Eyes of Infinite Reverie...

 

 I dont know whether this strand of beads with eyes, masks, and also a mouth carved on them should be called eye beads, mask beads or maybe  face beads ?

 

 

Not Roman, Phoenician, Stratified or Warring States



They aren't like the regular eye beads and face beads such as Phoenician eye beads, Warring States eye beads, Stratified eye beads, Roman face beads  to name a few of these well known  beads which are so covetd by bead collectors

They have an identity of their own



Very unique beads with eyes or masks carving

 Perhaps they should be called LIANGZHU face beads because they bear strong resemblance to the eye and mask motifs carved on Liangzhu jade congs,  plaques, and pendants which are well documented in books and  museums. The Liangzhu Culture was a late Neolithic culture which existed from 3300-2250BC and the culture excelled in jade especially the large congs, plaques etc.

 

Strong resemblance to Liangzhu eye and mask motifs



 

 Liangzhu culture eye decorations have been described from haunting to demonic, from divine to bizarre, from god like to bird like, taotie masks to monster design from greedy monsters to benevolent deities . I wonder if my beads qualify for any of these wildly divergent descriptions.

God-like or bird-like ?



 Although the eye motif which also looks like a mask was common among the important and large jade items of the Liangzhu culture there is a scarcity of research material on beads such as mine so I cannot vouch for their correct vintage. Perhaps they belong to another era and culture altogether.  However the  likeness  to Liangzhu artifacts is uncanny with their  haunting mask design, a bar-shaped mouth, raised oval eyes, sunken round pupils, etc

 

Uncanny resemblance





 The beads are about 2.3cm for the largest bead and 1.9 for the smallest. Spherical in shape the beads are inordinately heavy and I am not sure whether the stone is jade, serpentine or jasper. Not all have identical carving or the same amount of corrosion and iridescence . Of the 11 beads only a  pair have spiral like incisions carved around the oval shaped eyes or masks shown below

 

 

spiral shaped incisions carved around the eyes

 

 The rest of the beads on the strand  have unadorned masked eyes, and a carved outline that ends in a mouth. I will call them  Mask Eye Beads !

 

 

Mask eyebeads



 

 The title of this post, Eyes of Infinite Reverie is a phrase I got from a Chinese source writing on Liangzhu eyes/masks motif which had me wondering. Did the writer mean  the eyes are eternally enthralled in thoughts or is it the beholder who becomes eternally bemused by these eyes?  Interesting riddle :-))

 

Here is another profound response from an internet source  about these mask eyes

 

perfect frontal view and symmetry (of these masks) define a fixed visual center which demands the viewer's concentration. The art historian Upensky has contended that such a frontal image embodies an " internal observer" who is "looking out" from an imaginary world. The same logic can be described from the viewers point : in viewing the mask he finds himself in direct confrontation with a "mirror image", which however distorts realty.

Rather cheem, this observation, but still somewhat apt  :-))

I am not saying my beads are the real McCoy yet I am kind of  fascinated by their enigmatic expression.

Like La Belle, these eyes hath thee in thrall !



Connecting with a turtle.....

A chance encounter with this endearing pet turtle stirred me to come up with a jade bracelet made of 5 turtle shell beads and tiny round jade spacer beads



 

Slow and steady ...... no rat race for him....



 



Bracelet of jade turtle beads and small round jade beads

 

 

 

The shell beads are apple green and oval shaped.  On one side it is slightly domed with turtle shell carved on it while  the underside is flat and has a Chinese character feng which means abundance etched  on it. Each turtle bead measures 1cmx 0.8cm. The small spacer beads are new while the turtle beads are around 50 years old.

 

 

Dome shaped carved with motif of turtle shell

 

 

 

Close up



 

 

 

Chinese character "feng" on the flat underside

 

While researching the net I   also found that

 

 

 the turtle is one of the oldest living animal ancestors walking on the earth today. The oldest fossils of turtles are dated at over 200 million years old. This is highly symbolic. It indicates the turtle is a symbol of longevity, endurance, persistence, and the continuation of life (sometimes against incredible odds). Not only is the turtle's walking pace sure and steady, but so is its insistence at being a part of biological life on this earth. Something to consider when connecting with the turtle as a guide and mentor in living a dynamic, long life

 

To the Chinese too,  turtles are a symbol of longevity, patience,  slowness,  and fortitude. During my recent long illness  I had good healing vibes stringing and wearing this little green turtle bracelet.

  

 

My healing bracelet

 

 

.

  

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Jade on the Shells

 

 

I got these very attractive, tiny pieces of antique jade from old Shanghai many years ago.

 

Lao keng or old mine jadeite



Although amazingly thin, each piece is carved with intricate pattern of coin, flower or knot. The color is an attractive emerald green and is likely to be lao keng or old mine jadeite.

 

Coin shaped buttons



 

Carved as flowers



 

 

Eternal knot

Each piece is razor thin, the thinness almost  like jade  'to airy thinness beat...' . The largest flower measures 2 cm across.

Razor thin, "like gold to airy thinness beat..."

 

I am not sure what function they served in antiquity but I guess it must be to do with ladies accessories, be it hairpin, brooch, coronet or even as inlays for powder/jewellery boxes.

     



Jade on the Shells



For my present pleasure, I stuck them on scallop shells from my favourite sushi place, Itacho Sushi, to come up with this rustic Jade on the Shells display.
  





Quietly Meditating.....

below the bell n the beads



Stillness and tranquillity.....



The bronze bell dates to the  Ming emperor Wan Li (1572-1582) The strand consists of rock crystal and coral beads from Myanmar, Indonesia and China. The little jade scholar of unknown age and period comes from China and measures 7.5cm x 4 cm.

 

 

What enigmatic thoughts!
 





A close up of the strand of beads





The antique melon shaped crystal bead is from China.

 

I love collecting ......

.......Elephant beads.....

Elephants are an important cultural icon in Asia. For centuries they have been used as beasts of burden because of their great strength, memory, intelligence  and trainability. In the past, elephants have also served in royal battles between Thailand and Burma with kings mounted on them as seen in many paintings. It is no wonder they are so loved  and have been depicted in many carvings and works of art. Although the elephant is such a large animal, in Asia they are often made into  small objects such as beads and seals.

My elephant beads/seals are from Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and China and they may date from ancient to vintage.

First I'll show the greens from Myanmar's Pyu dynasty (from 2nd century BC to 11th century AD)

 



greenstone elephant beads  from Pyu period

Here are the  white ones also from Pyu dynasty

 





quartz  and bone Pyu period



These 2 seals are from Cambodia and have intaglio carving of elephants.

 



 

elephant seals from Cambodia

 

While these seals may date to the Khmer period,( around 9th-13th centuries) present day Cambodian elephants take tourists for rides in Seam Reap as seen below.

 

 

 

Ride a friendly elephant

 

 And tourists riding on elephants are replicated in these modern  jade pendants from Myanmar.

 

 

Elephant rides depicted in modern  jade carving



 

The carved jade elephant below hails from China. It is perforated from top to bottom and so it is also a bead. Carved in the round with patches of brown, the body undecorated but showing ears,  tucked trunk, tail and eyes it measures 4x2cm       and is quite an engaging figure.

 

 

 

Jade elephant from China

 

 Most Chinese jade elephant carvings seen on the antiques market today are around the Qing dynasty. Ancient elephant carvings from China are not  common though elephants did roam the Central Plains judging from the many elephant tusks recovered from the  Jinsha and Sanxingdui  (around the 12-11th centuries BC) excavations in Sichuan Province, China. 

 



Showing ivory tusks from the Jinsha Onsite Museum

  

There is also a jade elephant excavated from Fu Hao's tomb, Shang dynasty(around 1766-1027BC)  But I doubt that my plumb little elephant is of that great age.  Except for the 2 horizontal carving lines on the belly there are  no decorative patterns that can relate it to an ancient  period. And yet it does not look like a modern copy -   so, another mystery....

 Here is a 1960s elephant made of bone or ivory from Thailand

 

 

vintage elephant from Thailand

 

And here is the whole vintage strand

 

 

Vintage strand of elephant, lotus and beads

 

Below is another strand composed of  greenstone beads, carnelian buttons and one small elephant.

 

 

Beads and pendants from Pyu dynasty

 

And finally, my favourite elephant and other greenstone bracelet. The centre bead is serpentine from China.

 

 

Composed of 2 elephants and other greenstone beads

 

 

 

Close up of the flat nephrite elephant bead which measures.10mm.

 

 

Greenstone  elephant bead from Pyu. 15mm long

 









An Ornament from the Past

 
         the le le

These little odd shaped beads ( should I call them beads because they have perforations ?) had me wondering for sometime about their origin and use. I had bought them from a seller who could only say "le le" by way of description and as I am not fluent in Chinese,  I was none the wiser. I did try the bi-lingual dictionaries but got not much help. For all I know he may be having me on !

6 funnel-shaped jade objects called Le le

The six dark color nephrite stones narrow from the middle with the bottom wider than the top, may be described as trumpet-shaped or funnel-shaped. Measuring around 2 cm, each piece is drilled from top to bottom and  the holes are small.  None of the pieces are  of the same height or size and each "le le" is partially covered with patina of age. The le les  are entirely plain with no surface decorations or carvings.

Here is a picture showing the bottom ends and looked at from this angle their shapes are reminiscent of the supertrees in our Garden by the Bay Park or even ancient toadstools from a jurassic park :)

 

bottoms up they look like ancient toadstools or supertrees!

Supertrees, Garden by the Bay Park

To learn more about their source and origin I searched through many publications on early jade and found some useful references and illustrations. In Roger Chow's book Sparkling Splendours there are similar funnel shaped objects in crystal and agate form. He has described them as ear ornaments and attributed them to Han dynasty(206 BC – 220 AD) On the other hand, in Jessica Rawson's Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing similar shaped  jade beads  were dated to Dong Zhou-Han dynasty (5th-2nd century BC)

However Rawson's examples are more than thrice the size and have elaborate carvings and large holes.   Size and decoration wise my le les (small size, plain and small holes) are more in keeping with the crystal and agate samples shown in Sparkling Splendors by Roger Chow. So I am more inclined to  to think they are ear ornaments dating from that period (Han)

As ear ornaments I guess they could have been set with gold and pearls, or strung with silk threads and the hole facilitates  attachment to the ear. Perhaps they were worn as dangle earrings  like the one I tried to recreate below ?

le le as earring

 

A le can also be used as a pei or accessory to be strung up with other beads/ornaments  to form a pectoral (chatelaine).I don't have enough ancient components to form a dramatic pectoral such as those shown in books. But here is my shot at making a mini pectoral, consisting of funnel shaped les, xizhou carnelian discs, one silkworm and one very old pearl bead.

 

mini pectoral

 

They also look nice strung with white calcite discs as a contrast.







strimg with carnelian and white calcite discs



Although  my les have no provenance I'll let the pieces speak for themselves :)

*Postscript:
Just got hold of the book Lazurite : a journey into ancient China. According to the book ear ornaments called er dang were fashionable with ladies of the Han era. These er dang were made in glass and were funnel shaped. The book shows many examples of these er dang or ear ornaments which have been attributed to Warring States and Han dynasty excavations.
 



SIMPLY DAZZLING ......

...to hold and behold


Here is a treasured necklace, composed of 16 old rock crystal beads and one quartz elephant bead. The crystal  beads remind me of ice while the quaint elephant has a touch of the evergreen.



Crystal on the rocks

 

These faceted rock crystals have weathered well through the centuries, retaining a genteel sparkle. The perforations drilled from both sides can be clearly seen through the translucent crystal.

translucent and brilliant



crystals close up

The centrepiece of the necklace is a quartz elephant from Myanmar's Pyu Dynasty 167-1044 AD.  It is zoomorphic in appearance and such elephants can be found in Pyu's repertoire of stone carvings. This one has been damaged and repaired. A close up of the elephant showing its repaired head and parts of the body can be seen below

Quartz elephant from Pyu dynasty

The crystal beads were sold as Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) by a China dealer but its hard to determine the exact vintage. Meanwhile it's still a lovely strand to hold and behold.



...to hold and behold...

 

LUNAR NEW YEAR OF THE SNAKE 2013

 

 

 

 

To greet Chun jie 2013 I composed this little jade snake picture from my cache of flat jade plaques. The head has a carving of a heron while the body is made up of the auspicious characters Fu meaning blessings. The tail is of a fruit with leaves.

Madam White Snake and Her aide Little Green Snake is also here to welcomes Lunar New Year of the Snake !

 



A pair of charmers



There are not many  snake objects in my collection but I did manage to turn up this charming pair. White snake on the left measures 3.5cm by 2 cm while the little curled up bundle on right measures 2cm by 0.9cm.

As the reverse of both jades have the prosperity symbol of a coin, they must have been made for lunar new year purpose.



green snake has the prosperity symbol of a carved coin on the back of its head.

prosperity coin symbol scratched on the reverse of white snake

Butterflies and flowers are also emblems of good luck for the new year as shown in my next jade picture.

 

 

Its New Year's Eve 2013, and life is great again ! May the  charming         2 0 1 3   S n a k e    slither in with blessings of health and happiness and most importantly, bring me Yu x2 ! Yu  as in abundance and Yu as in jade :)