GIADA. - A hard stone used in China in the industrial arts: it comes from two silicates, nephrite and jadeite, the first of calcium and magnesium, the second of sodium and aluminum with iron silicate, both of notable hardness and particular luster. Its color is generally green, in a range that goes from light gray with greenish shadings to very dark green.

It was used from the times of the most ancient dynasties for objects of small dimensions, mostly amulets, jewels and personal ornaments, but small votive statuettes, figures of animals and stylized flowers with a complex symbolic meaning were also carved in jade. The working was carried out by means of powders of harder stones, such as quartz, emery, etc.

JADE - Nephrite candlestick from the period of Ch'ion Lung (ca. 1750 B.C.) - London, Lady Lever Coll.(from St. Charles Nott, *Chinese Jade*, London DM, pl. II)

The use of jade in the West is scant, but in many ethnographic museums interesting objects in jade are preserved. In Italy those of the Museums of Florence and Bologna, and of the Pigorini and Lateran Museums in Rome, are to be remembered.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: Bishop collection, Investigations and Studies in Jade, New York 1905; O. Münsterberg, Chinesische Kunstgeschichte, II, Esslingen 1912, p. 340; J. C. Ferguson, Outlines of chinese art, Chicago 1918, pp. 65-81; G. Vacca, s. v. in Enc. Ital., XVI, pp. 944-45; L. Bachofer, A short history of chinese art, New York 1944.

Giovanni Carandente

@incollection{ec6_giada, author = {Carandente, Giovanni}, title = {Giada}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {337--338}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/giada} }

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