everyone benefited from it.

Lin Yuan thought about it and decided that the minority should obey the majority.

“Okay! Then go over and take a look.”

(End of this chapter)