The jade carving technique of the Han dynasty is famous for its sharp, straightforwardness. Carving style of some simple items such as cicada is known as the eight times carving. The main motif for Western Han is the auspicious animal with flying wings. The size of jade artifacts tends to become larger owing to an abundant supply of fine quality Hetian jade when the territory of early Western Han had covered the Hetian area. After Eastern Han, the main
motifs are the four auspicious creatures (dragon, phoenix, tiger, the integrated structure combining snake and turtle), cloud, and eagle. Different from previous periods, Han Dynasty jades have shown modern Chinese
characters reading long happiness, suitable for offspring appeared on many bi-disks jades.  One important fact that should not be neglected is that many exquisite and spectacular royal jades, some with scripts, identifying particular emperors, have only been seen in the private collections.
This confirms the fact that almost all the tombs of Han emperors and royal families have long been excavated unofficially. Those exquisite and spectacular royal jades have long been kept in the hands of private collectors for ge
generations. There is no surprise that they are not displayed in any public museums. Sample jades are as follows:

Han Dynasty Thin Carving Plaque, 0.2cm漢辟邪獸薄雕Western Han Dynasty Jade Ko Halberd Ax 西漢黃玉玉戈