Waching daily Mar 28 2017

For more than 3 thousand years, Mesoamerican cultures, who populated Souther México

all the way to Costa Rica, cherished the concept of immortality.

They noticed that everything around them was destroyed or degraded by time

But Jade remained the same.

Even more valuable than gold, Jade was a symbol of power and authority

reserved for the elite class, such as governors and priests

It also represented eternal life, love, protection and good luck

Our ancestors achieved an impressive development in the creation of pieces of art made with jade.

Interview with Dr. Tomas Barrientos - Archeologist

Investigations done in the site of Cancuen are very important for unveiling the Prehispanic production of jade

Cancuen was a port from where the jade that came from highlands was distributed to other Mayan cities

excavations in Cancuen displayed a Jade workshop, where we found a lot of discarded pieces of jade

we didn't found finished pieces, just discarded material such as minerals like quartz, used as abrasives for working with jade with hemp or wood

that lead to the conclusion that in that workshop they created basic forms of jade, that later were transfered

to the Palace where more specialized artist carved the forms and hieroglyphs, in the last phase of production

The fall of the Mayan Empire is still an unsolved mystery, and the art of working jade disappeared with them

until 1970's when the same sources of jade, used by Maya's

where rediscovered in the Northwest of Guatemala, in La Sierra de las Minas

Interview with Gerardo Leech

I am Gerardo Leech, one of the 5 founders of industry of jade here in Antigua Guatemala in 1974

Guatemalan jade is a Jadeite variety, and it differentiates from Nephrite, also known as Chinese Jade

because it is scarcer, harder and more difficult to work with

Interview with M.A. Jennifer Leech- Marketing Manager

Jade begins its formation at 10,000 feet deep with a grayish white color

while emerging to the surface, due to high temperatures and pressures, other minerals adhere to it

creating and incredible variety of colors, some of them exclusive of the Guatemalan region

traditionally, when we think of jade we think of the color green, caused by the presence of chrome

moreover, the presence of iron in jade produces the color black, a dense and intense black exclusive of Guatemala

Titanium produces the pastel colors such as baby blue, rainbow and lavender

Finally, the most exclusive colors such as Orange is created by the oxidation of jade

and the Imperial Green, caused by the presence of Chrome. This two are only found in very small veins of the stone and are considered almost extinct

Interview with G Leech - Founder of Casa del Jade

during the first two decades there were only two jade business, during the 90's the industry began to flourish

We estimate that there are over 200 points of sales in Antigua Guatemala

and approximately 4 or 5 thousand people working in the industry

At Casa del Jade, the creation of each product involves many experts

beginning with the designer that conceptualizes, evaluates the feasibility

and works together with the jewelers, sculptors and carvers to produce beautiful pieces of art

At workshop we begin by selecting the stone, followed by the first cut, then we draw the shape

the carving to define the piece and the polish to give the right brightness to the gem

working with strict quality controls, until we obtain the final piece

A very similar process is done with sculptures and figures

where the stone is selected and cut in blocks depending on the measurements

then a template is drawn on the block

from then on, the artist dedicates his time and talent, relying on his tools, to give shape

at what began with a block and ended as a piece of art

Reproduction of funerary masks is a challenge for the artist

as each piece must be craved to measure and assembled over a base like a puzzle

remaining the most faithful to the original

Probably the most well-known masks are that of Pacal

from Palenque, México

and the mask of Tomb 160 from Tikal, Guatemala

which design is the most complete and symmetric known today

Visit Antigua Guatemala and learn more about this millenary gemstone

with a guided tour through our Mesoamerican Museum of Jade

Jade... Guatemala's national gemstone