| Original Message: Re: Re: Re: up tongues beads |
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Hi Will and Ali, Jade cicadas were used in burials because of the perceived protective qualities of jade and cicadas represented resurrection. I have attached images of a Late Qing nephrite cicada in the same style and spirit of an earlier one and an authentic glass one from the Western Han in classic form. Elf's jade is too ornate to warrant the amount of "beat uppedness" of the condition of the stone. See the google link to some cicada images to compare. The original archaic types were impressionist in style while the later ones were meant to resemble the cicada more true to life. The use of cicadas as funereal pieces slackened off after the Han and seems to have become in use during the Qing as amulets to be worn by the living. Possibly because their significance as burial objects had been overlooked or forgotten. Culturally, Chinese are very averse to any item associated with death.
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