Description
The original Thinker is a bronze sculpture by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin.
Auguste Rodin's famous creation, Le Penseur (The Thinker), was made in 1881. It was in that year that Rodin received his first official Parisian commission: a monumental bronze gate for a future Museum of Decorative Arts. This “Gate of Hell” was conceived after Dante’s “Divina Commedia.” The “Thinker” was intended for the central pediment, while the accentuated musculature and concentrated expression of the statue evoked the tomb figures of Michelangelo in the Florentine San Lorenzo. The Thinker is also called 'Le Poète,' because the statue was actually meant to represent the meditating Dante.
The Thinker was Rodin's first work to be exhibited in a public place. On April 21, 1906, it was installed in front of the Pantheon during a severe political and social crisis, making it a symbol of socialism. In 1922, the statue and its pedestal were moved to the garden of the Hôtel Biron, now the Rodin Museum. Another copy is in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. Yet another stands at Rodin's tomb in Meudon.
Jade is the common name for two minerals used as gemstones: jadeite and nephrite. Fake jade also exists in the economy, but is less valuable than genuine jade. The two can be distinguished by the fact that genuine jade changes color over time after years of contact with human skin. Jade comes in many different colors: green, brown, black, or cloud white, ranging from very light to very dark. Like soapstone and chalcedony, jade has been cut and worked by the Chinese for thousands of years. Originally used as tools, jade became popular as jewelry during the Han Dynasty. The only place where nephrite is found in China is in Xi'an, near the city of Khotan. In Chinese culture, only worked jade is considered valuable. A lump of unworked jade is therefore of lesser value. The Sanzijing mentions it as a comparison to education: "If one does not polish jade, it is not a precious thing. If a person does not learn, his life has no meaning, for he does not know the norms, values, and respect of life and will therefore never become talented" (玉不琢不成器人不學不知義). Jade is considered a valuable stone that wards off evil forces. If one wears a piece of jade on one's body for a long time, for example, on a red string around the neck, one will see the jade slowly change color. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the medals were adorned with jade.
