A Handful of Jade Rosettes

These  whimsical little jade rosettes also called yu-hua or jade flowers, date  from  late Qing (19th to about early 20th century)



Antique yu-hua

 

Although the rosettes are made from thin and small pieces of jade they are well shaped with attention to detail. The 12 flower blossoms are carved as rosettes with 5 petals radiating from a raised centre which incorporates  a hole. As all the pieces have only one central perforation I suspect these are likely to be hairpin components rather than buttons. 

 

likely to be hairpin components

 

Here's a circular arrangement  of 8 flowers see picture below

 

 

Circular arrangement of 8 rosettes 



 Four of the jade flowers have rounded concave petals  which have been painstakingly carved to give a scoop or tea spoon like appearance.

 

 

each petal resembles a scoop



  The largest yu-hua measures 1.4cm and the smallest 0.9cm

 

 

Largest and smallest of the floweres

 

There are 5 delicate protrusions at the petal's edge of the next flower which measures all of 1.3 cm

 

  

Spiked at the edge with delicate protrusions

 

It's a delight to hold these century old, tender jade blossoms in the palm of my hand.

 

A handful of jade flowers