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. :)