A pair of greenstone and carnelian necklaces

Trapped in the house during the dark lock down days of Covid pandemic I raked up this pair of striking necklaces to reminisce happier times. They were sold to me some 20 years ago as Pyu dynasty but maybe later. Similar  strands of carnelian and green cylinders are shown in Elizabeth Moore's paper Carnelians in Myanmar Prehistoric to early Chinese Beads which make me hopeful that these go as far back as Pyu dynasty (around 2nd century BC - 11th century AD)

The beads are a mix of elongated green beads and carnelians interspersed with carnelian buttons and beads. There is also a centrepiece of an etched carnelian pendant on left necklace.

2 striking strands of carnelian and greenstone

Slim and slender green beads some are glass and some
 stone,  hard to tell apart

Equally striking are these elongated carnelian beads

Like the green beads these carnelian cylinders are
slim and slender and well made.

Carnelian buttons

There is also one button made of glass

Glass not carnelian

The etched carnelian pendant also makes a nice centrepiece

Close up of centrepiece pendant

Of Necks, necklaces and bracelets

Like Nora Ephron I too  'feel bad about my neck'  and that is why, avid bead collector that I am, I seldom wear my beloved beads as necklaces, which are mostly enjoyed as a collector's strand. Instead I choose to wear my beads as bracelets. This also has the advantage of the beads being visible to me as well as drawing the eyes of  any keen onlookers though, sadly this has not often been the case. Guess people here only go for gem stones and don't appreciate "faded beauties" like my age-old beads.

 

More than 2 dozen bracelets



 

Below I will highlight some favorites  in my bead  bracelets wardrobe. First I will show the reds mostly of carnelians strung with some agates and coral spacers. These beads date from 500 to thousands of years old. The etched ones are mostly from Myanmar. 

 

 

Carnelians from Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam

 

Carnelians mixed with crystals and glass is also favoured by me

 

 

Dazzling Reds

 

Top most bracelet features a large hexagonal carnelian bead, faceted crystals and dusky red glass beads all from Vietnam. Bottom left bracelet is Chinese in origin. The carnelian and turquoise disc beads are probably Xizhou (1046-256BC)  while the dogbone shape crystal is also from some early Chinese dynasty. All the faceted carnelians on right bracelet are antique beads from Indonesian.

 

 

Green and shades of green, blue green are also what I collect and wear.

 

 

Greenstone and carnelian



Bracelet on the left composed of greenstone and carnelian beads from Myanmar. On the right, central bead from China, mixed with greenstone beads from Myanmar including 2 elephants.

The mix of stone and glass beads shown below are from Myanmar and neighboring Vietnam.

 

 

Stone and glass beads

 

Yellow is not one of my favorite colors but I have a couple of bracelets in Van Gogh yellows to cheer a dull day.

 

 

Very Van Gogh (I wish!)

 

On the left the central yellow bead with red and green flowers is  Venetian and reminds me of Van Gogh's colors. The two beads with red dots, next to  the central bead,  come from Lhasa, the top of the world  while the small plain yellow disc beads are from Indonesia. Quite an international combination for this bracelet. On the right are African trade beads with fancy names many of which I cant recall except for the two French cross beads.

 

 

French cross beads



The next one is a recent acquisition. I think its made of quartz and carnelian, carved in ribbed segments. Not sure about the age and vintage but comes from Zhejiang, China.

 

 

Barrel shape beads carved in ribbed segments



 

Agates are one of my favourite stones and here are two from Myanmar

 

 

Agates are my favourite stones



 

Kashmir may be famous for its houseboats and picturesque scenery  but it also home to a  large variety of semi precious stones. My next bracelet is composed from amethyst, moonstone, quartz and agates from my long ago trip to Kashmir.

 

 

Semi-precious stones from Kashmir







Beads in my bead bracelet wardrobe, come from all over the globe !
(o that rhymes :))

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