Wu Collection, Upper Volume
Radical: Jade (yù)
Bo; Kangxi brush strokes: 10; Page 729, Entry 05
Broad Rhymes (Guangyun), Rhyme Meetings (Yunhui): Pronounced po.
Jade Chapters (Yupian): Boly is a type of jade.
Broad Rhymes (Guangyun): Boly jade is a treasure from western lands.
Correction of Common Errors (Zhengzitong): Also known as water jade. It is as clear as water and as hard as jade; specimens that show rain-like spots when ground are genuine. During the Ming dynasty, the Grand Eunuch Sanbao traveled to the Western Ocean and brought back people capable of firing boly, which caused the price of boly in China to plummet. Fired glass contains air bubbles and is light in weight.
Correction of Common Errors (Zhengzitong): Sometimes written in the variant form poli. It is named after the country of Poli, where it is produced.
Middle Records (Zhongji): The Roman Empire (Daqin) produces five-colored poli.
Records of the Four Gentlemen of the Liang (Liangsigongji): People from Funan came to sell green poli mirrors one and a half feet wide; they were clear and clean both inside and out. When held up to the light, one could not see the substance itself, and they weighed forty catties.