This is an early Chinese Export Silver bracelet … with a large beautifully carved jade flower centerpiece (4.5cm in diameter). It is obvious that the jade carving is unusual and striking…
But it is the setting that I really love… an example of granulation work which sometimes appears in Chinese pieces. Granulation is a metalwork process.. a way of joining small metal balls or granules to a base… the base can be a sheet of metal, or granule to granule or granule to wire …the joining process is call ‘fusion welding’ …it works best with gold and silver.
Granulation is one of the earliest known metalwork techniques; used in many different countries…some sources say that granule work first appeared in Mesopotamia c, 3000 BC (5000 years ago) but other sources suggest other dates and sites…let’s just say it is very old. Jewelry Concepts and Technology, Untracht, 1982, Doubleday and Company
 |
 |
It is marked ‘CHINA SILVER’ with a backwards ‘N’ which I find charming!
Best of all… I can wear this bracelet… it actually fits me! I have such a small wrist that most of the gorgeous big bracelets that I write about… can only sit there and stare at me!
[click on images to enlarge.... photos by: RidgewoodEntrust]
Visit PrivateCollection’s PictureBook to see additional photos.
