Donovans 02 - Jade Island

benefit. “Good color, very good carving. Unfortunately, the overall impact is static rather than dynamic. I’ll tentatively accept a Tang date.”
    While she made notes, Kyle glanced at the jade. It was another maiden with her toes pointed to the sky. From the look on her face, the man between her thighs could have been giving her a pelvic exam. He didn’t look too thrilled, either.
    Kyle took the magnifying glass from Lianne and examined the sculpture more closely. Despite its lack of artistic or emotional impact, it was a beautifully carved piece. The curves were even. When a design turned a corner, it turned cleanly, no overshooting or overlapping with previous designs.
    “ Kau ,” Lianne said.
    “What was that?” Kyle asked, looking up.
    “Yellow. Not the best example of the color. The carving is after the style of Three Kingdoms, but the symbolism and subject matter are more common to the Sung dynasty.”
    “Meaning?”
    “During the Sung dynasty, there was a revival of Three Dynasties styles. Perhaps this piece came from that time. Perhaps it’s more recent. May I have that back?”
    Kyle handed over Lianne’s magnifying glass.
    “Quite modern,” she said after a moment. “It’s hardly cooled from the mechanical polishing process.”
    She made another note, picked up another piece, and turned it slowly in her hands. “ Chiung, ” she said. Then, before Kyle could ask: “Cinnabar red. Unusual subject matter. I suspect this piece, too, is quite modern.”
    Kyle looked at the piece slowly revolving in Lianne’s strong, slender hands. The people’s robes were in disarray. The man’s head was between the woman’s thighs.
    “Excellent form,” she said blandly. “Wonderful polish. Not at all static. Outstanding technique. That’s one happy concubine.”
    Kyle laughed out loud. “How do you know she isn’t his wife?”
    “She won’t get pregnant that way.”
    “But she sure will be pleased,” he retorted.
    “If you listed the ten things that were most important to traditional Chinese males,” Lianne said, making notes quickly, “the sexual pleasure of their wives would be number thirty.”
    She set aside her notes and concentrated on the next piece of jade, and then the next and the next. The pieces were invariably modern. The quality varied from good to fair, with much more of the latter.
    Yet at least three of the jades Lianne had brought with her from the Tang vault, the three she had appraised herself, were excellent to superb. Whatever trade the Tangs were making was going to be very one-sided.
    And her name would be the one signed on both Han and Tang appraisal sheets.
    Unease rolled heavily in Lianne’s stomach. Her skinprickled. Sweat condensed coldly in her palms, down her spine. She told herself that she was overreacting; she was simply following the instructions of her client. Whatever trade Han Seng and the Tangs had worked out was none of her business.
    But her name would be on the bottom line just the same.

Chapter 15
    “I s he really sucking on her foot?” Kyle asked.
    Lianne jerked, took a breath, and focused on the jade piece she had been looking at without really seeing. The man indeed had the woman’s tiny, carefully maimed foot between his lips. The other foot was half unwrapped and pointed toward the sky.
    “He really is,” she said. “During the centuries that the Chinese practiced foot-binding, ‘golden lilies’ were considered the most sexually exciting part of a woman’s body.”
    “Golden lilies? Her feet? ”
    “Not just any feet. Golden lilies were the culmination of a lifetime of pain. When a girl was four or five, her toes were bent down and bound to her heels, breaking the arch of the foot. In adulthood, the result was a maimed foot no bigger than a lily bud just before it opens. Three to four inches, max.”
    Kyle blinked. “This was sexually exciting?”
    “To a Chinese male of those times, yes. The golden lilies were the only part of a woman’s body she didn’t bare in the presence of others, even the servants who attended her bath. The only exception was a woman’s husband or, if she was a prostitute, a particularly favored client.”
    Kyle whistled tunelessly. “Well, that sexual stimulus doesn’t transcend cultural differences for this boy.”
    “You’d feel different if it were her breasts.”
    “I sure as hell would.”
    “That’s cultural.”
    “God bless America.”
    Lianne smiled despite the anxiety that was closing