Room 33b
Chinese jade
Visiting the gallery
Opening times
Daily: 10.00–17.00 (Fridays: 20.30)
See full opening hours
Gallery audio guides
Listen on the Audio app, available on the App Store and Google Play.
In China, jade has been a material of the highest value since ancient times, prized for its beauty and magical properties.
The objects on display in this exquisite gallery show the history of the exotic stone. Translucent yet tough, jade was worked into ornaments, ceremonial weapons and ritual objects by Chinese craftspeople.
Most of the jades on display are on loan from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung and show different types of workmanship. They range from long, smooth Neolithic blades to later plaques, ornaments, dragons, human sculptures and intricate 18th-century pendants. The refurbished gallery also includes new acquisitions of contemporary jades, to bring the story up to the present.
