| Citation: |
CAO Yi, YANG Mingxing, LUO Zemin. Late But Precious: The Dissemination and Use of Emerald in the Ming Dynasty in China[J]. Journal of Gems & Gemmology, 2024, 26(6): 140-147. DOI: 10.15964/j.cnki.027jgg.2024.06.014
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Emerald is one of the five internationally recognized precious gemstones, highly favored by people for its unique color and charm, and holds an important historical position in China. This article is based on archaeological discoveries of Chinese emeralds and combined with clues from ancient literature to explore the time, evolution of name, usage pattern, and source of emerald in China during the Ming Dynasty. It is found that although there was exchange and interaction of coloured gemstones between China and Central and Western Asia during the Han and Wei dynasties, it was not until the Yuan and Ming dynasties that emerald were discovered in China.Emerald entered China through trade, tribute, and other means, and was accepted by China. Its name was transliterated from a foreign language and gradually evolved from "Zhumula" and "Zumula" to "Emerald", which is still used today. Through gemmological and spectroscopic testing of the unenset emeralds unearthed from the tomb of Liangzhuang King, it was found that the inclusion characteristics and mass fraction characteristics of the emerald in the tomb of Liangzhuang King were similar to those in Egypt and Austria, such as FeO, MgO, Cr2O3, V2O3, etc. Based on the historical background and the premise that the emerald from the tomb of Liangzhuang King was brought back through the Maritime Silk Road, it is believed that the emerald may have originated from Egypt or Austria. Although emerald entered China relatively late, it held an important position in the social and cultural context of the Ming Dynasty. As a precious gemstone material, emerald was mainly used for leather belt decoration by nobles, reflecting to some extent the hierarchical system in the ritual system and becoming a symbol of social status.
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