Double Coin Knot n Jade Yuan Bao Necklace

I made this "lucky" necklace to ring in the New Year.

It is composed of the double coin knot as a central piece with button knots and ancient Vietnamese glass beads making up the rest of the chain. The double coin knot is a decorative motif composed of two antique Chinese coins overlapping one another and symbolizes prosperity and longevity. Dangling from the knot is a jade yuan bao which also represents old Chinese coin or money. Gold is the symbol of wealth and so the gold color satin cords add emphasis to this manifold auspicious necklace ! How cheesy can I get ? :)

Here's a close up of the necklace :

Well so much for welcoming the New Year, as 2008 draws to a close I am not without sadness. In my favourite comfort columnist AY's* words the year has not been without "its sadness and joys, relief and regrets" And for my last post of 2008, I'd like to shed a silent tear for all partings, good byes, personal losses and pain which has been.....

Postscript: Sadder still, AY passed away suddenly in June. So, no more consoling words... He has touched many lives, including people he did not know.

Sa Huynth Earrings

This funny shaped three pronged stone (maybe nephrite ) ornament was purchased from South Vietnam. I think it belongs to the the nephrite earrings (sometimes called lingling-o) from the Sa Huynh Culture of Vietnam (1000 BC to 200 AD), a late prehistoric metal age society on the central coast of Viet Nam.

However my specimen may not be genuine Sa Huynh. I somehow got the feeling that it is a replica. The seller being uneasy himself, had said that it is from the Champa Kingdom, a later civilization and that could bring it as far down as 1800.

The curled up C-shaped ornament also reminds me of the Chinese Hongshan (3500 to 2000BC) zhulong(pig dragon.) The zulong is descended from the jue(slit ring) and the jue-form is also used in Vietnam although later than the Chinese period. So from this chain of reasoning my impression that the lingling-o and zhulong are distant cousins, relatives or whatever, may not be too far fetched ! Though I must admit that my assumptions are completely unscientific !

Are my eyes or mind playing tricks on me ? Seems like the more I look at it the more I see the zhulong pose (minus the prongs) in the earring ornament. Here are two views:

The picture on the left is a lingling-o looking view (the earring view) usually shown in books and other sources. The picture on the right shows a different view. Does it not resemble the curled up zhulong ? Wish I could post a picture of a zhulong for comparison. Unfortunately, I do not own one not even a replica. However jade collectors would be familiar with this legendary artifact and the Net would also have many images of this illustrous mythical animal.
So is this a fake lingling-o that looks like a zhulong ? Well I must say this is one tricky piece and the faker must be having a good chuckle baffling hapless collectors like me. :)

Here is another C-shaped, lingling-o/zhulong lookalike ornament made from glass also purchased in Vietnam.

Vintage unknown.

Large Spherical Jade Bead

This emerald-green satin cord of snake knots sits well with my large pale green spherical jade bead.



I used this piece as practice for making snake-knots and it looks not too bad ? Hehehe! Self applause and loud clapping ! As a l-i-m (learn-it-myself) crafter I must admit that my project was not all smooth sailing and I did encounter obstacles. First of all my cord dimensions although taken from a pattern in a book, ended on the short side. It may be due to typo error or it might have been due to the loose tension in forming the knots. Although the snake knot is one of the easiest of the Chinese knots, the tension still took a while to get the hang of. I had to unpick and start over many times. Oooo ! what a pain in the neck that was ! With chinese knots the mantra is not only "practice, practice, practice !!" but also "patience, patience, patience" It is also dash difficult to get the snake knots to lie flat, they keep on undulating like a typical snake !

My poor grasp of the chinese instructions was another handicap. On the bright side I actually picked up and learned some new vocabulary...
Back to my bead .. like all things Chinese this necklace has many auspicous meanings. The large bead is carved with the Chinese character "Shou" for longevity, while the snake represents - rebirth renewal and healing. It is also regarded as a source of good luck as well as guardian of treasures.

The surface decoration of the bead consists of two roundels with the character "Shou" and surrounded by spiral patterns. I guess this is a new bead of not more than 20 years. It's large size 2.5cm across makes it a good centre piece for a choker necklace. Close-up below:

Here are 5 more similar looking beads in various sizes.

Fun with Dolls and Beads

Playing with dolls and beads seems like return to second childhood! But I just could'nt resist making these cute "wawas" or dolly wollies with knots and beads. So please indulge my silliness for one post, ok? :)



The heads are made from monochrome old Chinese and Indonesian glass beads.For the feet and hands I use seedbeads with a couple of ancient trade wind beads for the hands of the left dolly. The flat knot is used to make the doll's bodies. I got the pattern from a Chinese knotting book.

Buttons and Beads

Button knots look like beads and make lovely accents for my ancient beads. I am so glad I mastered the button knot to tie this necklace of ancient glass beads from Vietnam. Cord knotting is also a gentler medium for stringing of centuries old beads.


The large central greenish bead is barrel shaped while the two side beads are melons of a dark green shade. These beads may be imported from China or it maybe made locally. Looking at their general condition I make a wild guess that they may date from 1000 to 500 years old.

This second necklace is also composed of glass beads from Vietnam.


The knots used are the cross knot for the central bead and button knots for the rest of the necklace. Lavendar is my favourite color and these lavendar cords and knots gently pamper the 1000 year ancient white glass beads from Vietnam.

The button knot looks like a rosebud hence its also known in some quarters as rosebud knot, see closeup below :


Seller said the beads belong to the Cham Dynasty(from approximately the 7th century through to 1832, according to Wikipedia) The central bead is ovalish or ovoid (I think this is not the correct bead description term, but nevermind) with impressed grooves. The accompanying 2 beads are melon shaped.

Dragonflys with beady eyes

In these dark and dreary days of market crashes, lost savings and wrecked lives, I find relief in making these little knotted dragonflys with beady eyes.


These elusive bugs sure provide an antidote from the toxic problems of the current age and times. Some old sage might have said of them "Blessed be these simple critters with their diaphanous wings, they will give us peace.. ....." oops, sorry, dreamt that one up and just joking, read too much Murakami and Kundera ... heh! heh!

The knot used is the flat knot, sometimes called square knot.The beads used in the eyes are old Chinese and Indonesian glass seedbeads as well as a couple of Venetian whitehearts.

On a more mundane level these dragonflys also make good decorative material for handbags, backpacks, mobile phones and can be used as souvenirs and giftaways.


Or it can be worn on a cord as a pendant.


As these dflys can be made in small sizes I need only use the leftovers and remnant cords from other projects and need not incur extra expense. So they are really fun and free.

Here's a dfly of another kind, from my jade collection.


And not forgetting the real thing from my garden fence. I stalked it the whole morning and finally caught its diaphanous wings !


Oh, here's a bonus ! I spotted another welcome visitor on my fence, -- a red dragonfly.



Finally thanks to Jack Keene http://whatknot.tripod.com/knots/dragon.htm for the online pattern and tutorial on the making of the dragonfly using chinese flat knots.

More groovy, grooved, jade beads

Here are 3 companion beads to the groovy huan/ring in previous post. Purchased on the same trip and cut in the same groovy pattern, I cant help but think they are all from the same era. (Spring and Autumn Period 771-475 BC.) Overall color is also similar though patina, which can never be the same, shows some variation.

So far I have been unable to locate similar looking beads in books, the net, museums or markets which lead me to conclude (rightly or wrongly) that these are "uncommon" beads. Alternatively these beads may be regarded as "unimportant" among China's prodigious artefacts and therefore are never documented. Also, I may be looking in all the wrong places.


The beads are frail and hoary. They are weathered and bleached almost to the bone. But the twisty grooves are still vivid and impressive. The original color beneath the patina is lemony yellow with the usual age-mark magic spirals lightly sketched in the perforations. Each bead measures 3cmx1cm.

I am planning to compose and knot a necklace comprising this family of ring and beads but my bad back is acting up again and for the time being I have to be satisfied with just this short post to muse about them.

Groovy Huan/ Ring

I am not trying to be cute with the header for this post. This ancient Huan

or Ring, to give it its more general name, is really full of grooves. Although Chinese normally describe this kind of pattern as "twisted rope design", some sources have described the spiral patterns as grooves, which I suppose is also correct. I purchased it more than 5 years ago from Shaanxi Province. According to my "research" the "twisted rope" carving style of this Ring ornament can be dated to to Spring and Autumn Period 771-475 BC.

The jade has been altered and is completely covered with a beige patina. It is no longer jade like. But still fascinating nevertheless. The patina is like a piece of crepe which engulfs the whole Ring whilst inside the grooves a regular pattern of ridges (?) or maybe should I say crinkles or wrinkles can be seen? O dear don't know whether this is the correct description or if I am making sense! I dont know all the correct terms and would never make a good curator. Sigh !But please look at the picture to have a clearer idea of what I am driving at.



There is also iron rust marks on the one side of the Ring.

I speculate that the "ridges" visible in the grooves represent the tool marks on the original surface of the jade Ring. This Ring is also very well made with the grooves almost precision carved. The patina, the ancient toolmarks of grinding and the beautifully cut grooves all make this an unforgettable piece of artwork. Ahem, these are just my personal observations and ideas and and I have no hard facts to back up my story !

On a more serious note, there is a report about a paper * that delves into how groovy Ring ornaments, similar to mine, were created 2,500 years ago using compound machines. According to Harvard graduate Peter Lu "the spiral patterns on the small rings are Archimedes' spirals, which he believes are the oldest evidence of the use of compound machines." in China. He has even conducted an experiment to prove his controversial view.

O, the wonder of Chinese civilization, and their wonderful early inventions and works of art !

*http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn5103(for those who wish read about the theory )

Replica Jatims and Chinese Knotting

A few years ago while still in my salad days of beadcollecting I bought a bundle of replica jatims.

Genuine Jatims are ancient glass beads from Indonesia which are very collectable and costly. Unfortunately my hoard are not the genuine stuff and I was stuck with them! Frustrated and not knowing how best to dispose of them I ended up using them as bottle stoppers!!

As picture shows combination didnt seem to gel and the project was soon abandoned.

These beads have caused me much heartache and I had left them to languish in my cupboard for a long time. But now that I have taken up Chinese knotting, I have found a new use for them. These large colorful beads with their ample perforations are just the right size for the rather thick cords used in Chinese knotting. Here's an example of Jatim millefiori beads strung with a Chinese double connection knot.

Hmm, do the jatims bring out the rich glow of the satin green cords or does enhancement happen the other way round ? Anyhow chinese knots have brought me to a better relationship with my repro jatims.I will be knotting necklaces with blue and white cords for my blue and white-eyed millefiori jatims and maybe yellow cords for those with yellow dots and stripes etc etc ......looks like I have projects up to my ears.

Beads and Chinese Knotting

Some folks knit, some crochet or tat. Well, I choose knotting and this is hardly surprising since such a skill will naturally complement my bead and jade obsessions.Its only surprising that I have come to it so late. I tried to pick it up a few years ago with little success but this time round I have been more determined. I am not gifted at handwork so its really taken a lot of dogged perserverance and practice to get the hang of knots.

I have always admired those beautifully knotted and strung strands in books or on the net, and kicking myself to see why I cant do it like any other ordinary mortal. Finally, after much gnashing of teeth, here is my first finished project.

The bracelet shown above is strung and knotted together with the Double Connection Knot which is a basic knot for beginners. Still my thumby fingers had to put in oodles of practice before getting the knot straight.

The beads are Chinese glass beads circa 19-20th Century and look not unlike beads featured on p58 of Collectibe Beads by Robert K Liu.

An unexpected bonus about practicing basic Chinese knots (not the complex ones mind you) is that it is quite relaxing and is the ideal in-between-activity while waiting for my family members who are always less than punctual for outings ! I call it knot therapy and it actually keeps me from getting mad. And also, call me corny, but it satisfies my hunger for making things as opposed to eating things :) Knotting is also kinder to elderly eyes than most other craft work.

Other learning projects completed :

The double connection knot used here looks especially good when made in contrasting colors of red and brown as shown in my example. The crumb glass beads are old Chinese glass beads sometimes called Peking glass beads.



Creeper knots are easy to make and look cute. They can also be adapted to hold beads to make a quaint necklace.


Another creeper knot necklace knotted on thicker cord.



The beads shown are old Chinese glass in monochrome colors circa 19th century thereabouts.

Swinging Eyes

Here's another ancient swinger! The eyebead, swinging in the Huan.


Briefly, a Huan according to the Chinese definition is a ring with a big central hole as opposed to a Bi which has a small hole. There are more detailed differences separating a Huan  from a Bi, but for my purpose this short description should surfice.

Not sure what century this Huan belongs to but if I were to hazard a guess, I would say Han 206BCE–220 AD or earlier. Huans are normally made of jade but this one looks more like agate or manao.

I am hoping that the many internal fissures or crazing on the Huan is a sign of great age. These fissures also look like what the archaic jade analysts describe as "cleaving veins". Of course "cleaving veins" may apply to jade only and I am using my imagination to stretch it a bit :) Below close up of the Huan. Hope what looks like "cleaving veins" to me can be clearly seen.


There are perforations at the top and bottom of the Huan ring which is just perfect for me to attach the eyebead using the flower knot to create a dangle. Wow, what a swinging threesome of flower knot, Huan and eyebead.

The eyebead hails from the Warring States period approximately 481-221 BCE and has beautiful violet and brown spots(the eyes) against a background of pretty blue faience.

PS :
Just wish to add that the flower knot shown above is not my handwork. It was bought from a shop.

Eyes in Jade Jue

One day while looking through a Chinese jade book *
I was excited to come across an artefact from the Warring States period (481-221 BCE.) consisting of a silver belt and jade hook embellished with 3 jade jues and 3 warring states eyebeads. I had not previously known that Warring Sates eyebeads could be used as a decorative element on another article. I had thought that such beads were only meant to be worn. So it was indeed a revelation and it prompted me to dig out my own jade jues and Warring States eyebeads for some kind of action.

Lacking a silver belt, I then made do with my jues and eyebeads to come up with the following composition "Eyes in Jade Jues" A jue is a slit ring and were used as earrings in ancient China and neighbouring Vietnam. Eyebeads are the famed Warring States beads from China.



The two jade jues used in above picture are from Vietnam's Sa Hu culture ((1000BC-200AD). The eyebeads are from Warring States period (481-221BC)and were purchased in China. So this is what we would call a "rojak" combination of styles, periods and cultures.

The jues are well polished nephrite with bevelled edges and even after many centuries of burial are still wonderfully tactile. The eyebeads are made of faience(ie not glass) with glaze decorations and are full of attitude.

Apologies that the jues and eyebeads are not perfect fits but I had to make do as it is not easy to have a large supply of these ancient materials. Just hope this humble illustration of "Eyes in Jues" will be an eyeopener for jade and bead lovers everywhere.

* Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series p.67 (for those who want to refer to the image)

Yuan Yang Ducks

I bought this "yu" carving of yuan yang ducks from my Guiyang trip. The name yuan yang, which refers to mandarin ducks, is a symbol of marital bliss in Chinese culture and such ducks are often featured in Chinese art.

The pair of ducks, set in a border of lotus leaves are the picture of harmony. Guiyang is bird country and so carvings of birdlife are common. I think the material is not jade though seller had claimed "yu". It is likely to be what the Chinese call manao, and which can cover anything from agate to carnelian and yu.



I am not sure which century these loving ducks hail from but 50-100 years should not be too far off the mark. I love the peaceful aura exuded by them and it is no wonder that fengshui masters promote yuan yang ducks for healing and enhancing relationships.

Face Bead 3

This is the last in the face bead/pendant series. This face is not scary, in fact it looks quite pleasant, nice eyes and mouth. But is it man or woman ?

Heng thinks it does not look a Han Chinese face. He thinks it looks kinda Greek !? I think the general shape of the head and ears resembles somewhat the jade face covers used in burials in early Chinese civilization.

The face bead/pendant is made of white nephrite and carved as a rectangular plaque measuring 5cm x 2.8cm and is pierced at one end only. It is carved on both sides in mirror image pattern. There is white iridescence in parts and some slight cracks.

I have seen a similar-looking piece in a jade collector's book and he had attributed it to Xizhou period (1027-771 BC) and described its use as an accessory. I am hoping mine is of the same vintage.

3 Faces Bead

Update 1: please refer to my later post https://baiyu-quietmuse.blogspot.com/2009/05/3-faces-bead.html  

Update   2:  for a similar face bead see Freer and Sackler Museum website.

Scary, scary face bead 2

Continuing the scary bead series, here is a second face bead.

This second bead was purchased in Myanmar. I think it is made of glass. The face is not as expressive as bead 1 but it is striking in its own way. The lips are thick, I wonder whether this was what early Burmese man looked like. The head is bald, is it a monk ? There are numerous pits on the surface of the eroded glass. The hole mouth is not a perforation as the bead is perforated through the head. The sea green color seem to imitate jade.

Perhaps this bead is from the ancient Pyu kingdom ?

Scary, scary face bead 1

I bought this small sized white jade face bead/pendant from China. It is only 2cm x 1.3cm. The beancurd white color of the bead resembles Liangzhu Culture (3400-2250 BC) stuff, but I have never seen anything from that period which is so tiny as this bead pendant of mine. Nor in this type of design or form. The eyes are also not Liangzhu Culture eyes. But here I must quickly add that I have not had that much exposure to Liangzhu artifacts, just what I get from books and on the Net. Well if Liangzhu is ruled out maybe it is from another ancient culture. I have also tried the scratch test. Somewhere some collector had said that if the jade article scratches white then it is ancient. Not sure how accurate such tests are but I tried it on the back of mine and it scratched white. There are also minute grind marks in the small mouth aperture which are another sign of age.

The features of this face bead look a bit grim and the hole which represents the mouth gives the impression of a demented howl. It reminds me of the impressionist painting "The scream" which is said to smybolize modern man taken by an attack of existential angst. How strange, is this the face of neolithic man or modern man ? Stranger still if this is a fake bead, was the faker inspired by the famous Norwegian painting. And added to that what a small unique piece to fake. On the other hand, if it is a genuine ancient piece, looks like neolithic man had also their share of mental anguish :)

And what is that cloud pattern design above the mouth representing ? I thought it was the nostrils but Heng says it could be a moustache ! Ooh, cloud pattern as a curling moustache on ancient man ! That's a cool idea. As a collector I obsess about fakes and genuine all the time and this piece has given me endless hours of speculation.

P/S

After writing the above post I came across a website on Liangzhu excavations, where tiny jade objects such as mine were described as inlays for swords and knives. So, whoopee ! Mine may be a genuine Liangzhu culture face bead after all !

Snow White Peacock from Guiyang

I bought a beautiful white peacock carving while touring Guiyang the capital of Guizhou Province. Guizhou has been condemened by many visitors as the most backward province in China, dirty and ugly. Yet I found it not so. It is a water province and so appeals to the Tao in me. It rains everday, there are waterfalls, crystals, mountains and caves and grey skies. Birds are pleantiful in Guizhou, including the King of birds, the Peacock.



Peacock in Guiyang's Peacock Park

And so it is appropriate for me to purchase this beautifully carved peacock as a memento of my trip.

The material used does not look like jade, more like crystal or agate or even glass. Ahem, what sort of a collector am I who don't know an agate from a quartz ?? Anyway it is very cold to the touch and white and translucent as ice. The tail fans up elaborately and the details are finely etched. There is an eye somewhere tucked among the feathery tail.

This is a unique piece for me as I have not seen a "yu" (any kind of stone)peacock carving before and a first in my collection. I think its inspiration comes from the many peacocks in Guizhou Province. And so thanks Guiyang for your snowy white peacock.

A Peasant's Smile !

I purchased these biconical faceted jade beads from a smiling peasant in NW China.

While he was not exactly "the Leech-gatherer on the lonely moor" I could perhaps call him the bead gatherer on the loess plains and I, a bead collector from the Southern Seas (Nanyang). So when the twain do meet it is a joyous occasion and I can still recall our twin beams of happiness. However some critics may say I need my head examined to go giddy over a handful of rusty beads, see picture.

The biconical beads are plumpish and the facets are not sharp but have been blunted by time.The exterior is coated with a layer of iron rust maybe from burial with metal objects. Patina (bao jiang) and iridescence are evident on all the beads which should put these beads in the ancient category.

What surprises me about these beads is the lack of any carving (or maybe it is more correct to say, grinding) on the surface of the beads, given that most Chinese jade artifacts,(not only beads) will bear some kind of carved pattern or other. It is almost de rigueur. Morover I have also read somewhere, that it is not in the Chinese art sense to facet beads. So are these ancient beads Chinese or not ? Too many doubts and questions really spoil the joy of collecting.

Think I'd do better to move on to a more intriguing aspect. While the surface of the faceted beads is plain and uncarved, the decoration seems to have gone underground ! I am referring to the grind marks or tool marks present in the perforations. These are revealed as a spiral of beautifully formed and aged concentric circles down the length of the hole. Peering down the perforations with the help of a loupe, to see the "hidden" artwork of many milleniums is one intriguing experience that only an ancient bead aficionado can understand.

Now I really need my head examined. :)

Gone Batty !

Bats may conjure up visions of spooky vampires but to the Chinese it is a symbol for blessings. The Chinese character for bats Fu is a homonym for blessings. It is a recurring theme on all things Chinese from furnitures, to porcelain to gold and jade.

Below are my collection of really teeny weeny jade bats. I take off my hat to the craftsmen who have so painstakinly carved these wee small bits. Jade is a hard material to work on and although these pieces may have been done with modern tools, still imagine holding them delicately between thumb and fingers to do the carving.

The tiniest one at the bottom row is only 1cm across and with a loupe one can see the eyes and ears and expression on the bat. The artwork is very, very minute. On the revese side, there are two minute hook-like perfortions for thread to be passed through to make it into a button.

The small curve and shallow channel of the perforations makes it a challenge to pass thread through it. But absorping the spirit from the original jade craftsmen I painstakingly teased the thread through the holes. This is how you go about it, first use the thinnest possible wire, bent as a needle, take a deep breath concentrate hard and gently use your fingers, heart and mind to pull it through. (Hey how did this become a Zen like exercise !) What a lot of work, and being so tiny will it ever catch anyones eyes? Only jade-obsessed folk like me will look, I guess.

Oh, and I'd like to mention that I had visitations from bats a few months ago. So far they have only given me their waste and I am still waiting for the "fu" !

Green Hearts on White Pearl

I purchased this strand of freshwater pearls from South China many years ago when freshwater pearls were all the rage. Nowadays they look rather plain and dated. To jazz them up I dug into my miscellaneous box of odds and ends and made this lucky find of 5 tiny jade hearts which were looking for a perfect necklace to attach to.

I am happy that the green hearts attach themselves so well to the pearly white beads ! True this is no Tiffany or Kaleidoscope, but it is still a nice folksy piece for a nice folksy occasion , agreed ??

Many fishes in the sea....

Well, these jade fishes are more likely to have come fom some boulder in some mountain than from the sea. I got this catch from a market, a flea market that is. Fish represents wealth and prosperity because the Chinese term for the fish, yu, is phonetically similar to the word for 'abundance'. It has been a favouredChinese design from neolithic times to the present day. The ones shown here are of some 10-50 years vintage.

Jade is a delightful medium for imitating nature. My set of fishes comes in all shapes, cuts and carvings. Some are flat, some in swimming pose, with curving tail, pouting mouth. The twin fishes or double fishes are symbolic of marital bliss but in present day coinage, it may represent the zodiac sign Pisces.

And not forgetting my beautiful auspicious nian nian you yu (every year have fish) earrings.

Other variations on the theme of Bis

Still on the theme of BIS, although strictly speaking the jade objects that I show on this post cannot be called Bis. However as their forms are mostly flat, circular and with a hole in the center I have lumped them as such and hope that purists will not hammer me.



The 3 bis in the above pic have a border made up of a "continuous chain of scooped out surfaces," somewhat like a concave hollow of a small saucer. According to my jade seniors(shifus) this scooping out of jade surfaces is a hallmark of Ming period jade.



Left Pic above shows 2 bis with off-centre holes. The first piece is shaped and carved as a flower while the right item also has a border of scooped out surface plus a centre decoration of a flower. They make nice present day pendants.
Right Pic shows an evolution in style. Instead of the chain of scooped out surfaces of the earlier examples this bi features a continuos chain of pearls. In my jade seniors opinion this is reflective of Qing workmanship and design
The 3 bis in the last picture show different kinds of twisted rope design. The first bi shows a thin intricately worked twisted rope, the middle is thick and flat while the one on the extreme right is fat and bulbous. Broadly speaking the first two are of Ming-Qing vintage and the last is a modern piece.
I love collecting these small jade objects and accessories and hope I have not been too off the mark in my descriptions and identification. Otherwise shifus out there may well give me a knock on the head !!