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...

 

QUADRAPLET ROCK CRYSTAL BEAD

Bead that rocks

This is one rock crsytal bead that ROCKS ! Its shape is rather unusual being made up of 4 beads carved from one rock crystal. What should be the right word to describe its shape ? Quadraplet is what I have in mind except it doesnt conform to bead terminology, but never mind.

When I first saw it I thought it resembled an aeroplane. But then on second glance it looked like a bird, a rocket even a spaceship !! Rather ingenious bead maker with something of the funky touch.

Bird , aeroplane or rocket ?

The perfs are quite large and in each of them are concentric ring tool marks. The crystal surface is weathered and primitive and the bead measures 3cmx2.5cm. Was it meant to be worn as a pendant or a bead? In any case why 4 perforations?

I haven't seen the likes of such a bead before. Nor seen it documented in any book or on the net. For all I know it might have been used as a Tibetan amulet, Mongolian sword ornament, Manchurian flask decoration,  neolithic mythical  object, ritualistic symbol is anyone's guess. I may be wrong but it doesn't look like a Han artefact although the bead came from China.

still trying to figure out the object....

Hmmmm, if this is a bird I  guess the large central bead maybe the body and the 2 side appendages  may be the wings but what about the top appendage. Is it a bird  carrying something on its back? Louis Cha's tales of Condor Heros come to mind :))

Carnelian and Rock Crystal Necklace

I composed and made this carnelian and rock crystal necklace using button knots. Making this necklace, provided dual benefits, as I could practice tying my knots and completing it means I can wear my favourite beads.

The carnelian cylinders were purchased from a Tibetan lady in China. She couldn't  tell me the exact vintage nor origin.

This shape is sometimes referred to as "bamboo " shape by the Chinese and sometimes "bulging at the waist " shape or "yao-gu-xing". I guess Westerners would say bi-conical. I have seen bamboo-shaped cylinder carnelian beads which have been provenanced to Western Zhou - Warring States (11-3rd century BC) in Chinese books, including Roger Chow's Sparkling Splendours, but I am not saying that my beads are ancient.

Lest I be scoffed at for false/misleading comparisons, I must explain that I am not drawing these comparisons to imply that my cylinders are authentic of the Warring States era. I have not seen many examples of these cylinders in real life, nor in books, (ah, alas the narrowness of my experience) and so it was interesting for me to come across the illustrations given in the Chinese documents. No ulterior motive intended :) Besides there are many other considerations apart from a similar looking shape to justify a bead as old/ancient, let alone belong to the fabulous Warring States era ! And for all I know my beads maybe new beads, new beads made old, old beads made older, antique, vintange, plain replicas, and many other combinations.

My specimen is in good condition and the stone if ancient is still shiny, the bead hole is rather large and the bamboo wedge shape is rounded, not sharp. Roger Chow's sample is sharp and so there's the difference. The walls of the bead are rather thin when compared to the size of the perforation. How did the tubes get so hollowed out ? Is this method of stone bead making peculiar to a period or culture? So the jury is still out on this pair of cylinder beads. And meanwhile they do pique my interest.

The central rock crystal bead is truncated, biconical, and faceted. It came from Myanmar and is likely to be Pyu about 100 BC to 840 AD or later.