Jadeite cabbage and meat-shaped stone

Long visitors' queues are waiting in front of the vitrines of two showpieces artfully carved from gemstones.

Two well camouflaged locusts sit on a piece of jade carved in the shape of a cabbage head. The partly transparent leaves result from the different natural colours of the jade and reproduce the colour nuances of a real cabbage in a very realistic way.

With the meat stone, the natural colour spectrum of an agate-jasper was used to imitate a piece of meat. The coloured and textured surface makes the skin layer, lean meat and fat appear almost real.

Together with the Jadeite cabbage and the meat-shaped stone the bronze vessel Mao Gong ding is one of the "Three Treasures of the National Palace Museum". On the inside the tripod vessel has a inscription with 500-characters. So it is the longest antique calligraphy on bronze worldwide.