On this page you will see four calligraphy I purchased after I got the beads from Fred. When I saw the first brush my first thought were the beads I had received from Fred. The brushes were being sold as old to vintage so this left me wondering whether or not the beads I got from Fred and the beads on the brush were perhaps old.

To give you an idea of the size of the Calligraphy brushes. The longest is 15 ½ inches the shortest 13 inches. The beads like Fred’s are 24.5 mm and the large Jade looking beads are 37 mm

If anyone on the forum has some feedback on these beads please tell us what you know.

Thanks ... All my best .......... Danny

These are really nice, and Fred's/your beads amazing. have no more info though. I am curious as well.

Yes, the Chinese seem to have both lampwork and glass stone imitations down cold. The beads in the pic were purchased on eBay for some giveaway price.

Close but no cigar, the beads you posted are not nearly as nicely done as those on the brush, and a long way from the quality of the beads that Fred has. If you look closely at Fred's in the image I posted you see much more complicated glass work.

Maybe the new beads are reproductions of something much older, hopefully we will all learn something new in this thread.

Where is red mountain when we need him!!

All my best ............... Danny

P.S. I don’t have much money in the brushes, so little that if they were made yesterday they were well worth the money.

the beads I posted aren't as well done as the ones you bought from Fred. They're brand new. They cost pennies.

But they are attractive little beads - and if there were a big market for larger and fancier beads, I'm sure they could be easily accomplished with the skills and materials now available in China - i.e., it's a far cry from when Rick Sprague visited in the 1980s and "the farmers" were making crude wound beads.

Are beads a good thing to have on brush handles? I would think it would make the brushes more difficult to manipulate, as well as heavier. Although these do seem to be bigger brushes, so maybe the added weight gave more "strength" to large, poster-sized calligraphy?

Or maybe they're just nice to look at and hold.

http://sell.lulusoso.com/selling-leads/230682/chinese-calligraphy-brush.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ship-From-U-S-Stunning-Chinese-Traditional-Pen-Brush-w-Beads-Handle-/320989696877

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ship-U-S-Stunning-Chinese-Traditional-Pen-Brush-w-Beads-Handle-/320956092946

Now that the Chinese have seen a bit of interest in their old brushes they will do what they always seem to do and over produce the new brushes and within a few years even the expensive ones will be offered at give away prices just to get rid of unwanted inventory.

I warned them of this in the late eighties and they paid no heed to my warning. They over produced many items I was or am selling and found they had such an over stock they started selling at less than cost, I saw items on amazon that were selling for less than my cost FOB China recently, once these items were gone they are not available anymore, if they had just watched their market they would still be making many of these items.

Danny

Sorry I thought you were comparing your beads to those I posted and did not know you were just showing what they are up to today.

With modern China granted they can pretty much make anything and everything(some great some not so great), I honestly feel that if they were making beads such as Fred’s in modern times we all would have seen them by now at Tucson. Maybe this year there will ton’s of them at the show but I truly doubt it.

Unfortunately for me when I was in China in the eighties I had turquoise tunnel vision and only collected a few Jadite beads, better a few than none at all.

The brushes are quite large but the beads seem to balance them out nicely. I checked this type brush out online and found that this size is not uncommon, I also found that they are very collectible. I saw a video on you tube of a man using one that was nearly three feet long.

All my best ........... Danny

P.S. The attached image shows why I first went to China, some of the finest Turquoise to ever come out of Mother Earth.

I wonder where the glass beads used in your brush handle beads might also have been used - finials for bird cages? [don't laugh, I'm serious]

Has it been seen in other small decorative items such as snuff bottles or water dishes? Been given lapidary treatment as well as lampworked?

In other words, why was it worth it to develop the materials and skill to manufacture? 19th century or Japanese occupation?

I know how the Chinese feel about their birds so you could be right. I purchased the most outrageous all carved bird cage in 1987 and hand carried it back on the plane, ended up selling it but it sure was amazing. I have also witnessed the many Chinese at parks carrying their bird cages with birds so they can get some sunshine (what little of it there is).

If in fact these beads are from dynastic times, with the way things were some high official may have commissioned/ordered a great glass maker to produce them in a not to large quantity. You may be right about the time the Japanese were there, but you would think with a bead this wonderful some would have been seen on their market in the past 60-70 years.

I hope someone on this forum will give us some sort of a clue, I know we have more than a few Chinese lurkers/posters so one on them may shed some light on this topic.

I have only seen this type bead from those Fred has and the 7 on the brush I have.

All my best .......... Danny

P.S. When you put an image seems more people look. Another of my Chinese turquoise cabs.

I think what I'm circling around and trying to lamely express is that I can see the Chinese making the brown beads as an export item, perhaps to Tibet (dzi) or Japan (ojime) or wherever, and then also adapting them for brush handles. The spindle shape just doesn't seem like something of use to the Chinese [awaiting enlightenment from someone with evidence on that score].

A contemporary example was the link showing "Murano" lampwork beads getting plugged into a brush handle - I very much doubt the traditional Chinese brush handle was the intended market, the beads are being made for export and fashion jewelry.

Also, what was the inspiration for the swirling brown hues? Some sort of rare wood? Amber? Agate? Why make opaque brown glass instead of something colorful and transparent? It just seems to be more to the Japanese taste rather than Chinese. But what do I know.

I love to follow your discussions but I must say these are great turquoise!!!! I have nothing against a truquoise thread... hint hint

I have an artist painter/calligrapher friend who has been to China on different occasions in 70's-80's-... and she said she never encountered these bead brushes then there, but in later years rather over here.

Martine,
I am in the process of putting quite a few single Turquoise beads on silver chain for the upcoming Tucson show. Sometime in the near future I will start a thread with many images and hopefully some of the other BCN members will post their Turquoise.

I attached an image of a pretty nice bead that was made some years ago in the old studio.

All my best ......... Danny