3 Lovely Lasses

These 3 slim girls carved from jade hail from maybe 2000 years ago.



Maybe as old as 2000 years

Judging from the degree of corrosion on the jade they must have endured long years of burial. Although  they  have lost their original    lustre some dignified grace remains in their tall silhouette , long sleeves, hands demurely folded at the waist.

 

Lacklustre  but still dignified



Each piece is minimally carved and the facial features are simply notched.  As the figures do not carry any air of nobility  they may represent serving maids from the countryside. I am guessing  that they hail from the Han dynasty (206BC -220AD) as their gait and garments, top knots etc resemble paintings and wall murals of Han dynasty folk.

 

Simple and dignified



The back view shows the long sleeves and a line indicates the hair

 

Back view



At top of the head there is a ring hole for attachment as pendant

Ring hole for attachment as pendant

Their small size measuring 4.7cm x 0.5 cm, together with the ring hole indicates that they may have served as components in  ornamental jade sets such as the one set up by me below.

 

Could have been in a set of Jade Ornaments such as this "made-up" set



As Han jade, the carving on these pieces are not great but they are  interesting figurines from the past. When they were newly carved and polished, I am sure they must have been Lovely Lasses.



3 Lovely Lasses



 

Bead Pin Ups

Making Pin Ups of my miscellaneous beads is my latest pastime.

 

Bead Pin ups aka Hairpins or Hair Sticks

I got the inspiration for this project after visiting Crafty Crafter's webpage (think I'd adopt the name Crafty Beader .... sounds jazzy, though I am not much of a beader : ) ...... so thanks CC for giving me the idea.

Putting them  together was easy. With a pin and a dab of glue to hold the beads in place and presto the pin ups are made.

Easy to make bead pins

Attaching a dangle of silver, coral or cloisonné bead increases their charm.

 

Pair of bead pin ups with attached dangly of silver or cloisonne



The bead holder of these two pins is also very special. It is also a bead, albeit a very large one. It is carved on two sides with a Liangzhu style  mask motif and is likely to be a replica.

 

Liangzhu style mask motif



Composing these bead pins, aka hairpins or hair sticks led me to discover new ways to display and enjoy my beads instead of hiding them away in drawers and boxes where they never see the light of day. Not only that, but I also uncovered some surprising treasures among my buried beads.

Here is a group of glass, brass, copper  and turquoise beads rejuvenated into pins. Some of the beads were purchased from Nepalese traders long time ago and had been dismissed by me as from the rag and bone category and stuffed away. However in the process of setting them  up some of  these beads piqued my interest and I grew curious about  their background and vintage.

 

Glass, brass, copper and one carved turquoise



Wild as the suggestion may be, two of the pins (highlighted below)  bear some resemblance to the China's Warring States eye beads, circa 500 BC but they are obviously new.

Resembles Warring States eye beads ?



Here is a comparison with a Warring States composite eye bead to support my fanciful/wishful thinking.

Any  resemblance to Warring States eye bead shown on right?

 

Next pin shown below features a blue glass bead on top and a copper bead below. While the blue glass bead is not particularly striking the copper bead is  thought provoking. To my eyes the shape is reminiscent of   a prayer wheel and the embossed circular design  may represent a mantra.

 

Copper bead resembles a Prayer wheel



And here are 6 more of the same  beads. According to one net source the Tibetan hand held prayer wheel is a cylindrical wheel set atop a spindle with a weight attached to  a chain. Buddhist pilgrims rotate this prayer wheel with the help of the spinning weight. I am thinking that these beads may have been the weights  that aid in the spinning of the prayer wheel except they are too light. So I am making another wild guess, but they do reflect a mystical presence.

 

Evokes the image of a prayer wheel with spiritual presence

 

The turquoise bead pin shown below was a gift from a bead pal many years ago. It is well carved with the Chinese character  Shou  (longevity) and combined with green glass bead and a small coral dangly makes another neat pin.

 

Carved turquoise with coral dangly



 

I speculate that the turquoise bead maybe  from some vintage Chinese jewelry or it could have been part of a 19th century court necklace . Here are more of the beads.

Auspicious Beads

 

Beads with auspicious words carved on them, like these turquoise beads can also be used in malas or rosary such as the one I made,  shown below

 

Turquoise beads used as highlights or separators in a mala



I could go on ad infinitum making and posting  bead pins but  before this post gets too boring I will wrap up my Bead Pin Up Show with a  sweet eye bead pin.

Eye catching replica eye bead



 





I love collecting .....

......jade hairpins and hair accessories, from a bygone era. My collection is mostly made  from jade, carnelian or silver and date from the Qing dynasty to early 20th Century. Hairpins are essentially objects of feminine beauty to decorate ladies hair. They have evolved  into tender gifts of love  from milady to hero as featured in many a lovers tale in Chinese novels and dramas. Adam Cheng's wistful ballad Purple Jade Hairpin also celebrates the romance of the hairpin.

Vintage and antique hairpins of jade carnelian and silver



 Not all the hairpins in my collection are in their original condition, some have been reworked with missing parts filled in, others are the remains of assemblages namely the jade, carnelian, coral or agate while the gold and silver content have been melted down for money.

The jade and carnelian carvings below are examples of  items disassembled from a large assemblage.

Remains of hairpins



Bottom most piece of a fish had been reworked by me into a dangle.

Hair pin shaped as a sword at one end and a fish at the other.



Hairsticks are the most basic design of hairpins and usually consist of a simple gilt or silver stick topped with a  jade charm. The five sticks shown below are examples.

Hairsticks with small jade charm tops



Many of these jade tops  get detached from the original sticks as the silver and gold content of the sticks can be melted down and converted into money. The remaining jade tops are  then recycled as jade charms, pendants, or amulets.

Small jade charms recycled from hairsticks



Lotus because of its association with purity and spirituality was a favorite design for milady's hairpin. Picture below shows one intact jade stick with a lotus and five other pieces of lotus sans the sticks

Lotus jade stick with remains of five other carved lotus

 Other jade carvings used in hair accessories can range from design of flowers, birds, hands, butterflies, flower basket etc. Below are some examples



butterflies and flowers



 lotus



Bird

Beautiful hands to emphasise beautiful hair

Besides jade, carnelian was also a favourite medium for hair pin carvings.

Carnelian florets

Some of the examples shown above are often described as buttons but I suspect they may  have served multi purposes, as components in a large or complicated hairpin, as a gentlemen's pin and brooches for example.

There are also hairpins carved from a single piece of jade or carnelian which are  cool.

This curved jade hair ornament is completely plain 



Carnelian and jade hairpins

Hairpin of  a goat and a dragon



 Not forgetting my silver hairpins

Silver hairpins

And here is a rare matching pair of insects with imperial green jade for the wings, coral for the eyes and pearl for the body set in silver gilt.

A pair of hairpins collected from a heritage house
 in Swatow, South China.



Finally my most elaborate hair ornament which I daresay is a reworked piece judging by the rather rough workmanship, nevertheless, still an exotic piece.

Hairpin made of carnelian, jade, coral twigs,  pearl and glass charms



This semi circular hairpin is composed of three bis (2 of white jade, one of carnelian) a pair of jade deers,  small coral and pearl beads, emerald green glass beads, a white jade flower, 2 small carnelian pendants, a pair of coral twigs,  a pair of carnelian bats and a pair of white jade carvings of  a bushy tailed squirrel guzzling on a nut .....oh  what an eclectic and enjoyable piece !

The central silver stick has the Chinese characters Ai Yu Zhou  (Love Jade Manufacture) inscribed on it.

Banded, Striped and Barred......

.....Banded Agates are  some of my favourite beads.
 

Necklace of ancient agate beads

 

This necklace is composed of ancient agate beads collected from all over Myanmar.

I especially love the 3 bow shaped beads with their abstract patterns and varying degrees of translucence. Looks like these 3 nuggets of beauty have been designed by the combined efforts of nature and man.




Nuggets of Beauty





 Two  of the bow shaped beads  are very translucent.

 

translucent agates



The upper bead has a porcelain white, natural band which shows up well in the translucent stone. The white band is gently V shape and covers most of the bead. This lovely bead may also be described as "purse shape" as it tapers to a sharp end resembling a small purse. The lower bead is enhanced by two white symmetrical stripes at both ends.

The  large bow shaped  bead  below measures 4.2cm and is embellished with interesting bands and color.  The stone appears opaque but when a light is shone on it the bands around the centre white portion are translucent and one can see clearly through the stone. I am not sure whether it should be classified as  agate or jasper

 

Is this jasper or agate ?



The rest of the beads in the strand are also  unique varying in shape, size, color,  banding stripes and swirls.   Some of the beads have uneven surfaces with quirky dings and dips, (possibly due to hand polishing)  which are wonderfully tactile.  Although age worn,   pitted and pored in many parts each one is still a treasure.

 

 

Each bead is unique





And here's a bracelet of banded agates  from the same source which I like to wear all the time.

 

 

Bracelet of banded agates

 

Now I just need a stripey orange and brown  longyi to go with them :)

 

Cicadas are Immortal......

......or have been immortalized by Chinese cultures from Neolithic times to the 21st century. Chinese man  have been intrigued by these strange  creatures who emerge from the ground after years of hibernation to sing their haunting songs. I think it is this sequence of burial and birth that gives rise to the image of cicadas as a symbol of rebirth and  immortality.

Cicadas feature in many forms of Chinese art including poetry, jade carvings, paintings and calligraphy. Here is a poem  by Tang poetess Xue Tao celebrating  the songs of cicadas :

 Hearing Cicadas  by Xue Tao

 Washed clean by dew, cicada songs go far

 and like windblown leaves piling up 

 each cicada's cry blends into the next.

 Yet each lives on its own branch. 

And here is an old picture taken of a mural from a Tang royal tomb depicting a scene of ladies watching birds catch cicadas.

Catching Cicadas Mural at Prince Zhang Huai tomb



But it is cicadas celebrated in jade that I find  the most enduring. Being a city dweller,  I have never seen or heard the sounds of a real cicada yet I too have been beguiled into  romancing and collecting the creature. I have quite a few jade cicadas in my collection which I will show. The first few  cicadas I show are at the pupa stage rather than the full grown insect.



Possibly a  Hongshan cicada pupa

The first  pupa  is a Hongshan (around 3500-2500BC)  hopeful. It  has a  thick, somewhat cylindrical  body with flattish eyes at one end and a series of three wide, shallow grooves at the other.  The remainder of the body is plain and tapers slightly towards the  end. The large perforation near the head is funnel shaped, drilled from both sides with tool marks  in it.  It measures 3.5 cm. with rust seepage over the green jade surface. There are many  examples in museums, reputable auctions and books of this pupa shape, form and color which have been attributed to Hongshan Culture.



Probably Hongshan cicada pupa

Here are 2 more pictures showing frontal view  and  flat base of this pupa.

front view

flat base

The next creature shown below is rather mysterious and raises many  questions and doubts. It is made from jixue (chicken blood) stone. Although carved and shaped as an archaic  piece there are some points that do not jell. The shape of the body, eyes, and grooves on its back resemble Hongshan style. However the  6 holes, 3 on each side of the body, presumably representing the 6 legs of a cicada and ending in a sort of base,  is  unusual for a Hongshan pupa. The chicken blood stone is also seldom seen on Hongshan  artifacts. Could this be a later copy ?

Is this a cicada pupa made from attractive chicken blood stone?

And  unusual too,  is the horizontal slit from the belly to the legs ending in the base, as shown below

Tool marks can be seen in the slit

To add another query, is the tiny quartz stone peeping out of  the extreme right hole may have been left behind in the drilling process and which may be taken as a sign of  antiquity or a sign of conmanship.

Quartz stone for drilling seen in hole on right

So taking all the pros and cons into consideration,  is this a very rare ancient early culture pupa or a modern day invention? Whatever the answer to me it is an enjoyable piece.

Next is this slightly arched and  subtly sculpted cicada pupa. It measures 2.5cm and the most distinctive feature is  the  prominient eyes. The stone looks like chicken bone (ji gu) white  jade  showing reddish stains. The Chinese like to relate their jade stone with the chicken hence ji gu (chicken bone) and ji xue (chicken blood) What is it about jade that gets it  mixed with chicken  from chicken blood to chicken bone ? I hear there is also ji you (chicken oil) but unfortunately I don't have an example of such a stone to show.

Slightly arched with 2 prominient eyes

 It has an ox nosed perforation, the hole leads from top of head and exits through the face see picture below.



Ox nosed perforation

The color of this incredibly smooth stone with its red stains is reminiscent of Liangzhu ( 3500– 2500 BC) artifacts

Liangzhu color beautiful piece



By the time of the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD) cicadas were used as tongue amulets as well as ornaments. There is a Chinese saying which goes like this

In life use as pei (ornament)

In death use as han (tongue amulet)

The 3 cicadas shown below  have wings and are no longer pupas. These cicadas are flat and  stylised rather than lifelike. For the left and right cicadas the wings and heads section are indicated by 3 sharp cuts and the eyes and mouths by 3 slits. The centre piece has only one dividing centre line. Wonder whether this is the Han badao or 8 cut style. All the surfaces show patina and weathering.



Han yu

A Chinese seller  did tell me that cicadas carved in this "simple" fashion are likely to be  recarved pieces. He's got a point there but there is  something solemn and amuletish about them and perhaps they may be genuine tongue amulets from the Han dynasty.

Besides jade used as Han yu, glass was also sometimes used in the Han dynasty. The next cicada I show is a  corroded specimen of a glass cicada.

glass cicada



And the side view

side view



The base is plain.

the base



2 more small  jade cicada beads shown below are beads pierced from head to tail end. These look like Shang - Xi-Zhou period (16thcentury-221BC) but hard to determine so I just enjoy them.

A pair of cicada beads



Another full grown and life like cicada from late Qing (19th - early 20th century) is shown below. It measures 4.2 x 2.2cm. The wings and body are decorated with line carvings and it is pierced at the nose for attachment as pei or girdle ornament.

Late Qing green jade cicada



To add variety, here are a couple of cicada snuff bottles from Heng's collection.



Snuff bottles carved as cicadas

The obverse side



Finally  a very large crystal bead decorated with 3 cicada carvings on the surface. The age is indeterminate but it was the fashion  from early dynasties to use cicadas as decoration on ornamental objects such as bis, plaques, congs, etc.

Large crystal bead with cicada decoration



It measures 3.5cm x 7 cm and is decorated with three cicadas

A side view showing 2 of the three cicadas



Continuing the love for cicadas into the 21st century are these three modern day cicadas. They are pierced at the head and can be worn as pendants or used as toggles for handphones or handbags.

Recently carved cicadas in green and white jade



   Cicadas Are Forever