Chinese Mandarin Court Necklace Glass Beads

This Mandarin Court Necklace has been sitting in one of my boxes for many years...the four drops do not match the counting or the head beads...but I have searched and searched and I still cannot find the blue glass drops. I decided to show the necklace as I found it...because this necklace begins a story...the story of Chinese glass beads...a story that I have wanted to tell for a very long time...

"Hardly any documents of historical value have been kept on ancient Chinese beads"... G. B. Fenstermaker

Very little has been written on the techniques used by Chinese artisans and bead makers...for hundreds of years most craftsmen could not write and the secrets of their craft have been handed down in an oral tradition from father to son.

There is a lovely small book "The Chinese Bead ", written by G. B. Fenstermaker. I found a copy on eBay abut 10 years ago...it contains a lot of information...and a photo of a complete court necklace with blue glass and carved pits very similar to mine. The book was published in 1979, so it is not easy to find but worth looking for.

The blue carved counting beads on the Fenstermaker necklace are exactly the same as the counting beads on this court necklace of mine. Over the years I have found several strings of the small blue beads carved with the Shou symbol mixed with various other beads... because these beads also appear on two court necklaces, (mine and Fenstermaker's), I believe these beads were always considered court beads.

Now, look at the blue glass head beads and Fodouda from the Mandarin Court Necklace and the large green glass head beads on the hand knotted necklace...they are exactly the same beads in different colors...the green bead necklace has been made from parts of a Court Necklace... lovely knotting with all silk cord.

I will continue the story of Mandarin glass beads next time....

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Chinese Silver Dragon Bead Necklace

These silver dragon beads surprised and amazed me when I first saw them...after 10 years of research it is always a pleasure to see something so unique.

The smaller (14mm) silver melon beads and clasp appear in other necklaces...

but the 13 huge 22mm ( 28mm with stems) silver beads, each with 2 three claw dragons, are the first that we have ever seen.

Beautiful detail and workmanship! Such pleasure to look at... and wear!

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Our New Chinese Language Site

I am so excited! We have created a new Chinese Language site... almost all of PrivateCollection's PictureBook and the last 8 articles from the blog have been translated into Chinese and future posts will also be translated!  Both now have links on this page.

When we started the blog 3 years ago, I never envisioned that China would become the second largest audience for this site. We have made many new friends from there... isn't the internet amazing... how it can bring people together!

A very special thank you to Xiaotian Chen for all of her hard work to make this all possible! Thank you everyone for making dreams come true! I still find it hard to believe when I look at this post... it brings tears of joy.

[ Chinese text requires simsun.ttf font installed on your computer's operating system ]

我太兴奋了！我们创建了一个新的中文网站. 几乎所有的“私人收藏”里的“照片书”和最新的八篇博客文章已被翻译成中文，而从今往后的发表的文章也会被翻译！此页有与这两个中文版的联接。

当我们在三年前开始了这个博客的时候，我从未想过，中国将会成为本网站的第二大观众，我们将会在那里认识很多新朋友. 互联网是如此神奇, 将来自四面八方的人联系在一起！

特别感谢陈小九, 是她的辛勤工作使这一切成为可能！也感谢你们每一个人是这个梦想成真!
当我看着眼前这篇文章, 我还是很难相信, 难以抑制喜悦的泪水。

Beads Beads and More Beads

Many of you who have read my past blogs know that I have been a bead collector for many years... the extraordinary Chinese beads are what led me to collecting Chinese Jewelry. Beads are not as easy to display as some of the other collections... they cannot be put in albums like coins or stamps or postcards...

When a large number of special beads appeared, I would always string them and wear them... then a friend taught me to knot...great hobby and a kind of meditation ...when you are finished you have a beautiful piece of jewelry to wear...that solved the problem of how to display the beads... well, almost!

There were still thousands of beads left ...all different shapes and sizes... Eventually it occurred to me that I could combine all the odds and ends ...the way that women make patchwork quilts... these proved to be very popular when I took them along to antique shows.

Then there were the Chinese beads... great unusual beads...carved gemstones, wood and nuts, early enamels, Peking glass, but I often had only 1-4 beads of each... too few to make a necklace...but they are so fabulous they deserve a better fate than being kept in bags in a drawer or in all of the old suitcases piled on the floor. 

But when I tried to string them together, it was impossible to make the knots because there were so many different hole sizes... (beaders will relate to this!). Then one day the light dawned on me because I have a friend who makes bent sterling silver wire jewelry... so I started to assemble my Chinese bead necklaces on sterling wire... 

Not only did it solve the problem of the different hole sizes, but it allows me to change a bead (or two...or three) without restringing the entire necklace...

Display problem solved ...but now there are all of these neck forms on the dining room table... I will have to get my husband to put in more shelving before we can sit down to eat!

Visit PrivateCollection's PictureBook to see additional photos.

Chinese Vermeil Gemstone Dragon Bracelet

If you have followed PrivateCollection from the beginning, you know that I love to find bracelets that have the dragon and pearl motif...there are a number in the PictureBook section.... this one is an excellent example of  'The Dragon that Roars'.

“In Chinese legend, nine dragons were born to the Dragon King. The youngest one, known as Pulao, was renowned for its mighty roar. "... Zhang He.

"The dragon is the highest ranking animal in China and is often found in association with the Emperor...there are nine types of dragons...this is the two headed dragon...named Pulao...also known as the dragon who roars." Chinese Art, A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery, Patricia Welch, 2008.

This bracelet is silver vermeil, the dragon heads are decorated with enamel flames..."to emphasize their powerful and supernatural nature"...(Welch) ...The 'pearl' at the center is decorated with gemstones; moonstones and jade.

 

The most amazing thing about this bracelet is the heavy mesh body of the bracelet which is totally flexible ...snake like...all of my other mesh bracelets are fixed...inflexible.

 

I want to send a special thank you to a dear fiend who gave me this wonderful new book by Patricia Welch, It is a great resource...Thank you Elizabeth!

Visit PrivateCollection's PictureBook to see additional photos.

Guest Contributor Yi Wang - Chinese Silver Symbolic Locks

I would like to welcome a new contributor, Yi Wang, to PrivateCollection's PhotoBlog. Yi has taken time out from his busy schedule as a grad student to write a wonderful piece on Chinese Silver Symbolic Locks...  I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I did!

In March of 1928, when my grandpa was 100 days (yes, days) old, the family held a big celebration party. The whole village came. Hundreds of silver symbolic locks covered a large table. Those were popular gifts at that time.    CONTINUED...NEXT PAGE

Chinese Tourmaline Pearl Necklace

"In 1703 the Dutch brought form Ceylon to Europe a strange red stone called 'Toramalli' by the Sinhalese.", Guide in Color to Precious and Semiprecious Stones. Today this stone is called tourmaline. It is a complex stone; found in many colors: black, blue, red, pink, green. brown, yellow and clear. The most popular color is the deep pinkish red called rubellite...like the stones in this necklace.

The large stones in this necklace probably came from the Magok area of Burma known for producing fine rubellites according to Michael Poynder in his book; Price Guide to Jewellery.

These stones are set in silver vermeil decorated with ocean pearls. Tourmaline was highly prized by the Chinese for centuries... it is on the list of stones that could only be used by members of the Royal Family in the Qing Dynasty.

   

30 years ago a jewelry dealer showed me a beautiful tourmaline necklace...I loved it but it was a bit beyond my means at the time... of course I kept looking for another one... it took a long time but I am thrilled to find this one!!

Visit PrivateCollection's PictureBook to see additional photos... many in larger formats.

Ethnic Chinese Silver Bracelets

Last December when I wrote about the Chinese Ethnic Silver Necklaces, there wasn't enough space to talk about these bracelets. So these photos were put aside for another time... and time goes by so quickly!

 

While the large necklaces (over 18" in diameter) are very dramatic... these bracelets have their own unique character... the ruggedness of the exterior balanced by the smooth symmetry and precision of the patterns in the interior...

 

...quite a contrast!

Chinese Mandarin Hat Buttons - part 2

We thought that it would be a good idea to show another example of how the hat buttons were worn… since we were having problems finding an none copyrighted image of a mandarin hat we could use, Bob asked one of his favorite models to sit for some photos.

I have always suspected that this model’s face was fashioned after The Last Emperors’…If it were a replica though, the hat button would be very different… gold with pearls and tiers. Never the less, it is a wonderful glimpse into how Mandarin Hat Buttons were worn.

Chinese Mandarin Hat Buttons

Mandarin is the commonly used term for high ranking Chinese public officials  during the Qing Dynasty…it is estimated that there were over 14,000 in 1899. As I have written about previously, there was a very strict protocol for dress, similar to military uniforms, that proscribed what colors and ornaments were to be worn by each of the 9 ranks of officials.

    

These are Mandarin Hat Buttons… worn on the crown of a hat (indoors and outdoors; black velvet in the winter, woven rattan in the summer) both hats had an opening that allowed the metal finial for the buttons to be moved from one hat to another … or replaced with a different button (often made of precious stones) for a special occasion.

This is an excellent illustration of how all of the various ornaments like the Court Necklace and Rank Badges were used… notice the hat button on the far right…

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, many of the hat buttons found their way to the west in different forms…

The reference site “The American Bell Association International, Inc.” has an entry for…Mandarin Hat Button Bells… but it no longer has images… they are referring to this image on the left… there is also some interesting information on colors and materials…as well as the ranks associated with them.

We were putting the final touches on the photos for this post, when I found an article in The New York Times regarding the 2003 European Fine Art Fair …. towards the end it states:

“Linda Wrigglesworth, a London antique dealer specializing in Chinese textiles, is showing a collection of 19th-century Mandarin hat buttons.

''They represent the different ranks of the imperial court,'' Ms. Wrigglesworth said. ''I have people who try to collect all the ranks. I've even got a client who puts them at her dinner table. She and her husband get the first rank, then she places the others depending on how she feels about each guest. It's a little cheeky, but it's their secret.''

Someone must have let the secret out…

One of Ms. Wrigglesworth’s sets of seven hat buttons sold at Christie’s in March, 2008 for almost $10,000.00… with their boxes…