Jade is associated with the art, culture and psyche of China to an extent unparalleled by any other material in any other culture. For more than 8000 years the Chinese have fashioned and carved this tactile mineral into a vast range of ornament and artifact which has vastly enriched the world. Alan and Simone Hartman have collected Chinese jades for more than 20 years with a passion and educated taste, and this catalogue illustrates with commentaries and an introduction more than 200 of their finest pieces, which together form a series spanning almost five thousand years. Boasting examples from most periods, the collection is particularly strong in carvings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The catalog is completed with a special introduction by Yang Boda, an expert on Chinese Jades.