Xinjiang Hetian Mutton Fat White Jade Cross

The cross signifies "redemption and salvation," forming the core of Christian culture (including Catholicism, collectively referred to as the Christian faith). In the Roman era of the first century, the cross was, in fact, an exceptionally cruel instrument of execution. The Roman authorities would first subject the most notorious criminals to severe whipping, then force them to carry a cross weighing between 90 to 136 kilograms through the city. Finally, the condemned would be stripped naked, their arms spread wide, nailed to the crossbeam, and their legs crossed and nailed to the vertical post, leaving them to struggle in humiliation, pain, and the agony of suffocation.