Reading inclusions.The marks a stone carries — and what they mean.

An open break in the stone. A fingernail catches; light passes through the gap.

From geological stress, quarrying, or later impact.

The one trait we treat as structural. On a bangle or a load-bearing point, a fissure is a reason to pass.

A former fissure that minerals have refilled and closed. Visible under light, but the surface is smooth.

Formed during the stone's own history and healed inside the crystal structure.

Structurally stable. We disclose position and depth so you can decide how it reads against the design.

Soft white clouds, flecks or veils inside the stone — the space between hard-jade crystals.

A natural feature of jadeite. Almost every piece carries some.

Not a flaw so much as a fingerprint. Even snow-flake cotton, when evenly distributed, is prized for its atmosphere.

A patch or fleck of a different colour — iron, manganese or chromium sitting inside the matrix.

Trace minerals absorbed during formation.

In the hands of a good carver, a well-placed spot becomes the sun, a leaf, an eye — the source of qiaose巧色 work.

A dark green or black patch of amphibole or chromite, often sitting alongside green colour.

A mineral companion to jadeite's green — the trade phrase is 癣随绿走.

Live xian is read alongside colour and can add character; heavy, bristle-like xian we avoid.

A slow drift of colour and lustre in an unstable stone — yellowing, dulling, drying out.

The risk lives in the crystal structure itself — young, loose material is prone to it.

We only offer old-species material (ice grade and above) precisely to avoid this. Buying jadeite is buying its next thirty years.