Snow White Peacock from Guiyang

I bought a beautiful white peacock carving while touring Guiyang the capital of Guizhou Province. Guizhou has been condemened by many visitors as the most backward province in China, dirty and ugly. Yet I found it not so. It is a water province and so appeals to the Tao in me. It rains everday, there are waterfalls, crystals, mountains and caves and grey skies. Birds are pleantiful in Guizhou, including the King of birds, the Peacock.



Peacock in Guiyang's Peacock Park

And so it is appropriate for me to purchase this beautifully carved peacock as a memento of my trip.

The material used does not look like jade, more like crystal or agate or even glass. Ahem, what sort of a collector am I who don't know an agate from a quartz ?? Anyway it is very cold to the touch and white and translucent as ice. The tail fans up elaborately and the details are finely etched. There is an eye somewhere tucked among the feathery tail.

This is a unique piece for me as I have not seen a "yu" (any kind of stone)peacock carving before and a first in my collection. I think its inspiration comes from the many peacocks in Guizhou Province. And so thanks Guiyang for your snowy white peacock.

A Peasant's Smile !

I purchased these biconical faceted jade beads from a smiling peasant in NW China.

While he was not exactly "the Leech-gatherer on the lonely moor" I could perhaps call him the bead gatherer on the loess plains and I, a bead collector from the Southern Seas (Nanyang). So when the twain do meet it is a joyous occasion and I can still recall our twin beams of happiness. However some critics may say I need my head examined to go giddy over a handful of rusty beads, see picture.

The biconical beads are plumpish and the facets are not sharp but have been blunted by time.The exterior is coated with a layer of iron rust maybe from burial with metal objects. Patina (bao jiang) and iridescence are evident on all the beads which should put these beads in the ancient category.

What surprises me about these beads is the lack of any carving (or maybe it is more correct to say, grinding) on the surface of the beads, given that most Chinese jade artifacts,(not only beads) will bear some kind of carved pattern or other. It is almost de rigueur. Morover I have also read somewhere, that it is not in the Chinese art sense to facet beads. So are these ancient beads Chinese or not ? Too many doubts and questions really spoil the joy of collecting.

Think I'd do better to move on to a more intriguing aspect. While the surface of the faceted beads is plain and uncarved, the decoration seems to have gone underground ! I am referring to the grind marks or tool marks present in the perforations. These are revealed as a spiral of beautifully formed and aged concentric circles down the length of the hole. Peering down the perforations with the help of a loupe, to see the "hidden" artwork of many milleniums is one intriguing experience that only an ancient bead aficionado can understand.

Now I really need my head examined. :)

Gone Batty !

Bats may conjure up visions of spooky vampires but to the Chinese it is a symbol for blessings. The Chinese character for bats Fu is a homonym for blessings. It is a recurring theme on all things Chinese from furnitures, to porcelain to gold and jade.

Below are my collection of really teeny weeny jade bats. I take off my hat to the craftsmen who have so painstakinly carved these wee small bits. Jade is a hard material to work on and although these pieces may have been done with modern tools, still imagine holding them delicately between thumb and fingers to do the carving.

The tiniest one at the bottom row is only 1cm across and with a loupe one can see the eyes and ears and expression on the bat. The artwork is very, very minute. On the revese side, there are two minute hook-like perfortions for thread to be passed through to make it into a button.

The small curve and shallow channel of the perforations makes it a challenge to pass thread through it. But absorping the spirit from the original jade craftsmen I painstakingly teased the thread through the holes. This is how you go about it, first use the thinnest possible wire, bent as a needle, take a deep breath concentrate hard and gently use your fingers, heart and mind to pull it through. (Hey how did this become a Zen like exercise !) What a lot of work, and being so tiny will it ever catch anyones eyes? Only jade-obsessed folk like me will look, I guess.

Oh, and I'd like to mention that I had visitations from bats a few months ago. So far they have only given me their waste and I am still waiting for the "fu" !

Green Hearts on White Pearl

I purchased this strand of freshwater pearls from South China many years ago when freshwater pearls were all the rage. Nowadays they look rather plain and dated. To jazz them up I dug into my miscellaneous box of odds and ends and made this lucky find of 5 tiny jade hearts which were looking for a perfect necklace to attach to.

I am happy that the green hearts attach themselves so well to the pearly white beads ! True this is no Tiffany or Kaleidoscope, but it is still a nice folksy piece for a nice folksy occasion , agreed ??

Many fishes in the sea....

Well, these jade fishes are more likely to have come fom some boulder in some mountain than from the sea. I got this catch from a market, a flea market that is. Fish represents wealth and prosperity because the Chinese term for the fish, yu, is phonetically similar to the word for 'abundance'. It has been a favouredChinese design from neolithic times to the present day. The ones shown here are of some 10-50 years vintage.

Jade is a delightful medium for imitating nature. My set of fishes comes in all shapes, cuts and carvings. Some are flat, some in swimming pose, with curving tail, pouting mouth. The twin fishes or double fishes are symbolic of marital bliss but in present day coinage, it may represent the zodiac sign Pisces.

And not forgetting my beautiful auspicious nian nian you yu (every year have fish) earrings.

Other variations on the theme of Bis

Still on the theme of BIS, although strictly speaking the jade objects that I show on this post cannot be called Bis. However as their forms are mostly flat, circular and with a hole in the center I have lumped them as such and hope that purists will not hammer me.



The 3 bis in the above pic have a border made up of a "continuous chain of scooped out surfaces," somewhat like a concave hollow of a small saucer. According to my jade seniors(shifus) this scooping out of jade surfaces is a hallmark of Ming period jade.



Left Pic above shows 2 bis with off-centre holes. The first piece is shaped and carved as a flower while the right item also has a border of scooped out surface plus a centre decoration of a flower. They make nice present day pendants.
Right Pic shows an evolution in style. Instead of the chain of scooped out surfaces of the earlier examples this bi features a continuos chain of pearls. In my jade seniors opinion this is reflective of Qing workmanship and design
The 3 bis in the last picture show different kinds of twisted rope design. The first bi shows a thin intricately worked twisted rope, the middle is thick and flat while the one on the extreme right is fat and bulbous. Broadly speaking the first two are of Ming-Qing vintage and the last is a modern piece.
I love collecting these small jade objects and accessories and hope I have not been too off the mark in my descriptions and identification. Otherwise shifus out there may well give me a knock on the head !!

What a lovely way to wear your BI

The BI is a form of jade artifact from ancient China. It is a flat jade disc with a circular hole in the centre

I bought these 2 bi shaped spinach green jade pieces more than 20 years ago from the ancient town of Dali in Yunnan Province. As Yunnan borders Myanmar these dark green jade are likely to have come from that region.

In the present day , bis are mostly used as pendants to be worn on a chain. There are also adaptations of bis as earrings see example below:

Left and center are 2 bis as pendants and on the right is a bi as earring.
It was only recently while reading a travelogue on Yunnan that I came across a picture of an old lady from the Naxi minorities group adorning her ears with a BI teamed up with silver and enamel hoops. See picture below:


This discovery made me realise that my two BIS which come from the same region, must have once served as Naxi or Bai minorities earrings. It gave me an idea to dig through my box of old silver bits and and come up with the copy cat versions as depicted below :



My antique silver and enamel hoops are a little worse for wear. They are not from the same region as the bis but are also Chinese. I estimate the age of this style of ear piece to be about 100 years or maybe earlier in the Qing period.

Inspite of the tarnished silver, What a lovely way to wear your BI !!

Gong Xi Fa Cai, here comes Ratty...

What better way to ring in the Year of the Rat than with this gorgeously elaborate nephrite hairpin or is it a floral spray ?

I can't decide what this object should be and I can't imagine what the artist who invented this, (and I am sure it is reinvented and not its original setting) had in mind. If he meant it to be a hairpin its way too large. If a floral spray , how come it has a rat resting in the centre ?

Ahha ! he must have designed it with the Year of the Rat in mind! So he sat little white Ratty among a nephrite foliage, with a tiny bunch of red glass beads to brighten the effect.

I picked up this whimsical spray or hairpin at a local flea and the nephrite pieces estimated to be 100-300 years old. It is made up of 10 nephrite pieces of pierced and carved jade in shapes of butterfly, flowerpot, floral, figural with the little rat as a centrepiece.

Happy Lunar New Year of the Rat !

Happy 2008 !

I spent a few happy hours on New Year's Day, 2008 looking through my bead box to come up with this necklace of agates, shell, and old glass.

Can't confirm whether the beads are ancient or replica but I have a strong suspicion that some of the agates, at least, have been made for the fake antiquities market. Only certain that the old red glass are genuine old. Might add that, had I seen this necklace displayed in an antiques shop, I would have been fooled and the moral of this tale is the tricky path we inexperienced collectors' tread. Anyway it is a handsome looking necklace to ring in 2008 !

Beancurd White Bracelet

Beancurd is one of my comfort foods. The texture and color of the central bead on this bracelet is so soft and silken it resembles a piece of tofu. Its flat shape is just what I like to use in my composition of bracelets. This bead came to me as a gift all the way from Alaska, my dream land, mmmm! According to the donor it is made from fossil walrus ivory from the inner part of the tusk.

The accompanying spherical whitish beads are made from ancient glass and come from Vietnam. I was told by the seller that it originated in the Champa Dynasty ( 7th-15th Century AD) but I have no hard research to back up this statement. Only my gut feeling, my sense of touch and sight seem to indicate these are indeed ancient.

Wow, think I will wear this tofu beauty to my nephew's wedding party next month...but I just heard that it is gonna be a "formal" affair. Argh !! not exactly my kind of scene and I think tofu beauty would also feel out of place at a gala.

Asphyxiated with Lust....

When I chanced upon these jade flowers in a shop on my last visit to China I was almost asphyxiated with Lust (but not of the Lee Ang kind) and throwing Caution (he! he!)to the winds I just had to own them. Luckily they were still within my modest budget otherwise like Lee Ang's heroine I might have to stake my life on them !!

The jade blossoms are either round or elongated in shape and except for the centre flower, all are carved in multi layers. Made from nephrite they date from Ming to Qing times and the shapes and patterns are well documented in Cheng Te Kun's paper "Jade flowers and floral patterns in Chinese decorative art". These exquisite ornaments "full of subtle charm and beauty" were used to adorn m'ladies hair or bodice. The black one is very rare, I haven't even seen it in a collectors' book, thats how rare it is !

Blue Pendant with Buffalo under the Moon

This blue glass pendant hails from Yuan period of China (1115-1368 AD)and was purchased together with items in the 2 earlier posts.

According to Simon Kwan's book Early Chinese glass on page 355 where there is a picture of a similar pendant, the pattern is popular in glass and bronze during the Yuan period and many pieces have been excavated from Mongolian graves.The book also describes the drawing in the pendant as "Buffalo under the moon" What I am wondering is although I can see the buffalo, I can find no sign of the moon in the pendant. Nor in Simon Kwan's illustration on page 355. So I am still scratching my head as to why "under the moon" Only Simon Kwan can give the answer !

My piece is broken at the bottom and repaired and so appears Simon Kwan's example too.

Update go to https://baiyu-quietmuse.blogspot.com/2010/06/chinese-glass-ornaments-1.html

Fire and Ice

This tiny pair of earrings brings together my twin loves of jade and beads. I created this design by embedding red vintage glass beads into the heart of the vintage jade ring, the two held together with a silver clip. I love the flash of red glass lighting up the cool icy jade ring.

I never wear earrings myself, and how I became a maker and seller of earrings is another story. Why I never wear earrings is simply because I have never gotten round to piercing my ears.

Working with vintage jade can sometimes be frustrating because many of the standard findings will not fit into nooks and crannies of the old jade pieces.Making this particular pair gave me happiness as, bingo I quite fortuitously (learnt this word from reading Kundera) got everything to fit. I just hope that the earrings will be purchased by some sensitive soul sister and that it would beautify her ears and make her happy too.

Blue Florets and Pendant Beads Strand

Here's yet another blue beauty. Composed from the same hoard of beads and florets as that in earlier posts. The central disk pendant (2.5cm) in this set bears remarkable resemblance to the cover picture in A Bead Timeline. Not exactly the same, the main difference being the siting of the stringing perforation. The example in A Bead timeline p39 is dated to 1,500 BC. and comes from the Late Bronze Age of West Asia. However my piece came from a Chinese source and seller thinks its vintaage should be Song or Yuan period. For all I know (and hope) it may well be a Han piece especially the central pendant.

 Update go to post:
 https://baiyu-quietmuse.blogspot.com/2010/06/chinese-glass-ornaments-1.html

White Jade Bird in Semi Circle

This piece may have been part of a pair or it may have been a standalone. Bird motifs are popular among jade carvers and this one has been beautifully pierced and carved. I am not quite sure what it served as but as there are no perforations for attachement, I would guess that it is an inlay piece for box or cupboard. Probably a Qing piece.

Amulets, Pendants & Coil Beads Necklace

Another charmer (pun intended) is this ancient blue glass necklace which hails from the Song/Yuan period of China. For want of a better term I have described the tiny bits in this necklace, as amulets but maybe they can also be called charms as they look not unlike the lucky charms attached to modern day bracelets.

These beads and components were salvaged from the box of a connoisseur collector's rejects. I thought they look too fascinating for discards and so bought them over to ponder on them and finally was inspired to compose this "charming" necklace. I concede that this is not a wearable strand and merely provides enchantment to the eyes and mind of the beholder !

Below is an enlargement of some of the "charms" or amulets from the necklace

Shown above are a hand with outstretched finger, heart-shaped, tiny pendant and fruit.

Update refer to post https://baiyu-quietmuse.blogspot.com/2010/06/chinese-glass-ornaments-1.html

2 Large Glass Beads as Flower Pots

This pair of miniature flower pots are actually extra large jatim beads (6cmx6.5cm). Jatim beads are ancient glass beads from Indonesia. Unfortunately, this pair posted here may not be authentic. I had been disappointed with them for many years but now you may say "I have grown accustomed to their appearance..." and my crystal blossoms sit rather well on them too. Crystal blossoms, curtesy of my pal M.

Green Glass Beads & White Jade Split Ring Necklace

A thing of beauty is a joy forever

Its loveliness increases

It will never pass into nothingness

but still will keep, a bower quiet for us,

and a sleep, full of sweet dreams,

and health, and quiet breathing.

I don't know what Keats had in mind when he wrote these words but this verse sure applies to my milleniums old white jade piece and my centuries old emerald green glass beads. This necklace combines my love of jade and glass beads.

The white jade in the shape of a slit ring was purchased in Southern Vietnam. I guess its vintage to be from the Sa Huynh culture of Southern Vietnam,(1000BC-200AD) and according to research, such rings were used as earrings by the natives of that long ago culture. This type of earring must have been pretty widespread in Vietnam as they have also been discovered at contemporary Dong Son(1000 BC) culture sites of Northern and Central Vietnam. Moreover they are also similar to the jade "jue" earrings already in use in neolithic China from as far back as 4500BC and this form of Chinese culture must have filtered down into Vietnam. Apologies for the long winded historical stuff. I try to depict my treasured pieces light heartedly but as this blog also serves as documentation for my collection, it has to fit in a few crusty facts too. I am intrigued by how these slit rings can fit into the earlobes of neolithic and bronze age man or is it woman ? How could it be secured ? Did these man or woman pierce their ears or were these rings simply clipped on ? What manner of garments, robes or hairstyles accompanied these ear ornaments ?? Hmm.... so many unaswered questions!! In my humble, 21st century opinion, I think such rings look better as pendants like the one conceived in my post !! (blush!)

The green glass beads on this necklace are also from Southern Vietnam but may have originated in China. These beads are young when compared to the jade ring, only at most 500-200 years ago. The emerald green beads contrast well with the lustrous white jade.

Large White Jade Ornament

Talking about "exquisiteness" in previous post, here is one exquisite white jade flower. Carved in multi layers with the petals opening out it is quite the acme of beauty ! This type of shape, cut and design according to the Chinese literature is obviously (kai men jian shan) of Ming vintage. Its rather large size at 4cm seem to indicate that it is not a button despite the 2 openings at the centre. Possibly a lady's hair ornament with the metal fitting or cord passing through the centre openings. It is not a perfect piece though as there is some wear on the surface but it is quite pefect for me !

For comparison, below at left is a 21st century interpretation and copy of the old form. This modern chunky jade flower is mostly used as a choker with cord for attachement passing through the centre perforation. I have seen such choker
necklaces being sold in stores and pushcarts all around town. It is rather heavy and I have adapted it for use as a burner for incense cones (see pic on right)

Jade Flowers or Yu Hua

The white nephrite jade flowers  I show today are among my favourites and hail from Shanxi Province China. Because of their rather large size I conjecture that they may have been used as hair accessories rather than as buttons and date from about the Ming to Qing period. Some gorgeous examples of antique hairpins may be seen in the tv series Story of Yanxi  Palace set in the era of the emperor Qianlong. But my flowers are a bit more modest 😇

The first flower  has six petals and a central corona and one pierced hole

6 petal rosette with central corona

The next flower has more elaborately decorated petals and a double hole in the centre. 

Petals are elaborate

Next to be shown is a multi  scalloped mutton white piece with double holes on the reverse.

Mutton white jade flower

Rounding up are 6 smaller jade flowers in various shapes and designs. All are from Ming-Qing dynasty.

Smaller jade flowers

Carnelian, glass and crystal bracelet

Chilly, raspberry and ice these are some of my favourite things! No, I'm not talking about ingredients for a recipe but about the colors of my beads.The flat large hexagonal carnelian bead is chilly red while the smaller round beads are raspberry red. The 2 crystals give a nice icy contrast. So, chilly, raspberry and ice !
Got all these beads from varous parts of Vietnam.
Guess the flat carnelian and faceted crystal beads are ancient while the raspberry red round beads are only a few centuries old. The surface of the carnelian is worn with pits. To some critics this may be "rough" but to an addict like me its only just one of its "exquisite" charms !!

Box of Vintage Glass & Stone Buttons

According to bead terminology a button is also a bead, hence this set of buttons is included in this bead blog.

Their vintage is about 70-100 plus years old, all originating in China. The buttons are of coral, glass, agate and stone. I am wondering what kind of garments would take such buttons ? An old style Qing jacket or a high neck cheongsam of the 1920s? Would the material be silk, chiffon or cotton ? I do wish there are more research material around for the study of such vintage buttons.

After writing the above I have been struck by the thought that these may not be buttons at all ! Perhaps they're pendants or hair ornaments. They may have dangled at the end of a hairpin. Well, a lot of collecting is about guessmate isnt't it ?? And until the day I find a picture of these button-like items in their original state of use, I won't be able to pinpoint their exact identity.

Mystery Jade Face

This mystery jade face was partly inspired by the Mystery Men Exhibition, a travelling exhibition on the Sanxindui Excavations on the lost bronze age civilization of China. I was so impressed by the fascinating faces and gold masks on Mystery Men's face that I came up with this mystery jade face and hope it looks just as mysterious !

As this picture was composed shortly after the dark days of my recent eye operations and so maybe I should name this piece , "Light of my Eyes" ! However Hans commented that the face looked a tad sad. On reflection, I have to agree that my post operation blues must have influenced it. And so perhaps it should really be called "Face of Depression"! Whatever... this face will be commemorative of that bleak time !

Well, after winning a small prize in the Mystery Men contest, along came a friend who said the title of this post should be Mystery Woman from Xinjiapo !
That's pretty appropriate and she makes a good companion to the Mystery Men !

Etched Carnelian Beads Bracelet

Another favourite bracelet, this time made of etched carnelian beads mostly from Burma. Locals here call these beads "xian zhu" or fairy beads and they are believed to be related to "tian zhu" or heavenly beads, which Westerners and Tibetans call "dZi". These beads are at least a few hundred to a thousand years old. The red spacer beads are made of old glass from Vietnam. All the beads were purchased separately and I had to wait a long time to put together this bracelet. As I was still short, I have included one plain faceted carnelian and one black banded agate to make up the whole piece. This bracelet composed in 2005.

Xizhou Glass and Faience Beads Bracelet

This is one of my favourite bracelets, made up of ancient glass and faience beads from China's Xizhou Dynasty (1027-771 BC) Beads are cylindrical as well as biconical shape with small white disc shell beads. Teal colour some nearer to turquoise colour. The cylindrical beads are of faience while the biconicals are of glass. 2 of the biconical beads have undergone a "sea change" with the blue turning whitish, possibly as a result of decomposition of the glass due to long burial.

Beads purchased as a longer strand from Sichuan province and broken up into various projects. These over 2000 year old beads, really give me a pang ! I hardly dare to use this bracelet as it is so fragile and breakable. Hmmm....perhaps the biconical beads would be better as a earring dangle ! On second thoughts, maybe not such a good idea as it would mean putting wire and hooks through these lovely and brittle beads.

Jade Flower Hairpin

This little jade flower on the left was originally

a hairpin. The centre inset of brass and jade

extends into the back as a pin holder but the

pin has long since gone missing. With help

from Heng who replaced the missing pin

with a metal clip, the jade piece has regained

its orignal use as a hair accessory, see picture

on right. Vintage: Ming -Qing Period. I got this

piece for a song from the local flea market.

Venetian Glass Beads Bracelets

Two bracelets made up of Venetian glass beads

from Indonesia. Vintage of beads about 100-300

years old. Wherever possible I love to wear my old

glass beads and these cool beads fitted very nicely

into bracelets for present day wear.

Crinoid Stem Beads from the Paleozoic Era

"Crinoid stem beads were amongst the more common animals found in the sea floor communities of the Paleozoic era about 543 to 248 million years ago" Description taken from Bead data base with thanks. I suppose a layman like me would call them fossil beads from the remains of sea animals millions of years ago. My strand came from Cambodia and was a gift from Hans. Grey in color and barrel shaped they have a natural hole in the middle for stringing and the outer surface has natural ribbed decorations. They are rather sandy with mineral encrustations, and after 2 years, I am still mulling over how best to use them in my works.

A Set of White Nephrite Jade

This set of small white yu pian (flat jade pieces) probably date back to the Ming period. Very delicately carved and pierced, some pieces still retain a bright luster. The set is made up of flower vases, ruyi, petal, lion, bamboo and a basket. Don't know what the original uses were. Could have been used as inlays for boxes, cupboards and the like.