Featured Hetian Jade carving possibly ancient?

I posted this on another jade forum and a member there who spends their free time studying jade carvings by microscope identifying the age of ancient jades by tool marks left behind thought this was possibly an ancient carving. I have some close up images and to my untrained eye this may be possible the lines I am seeing look uneven running randomly without the parallel marks left behind by modern diamond impregnated craving tools, but I have very little experience at this and don’t really know exactly what I’m looking for? Any thoughts on this from those more experienced.

 

Just judging by the cord an' little red 'ojime', it looks to be about ~7/8" diameter by maybe 3/16" thick...a dead white. Good close-ups; Quite an attractive piece...thanks!

 

I think the jade forum member may know better than us..... & I personally can't tell a thing from your close ups...

 

I think you would need a specialist to examine it in person.

Here are a few references if you want to pursue the complexities of tool marks on jade (these are abstracts; you would need to go through a library to get the actual journals) -

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440304000421

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01977261.2023.2279348

https://aata.getty.edu/primo-explor...ch_scope=AATA&vid=AATA&mode=advanced&offset=0

 

Yes thank you, it is exactly 32mm in diameter.

 

Wow possibly ancient,I would have never guessed. Nice looking carving and interesting comments regarding the inspection of the tool marks to date the item. I wouldn’t know what to look for even under a microscope. I will google it and hopefully watch a few videos just for interesting sake. But it would be best to get a inperson inspection and confirmation undertaken by a specialist. Are there any other tell- tale signs that is might be that old? Anyway thanks for the interesting post.

 

Looking at the amount and detail of information from the links posted by 2manybooks is does look like a very complex science. It is a whole study on its own.

 

A stunning piece, Hetian/Khotan jade at its best. And a forest dragon/gecko, one of my favourite subjects in Chinese art.

Did they mean ancient or antique? The two terms get mixed up sometimes.

I was taught that the holes on ancient jades (and other stones) were partially drilled first on one side, then on the other. The process was repeated until they met in the middle. That way there was less risk of the piece breaking. The resulting hole has a sort of hourglass shape, with the outsides wider than the centre.This is the type of hole you see on the famous Hongshan jades, for instance.

With better tools and materials came the possibility to drill straight holes with fewer breakages. But I don't know when the Chinese first drilled straight holes in jade.
The hole on your pendant is straight all the way through, which, according to what I was taught, would mean it isn't ancient. It could be antique, and it is certainly handcarved and very beautiful.