Investigation of Chinese archaic jade by PIXE and μ Raman spectrometry

External-beam particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and muRaman spectrometry were used for elemental and structural studies of Chinese archaic nephrite jades of the Guimet Asian Museum in Paris in a non-destructive way. Nephrite is a variety of tremolite-actinolite of the amphibole group, with variable iron and magnesium contents. In the present work, in addition to identification of materials, the cation distribution in nephrite was investigated. Cation order-disorder is related to thermodynamic properties of minerals, and hence associated with geological conditions of the mineral formation. Besides, it plays an important role in the mechanism of coloration. So far, little work has been done on the cation distribution in nephrite. We thus initiated this research expecting to answer open questions concerning art and archaeological issues such as jade provenance and colour. The OH stretching vibration band of nephrite, depending on the electronegativity of the bonded cations, presents a fine structure. The study of this fine structure, together with the total cation content obtained by PIXE, allows estimation of the cation distribution in nephrite. In this study, six jade artefacts, dated from the Neolithic period to the Han dynasty (about 3000 BC to 220 AD), with diverse colours including white, yellow-green, green, dark green and black, were analysed. The data obtained permits establishing a geological database for determination of nephrite provenance and explaining the correlation between colour and cation distribution.