| Original Message: Re: Chinese necklace |
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Will, The lacquer beads are interesting, but I can't say I know anything about them. You could post them with good photos on the AsianArts forum, maybe Doug & Moira would know something about them. If you can count layers that might be helpful. As you know, 'court' necklaces were mainly one type of bead with one or two other types at intervals, with two smaller offshoot strands, and a counterweight of varying sorts for the back of the neck. During the Qing dynasty the components were dictated by rank under sumptuary laws. I doubt such laws could have prescribed an assortment such as you show. Overall this appears to me like a compiled strand from many sources, rather than something that was originally made pretty much as you have it now. Is there fine knotting between the beads? Some of these sorts of beads (especially the wound monochromes) I have seen on for-export 'sewing baskets' mentioned in the previous thread on the Japanese scroll weights. These are often various sizes, but I can lay my hands on some yellow, sky-blue, and bluish-green spheres around 12 mm in diameter, and transparent ovoids in bluish-green, pinkish-red (one has an internal thin black spiral, likely an imperfection) and greenish-yellow about 8 x 18 mm. There are also transparent blues and more opaque pink, even black, ones in other sizes. The cylindrical bits and tassels are also just the sort of thing seen on these 1920s+ items. I don't know about those specific crumb beads. I agree that Yang Boda concentrated on vessels of fine glass! He was not much interested in beads, as you say, and actually I have seen no scholarly literature on Chinese beads of the late 19th and earlyish 20th century that specifies the types of beads made. The silk could have been water-damaged or stored in an acidic environment. The lacquer does need care in a fairly humid environment, which would not be so good for carved or 'natural' peach pits! In any event if you paid a low to moderate price for this, I hope it will be worth it as 'admission' to an interesting quest for more information. Best wishes, Snap All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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