Enigmatic Bead from my Peregrinations

 

Here is an intriguing bead I bought  on one of my peregrinations (thanks K for the exotic word, so appropriate for this rare bead.)




Enigmatic Bead

 

It literally landed on my lap, talk about bead affinity ! I did not choose it, it chose me :)Here I was bargaining hard with a Chinese dealer about other stuff when he pressed this bead on me to stop my bargaining. And I did acquiesce to his price. It was only back home that I realized what a great bead had come to me. Hope this does not sometime later, turn into a bead illusion when some myth busting expert comes along to dash my fantasy!

 

Illusion or Genuine Stuff



 

Well illusion or not it looks like a specimen from the Chinese Neolithic age except I have not seen a similar bead to compare. Is it from one of the early cultures like Erlitou, Majiabang or Hemudu or is it a replica from modern times? What manner of man is this? I think its a peaceful man wherever he hails from. It's unfathomable expression   magnetizes  the onlooker like the Mona Lisa !  Ooops, just joking :)

that inscrutable expression

 

I am not sure what material its fashioned from. The stone has a mottled appearance and is heavy and cold to the touch. The bead measures 2.3 cm long and is 3.6 cm across. The perforation is large, funnel shaped, drilled from both ends and tool marks are clearly visible.

 

Tool marks can be seen in the perforation



While the face is 3 dimensional, the back is flat, uncarved and very smooth.

 

flat back





Finally one more picture for viewers to enjoy and ponder !

 

A face to Enjoy and ponder !
 



Happy 2016 to Bead Lovers Everywhere!



 

Amazing and Collectible.....

.... small is beautiful...or the wonder of tiny jade carvings

Tiny



Mini  jade carvings are not always easy to decipher or comprehend. At  first glance they may look like  hopeless blobs of jade.

What carving is this ??



If you look at miniature carvings  with the naked eye you may not make out what the jade artisan is depicting. But if you peer at them with a magnifier then presto they are transformed ! My own moment of discovery came as I was searching among my scattered  stuff with a   magnifier and turned up these two gems below.

 

2 gems of jade carvings



What a bonus !

 The circular jade  measuring 1.2cm turns out to be a bird as shown in the example below

 

Neat bird carved into the circular jade



The second jade is 2 cm long is mostly white and the contrasting patch of bright green reveals a perching bird.



See the bird ??



While the value of small carvings is negligible they are in my eyes  quite amazing and collectible !

 

Amazing and collectible!



Er Dang or Ear Ornaments from the Han Dynasty

This 2 pairs of dog bone shaped beads came from a Shenzhen dealer.

Dog bone shaped beads

They are likely to be ear ornaments from the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)

Used as ear ornaments or er dangs



The crystal pair is   2 - 2.3cm high.

Crystal ear ornaments



The red pair is either made from carnelian or glass imitating carnelian and measures 2 - 2.2cm

Glass or carnelian ?



I have come across examples of such er dang earrings displayed and documented in the Ningbo History Museum in Zhejiang Province.

glass and agate ear ornaments at the Ningbo History Museum





Describes the er dangs as imported goods.

The display also has an accompanying note describing such ornaments as "imported goods" which came by sea. Unfortunately the display  did not elaborate or give further details. It left me wondering what other early cultures used these similar ornaments and how did it spread into China as  I was under the impression that er dangs were native to China.



As an aside the Ningbo  History Museum which housed the display is one cool building which resonates with "place and memory".  Its façade  is constructed from rubble and recycled bricks that were salvaged from previous disasters. It won the 2012 Pritzker Prize  one the world's highest honors in architecture. The Museum is an exhibit and art in itself  - a  fitting place to showcase the ancient treasures  China.

 Ningbo History Museum is a building that  "resonates with place and memory"



See also my post  An Ornament from the Past which is on similar ear ornaments from the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)

My 3 Birds

These 3 slim birds came from Myanmar. Two of the birds are of greenstone and one of light blue glass. All three are perforated from the top of the head to the tail and so are beads. Were they meant to be worn and what is their function ?



My three birds from Myanmar



 The larger of the greenstone birds is 6.5cm long. Of slender shape, its head is simply shaped with a pair of bulbous eyes, a beak and a peak at the back possibly representing a crest. The head is slightly uplifted.

 

Greenstone bird

 

The wings are carved more like a turtle shell and has three sharp slits on each side, while the perching claws are  tiny knobs.

 

3 slits at the wing side

 



The smaller bird is 5.2 cm long and is identical in design to the larger bird.

 



Smaller bird

 Here's a close up of the pair.

 

Close up



The blue glass bird is tiny measuring only 3cm. Its structural form follows that of the other two birds.

 

Blue glass bird



The tails of the 2 greenstone birds are leaf-shaped with a centre dividing line and are 3.2 cm and 2.2cm respectively. By comparison with the heads, the tails are in better condition and retain their lustre.

 

 

Long tails



 

 Bird forms of this type are also seen in Neolithic  China. There are examples of such birds in the publication Gu yu tu shi (Ancient Jade Patterns Explained) on page 067  attributed to China's New Stone age up to Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BC).

 

 During Myanmar's Pyu dynasty (around 2nd century BC to 11th century AD ), similar carnelian and agate bird forms  have also been found. Such birds have been described by collectors' as perching parrots and sometimes as parakeets. I am hoping that my birds belong to this category except the tails are much longer and I would perhaps call my birds  peacocks.

 

 

Peacocks or parakeets ?



 

 



Trapezoidal Jade Bead with Phoenix Pattern

Here is a very special bead that I purchased recently.

 

Trapezoid Jade Bead with incised phoenix



This trapezoidal bead, measuring 2cm long and 1.5cm wide   at the base, has an image of  a phoenix incised  on both sides.

 

Close up

 

The phoenix decoration on my bead bears resemblance to those seen on various jade ornaments from the Xizhou dynasty (1027-771BC)  According to the publication Chinese Civilization in a New Light * the phoenix was regarded as  harbingers of good fortune. There is a legend that during the reign of King Wen the sound of phoenixes pierced the hills of his kingdom and  this was interpreted as an auspicious sign for the Xizhou dynasty. Arising from this legend, phoenix patterns on jade ornaments became very popular during this period. (see extract below)

 

about the legend of the phoenix



The book Xizhou Yu qi Jades of the Xizhou dynasty shows several examples of similar phoenix patterns carved on plaques, bis, peis, and jues. Most of these ornaments are of jade with three of glass.  Over at the Shanxxi Taiyuan Museum there is a jade jue with incised phoenix on display attributed to  Xizhou. All these are large items as compared to the one I show.

I am thrilled with the double bonus of owning this mystical bird on a bead and using it as a centerpiece to compose my dream bracelet! Teamed with my red Xizhou carnelian disc beads and three contrasting turquoise disc beads of the same period .....feels great to have a bit of history/art on my wrist.:)



My dream bracelet

a little bit of history....a little bit of art....

*Chinese Civilization in a New Light. ISBN7-5326-0834-4



Fifty Shades of Purple

Purple  is my favourite color, but fifty shades ?  I don't think so. I have actually only a few shades, and mostly amethyst. Some shades mentioned in Wikipedia include the following:

amethyst, eggplant, fuchsia, indigo, lavender, magenta, mauve, orchid, plum, periwinkle, violet, mulberry, wisteria  

 

Being a purple person I have always wanted purple beads to go with my outfits but purple beads that are old and preferably ancient are scarce. So I was mighty pleased to come up with the three bracelets below strung in purply shades.

 



Purply shades

 

The top most bracelet features a large biconical faceted amethyst (maybe fluorite) bead as centerpiece, strung with small faceted biconical crystal beads. The crystal beads are ancient from Indonesia while the amethyst or fluorite is from China of unknown vintage and hopefully its also ancient or at least old.

Real cool beads!



 Bracelet no 2 shown below has another large amethyst (not sure whether its fluorite)bead as centre piece(I bought 3 of these beads at one go, so I still have one more to think up a design) this time strung with dark purple semi round pearls.

 



Dark and light shades of purple



The purple pearls are also from China and I have a feeling they are new and dyed  but they add another shade of purple  and contrast fabulously with the light amethyst bead.

The last  bracelet  uses 3 small amethyst or fluorite beads as accents to enhance the crystal, agate and moonstone beads. The old crystals are from Vietnam and all the rest  from Kashmir.



Amethyst accents light up the ancient crystals



In my purple mood I dug into my bead chest and managed to turn up a few ancient beads in varying shades of purple



Ancient lotus beads from Myanmar, likely Pyu dynasty



 

Amethyst lotus bud from Cambodia more likely vintage than ancient



And my most prized, purply  eyebead  from Warring States period (475-221BC). There are altogether 15 purple dots on this dotty bead!

Dotty eyebead from Warring States

Yet another  eyebead in dark and light shades of lavender.

Ancient glass eyebead

 

The last piece of purply stuff that I show has been handmade by me to celebrate this purple shades post. Its a  kumihimo braided bracelet. It uses an antique jade button (alas not purple jade but green jade) as the clasp and sits well on the wrist.
 

Kumihimo Braided Bracelet

 

 

BESPOKE BRACELET

 

Here's a modest handmade bracelet I knotted for casual wear. Though it calls for no great skills, more like child's play, making them is really a labor of love as each knot has to be individually tied. Maybe that is why knotted bracelets are called Friendship Bracelets as each knot is tied with love.

 

Friendship Bracelet



This bracelet is made using the simple chevron knot and six strands of  embroidery floss. 

 

 

chevron pattern



 

For the closing I have used an antique jade button as a clasp.

 

 

Jade button as clasp



 

 The little jade button can double as an ornament on the wrist side.

 

 

Jade button doubles as decoration



 

The versatile little jade button is also hand carved. 

 

 

Carved by jade master, ages ago.



 

This uniquely crafted bracelet combining handmade knots with an antique jade button really makes it one of a kind. I daresay  after searching through the net that there are not many around which makes it both original and bespoke !

 

So Bespoke !

 



 

 





BABY ZHULONGS

Is this a Pig or a Dragon ? That is the question whether its a celestial dragon or a plebian pig....puzzles the  mind and makes us fly to wild theories ...:))

 

Pig or Dragon?



The experts says both hence Zhulong  as  Zhu=Pig and Long=Dragon. An unlikely marriage if you ask me. How a celestial mythical dragon became married to a plebian pig  baffles the brain but according to Wikipedia :

 

A pig dragon or zhūlóng (Chinese: t 玉豬龍, s 玉猪龙) is a type of jade artifact from Neolithic China. Pig dragons are zoomorphic forms with a pig-like head and elongated limbless body coiled around to the head and described as "suggestively fetal". Early pig dragons are thick and stubby, and later examples have more graceful, snakelike bodies.

  

8 Zhulongs



Zhulongs are  hallmarks of the Neolithic Hongshan Culture (c. 4000–3000 bce) and are normally large imposing figures so I can't account for why my lot of 8 zhulongs  is so mini. Are they genuine artifacts or replicas is another unanswerable question. The only  examples of small size zhulongs that I have seen are documented in the book Language of Adornment by Filippo Salviati who showed 2 examples of mini zhulongs measuring 1.6cm x 2.2cm and another 3cm x 4 cm which are still larger than my pieces. 

 

 In the picture below my largest zhulong measures only 1.9 x1.6 cm   and  1.5 x1.3 cm for the smallest. All have uncut central perforations and of the 8 only 1 has a stringing hole. They also show the Hongshan characteristics of large heavy lidded  pop out eyes, curled up body, fly back ears and nose creases.

 



8 baby zhulongs

 

Four of the zhulongs are made from calcite

 

 

Calcite zhulongs



One of the calcite zhulongs is badly corroded on one side.

 

 

badly corroded on one side



 

Here are the rest of the zhulongs in nephrite jade.

 

 

Jade zhulongs





2 of the zhulongs are chewing on some ancient quartz. I know this quartz in a hole on ancient jade has been debunked by experts as  ploys to fake authenticity. But on these two it looks pretty natural

 

 

Zhulong chewing on quartz



 

 Although diminutive in size they still exhibit the essence of zhulongism especially that inimitable  expression of "the grimacing sneering look" as described by some writers. At the same time their smallness and coiled body makes them look less like some fearsome beast but more like a cuddly amulet ! (depends how you look at them) or even a panda.

 

 

Grimacing but cuddly !



According to some sources, zhulongs are recorded as being made "as late as the Shang dynasty..." around 1600-1050 BCE and I cherish hopes that mine may be Shang creations  which is still an immortal 3,000 (more or less) years ago.

 

immortal in terms of age!