A men’s jade pendant, sober and assertive: a large pierced disc, thick, in a spinach green so dark it looks black in the shade, marbled with bright green. It is threaded on a black braided cord, beneath two black beads engraved with a silver cloud.
In four lines
A large pierced disc, thick, in an almost black green.
A black braided cord, adjustable, with no metal at all on the stone.
Two black beads engraved with a cloud, the Chinese motif of good omen.
No size to choose: a simple gift for a man.
A man’s jade, sober and assertive
This men’s jade pendant is nothing like a delicate piece of jewellery. It is a piece with character: a wide, thick disc with a domed edge, in a green so deep it reads almost as black. Worn on the chest, it is seen without shining: a discreet piece that still has presence.
Its shape, a disc pierced at the centre, is one of the oldest in Chinese jade. Here an inner ring in slight relief underlines the hole and gives the disc a second line, more graphic.
A green so dark it looks black
In the shade, the stone seems black. In the light, it reveals itself: a deep spinach green, run through with stretches of brighter green and darker patches, with small light points here and there. Every disc has its own drawing, and none quite resembles another.
The polish is bright on the domed faces: when you move, a reflection slides over the stone and brings out the green where only black could be seen.
The cord and the two cloud beads
The disc hangs from a black braided cord, passed through the central hole and knotted just above it. No metal touches the stone. Higher up, two black beads, one cylindrical, the other round, each carry a cloud engraved in silver. The cylindrical bead slides along the cord to adjust the length: you wear it at the collar or lower on the chest.
What to wear it with
Over a white or black tee shirt, an open shirt, a crew neck jumper: black and dark green go with everything, and above all with simple outfits. It works with a steel watch as with a leather bracelet, and is worn alone, with no other jewellery around it.
On a corded pendant, it is the cord that wears out first, long before the stone. Take it off for the shower, the pool and sport: sweat and water tire it. When it weakens, it is easily replaced. For the stone, warm water, a mild soap, a soft cloth. Never ultrasonic, never steam, never solvent.Care in detail, and hardness and toughness.
Additional information
Stone
Jadeite or nephrite, not resolved
Colour
Spinach green
Stone shape
Pierced disc
Motif
No motif
Mounting
Braided cord
Metal
None
Setting
Drilled stone
Worn by
Men
Paired stones
Black beads, not identified
Mineral family
Calcic amphibole, Sodium aluminium pyroxene
Hardness (Mohs)
6 to 7
Reference density
2.90 to 3.36 g/cm³
Toughness
Exceptional, interlocking crystals
Treatment
Not determined
Origin
Outside Burma, country of extraction not confirmed
What tradition attributes to jade worn by a man
What follows changes register, and I flag it rather than blending it into the rest of the page. None of it is proven. These are customs and beliefs, old and documented, which I report because they are part of the history of this stone. No piece of jewellery in this shop is sold as a treatment, and I claim no effect for this one.
A stone of moral virtueIn Confucian thought, jade is associated with qualities of character rather than effects on the body: uprightness, constancy, restraint. It is the best documented meaning of them all.
The gentleman does not part with his jadeThe Book of Rites, one of the Confucian classics, says that a man of worth does not part with his jade without reason. The stone worn on the person is there a reminder of the conduct one sets oneself.
The cloud of good omenThe scrolling motif engraved on the two beads of the cord is the auspicious cloud of Chinese art. It is found on court robes, on furniture and on jewellery, as a wish for good fortune.
Jade in the masculineFor centuries, in China, jade pendants were worn at men’s belts, and their chime accompanied the walk. Jade only became mainly feminine in the West.
Dispatch within 48 hours of your order being confirmed, for delivery within 14 days from dispatch. I keep no stock in reserve, and I will not promise a date I could not meet.
Shipping Costs
€6.99 whatever the destination, free on orders over €47 to France, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. The exact amount is shown in your basket before you pay.
The Packaging, and Why It Matters
Every piece travels in its own pouch, kept apart from the others. This is not a question of presentation: the hardness of jade is unremarkable, between 6 and 6.5 for nephrite and 6.5 to 7 for jadeite, and the quartz in ordinary household dust sits at 7. Two pieces of jewellery that travel together arrive marked.
Fourteen Days to Change Your Mind
No need to give a reason. An email is enough to open a return; there is no form to fill in. Return postage is at your expense, unless the piece does not match its listing or arrives damaged.
Lukewarm water, mild soap, a soft cloth. A very soft brush for the hollows of a carving. That is all, and it is enough.
What You Must Never Do, and Why
No ultrasonic cleaners, no steam, no solvents, no heat source. This is not a precaution for show: the treatment status of my pieces is undetermined. My supplier does not know it, and weighing identifies the mineral without telling me anything about a possible resin impregnation. Resin withstands neither heat nor solvents, so every piece is handled as though it might contain some. The information sheet on treatments.
Scratches, and Where They Come From
Jade is tough, meaning very difficult to break: its structure of interlocking crystals resists cracking, and that is what made it usable for axe heads in the Neolithic. Its hardness, by contrast, is unremarkable, 6 to 6.5 for nephrite and 6.5 to 7 for jadeite. The quartz in ordinary household dust sits at 7: that is what dulls a jade, not knocks. The difference between the two.
Day to Day
Put the piece on after perfume and cream, never before. Take it off for housework, gardening and sport, where knocks against hard edges are common. Store each piece on its own, in its pouch. On a strand of beads, the thread wears out before the stone: it gets restrung, and there is nothing abnormal about that.
My name is Jade. French, from Morbihan, living in Tallinn. I choose the pieces and have them mounted: I mine nothing, I cut nothing, and the metalwork is not done by my hand. What I bring is the selection, and with this material that is what decides everything.
I am not a gemmologist, not a lapidary, not a therapist, and I do not claim to be.
I Weigh, I Do Not Certify
Before a listing goes online, I order one example of it for myself. When it reaches me unmounted, I weigh it in air, then suspended from a thread in a glass of water: the ratio of the two masses gives the density, and that figure separates jadeite, nephrite, serpentine and dyed quartzite without ambiguity.
One example per listing, and not every piece. I do not handle the piece that is sent to you, and I would rather write that down than let you believe otherwise. The method, with its three limits.
What I Cannot Know
The treatment status of my pieces. My supplier does not know it, and the scales do not tell me: they identify the mineral, not the resin impregnation. Only infrared spectroscopy in a laboratory would settle it, and I do not have that done. So you will never read “Grade A jadeite”, “Type A” or “untreated” on this site. The information sheet.
Where My Jade Comes From
No Burmese jadeite, and the first reason is legal. Not the one you read everywhere: the JADE Act of 2008 did ban these stones in the United States, but that ban was lifted on 7 October 2016. What applies today dates from 8 April 2021: the US Treasury sanctioned Myanma Gems Enterprise, the state company that controls the Burmese gem trade. So there is no blanket ban, but a US person is not allowed to trade with that entity, and a stone never tells you where it has been. A single supply chain serves ten markets, so it has to hold up in the most demanding of them. When an origin is not confirmed to me in writing, the listing does not state it. My origin charter.
