Listing Gallery Opening September 7th

I am pretty excited. Next week my new gallery will be open. In partnership with RidgewoodEntrust, the gallery will feature Chinese Jewelry for sale. Items will be exclusively listed here for a week before they will appear on Trocadero.

[click on images to enlarge photos by: RidgewoodEntrust]

The gallery will have a separate RSS (real simple syndication) feed, which will keep folks who use a ‘reader’ updated when items are listed. It is that orange ‘thingy’ that appears in your browser address window, that you see on certain web sites now. Actually, it is quite handy!

This coming week is my Brimfield Show week. I will get back in time to throw the switch to open the new gallery on the 7^th and then I have a very special post for the following week. I hope you have been enjoying your summer (or winter for some of my readers Down-Under)…

The Mandarin Court Necklace

The Mandarin Court Necklace is the goal of the serious collector. Legend has it that the Court necklace was patterned after a mala (a string of Tibetan prayer beads) that were given to Emperor Shunzhi (1644-1661) as a gift from the Dalai Lama.

[click on images to enlarge photos by: RidgewoodEntrust]

The beads are precious and semiprecious stones, most of them elaborately carved. Enameled metal and carved seeds or wood were also used. Choice of stone was predetermined by rank and only the emperor and his family were permitted to wear eastern pearls, coral, lapis and tourmaline....and later the newly discovered Burma jadeite. Officials of lower rank were permitted other materials such as carved seeds and nuts. These necklaces appeared in court from 1644-1911.




The necklace is 108 matched beads divided into four sections by three larger(25-30mm)beads (fouou or head bead) and one other large bead in a gourd shape (fodouda or Buddha head) that hung down the back to act as a counterweight. The head bead leads to a flat woven tape then a large pendant and finally a gemstone drop. Three additional strings of smaller beads terminate in gemstone drops with enameled silver caps. The stone beads are sometimes heavily carved, many reticulated and some actually hollowed out. A single bead in stone could take a master carver a week to produce.


It is not uncommon to find a single 18th or 19thc bead as the centerpiece in a necklace constructed by a 20thc jewelry designer.

Visit PrivateCollection's PictureBook to see additional photos.

PictureBook

I have added a new feature ... PictureBook. It contains all of my previous posts (some with additional high resolution photos) in an easy to browse format. It is an alternative to the standard archive used on most sites. Follow the PictureBook Archive link above and give it a try!







PictureBook was developed for PrivateCollection by RidgewoodEntrust.

Rose Carved Cherry Amber Necklace

I still remember the first time I saw one of these beads. Eighteen years ago, a friend (also a fellow bead lover) and I were searching our favorite flea market.

[click on images to enlarge         photos by: RidgewoodEntrust]

We came across a short string of these on an old rotting brown thread-about 20 beads...not enough for a necklace and very expensive...but we loved them so much that we decided to split the cost and each took half the string, just so we could own them. Over the years, I mixed them with other beads in necklaces that I made for myself.


I have continued to buy these whenever possible...and now there are two long necklaces and I realize that these were originally part of a Mandarin Court Necklace.



Visit PrivateCollection's PictureBook to see additional photos.

19th Century Chinese Silver Box

A work of art you can hold in your hand. Silver, repousse, chased and under carved on each side. The floras at the corners of the top are young prunus blossoms (plum or apricot family) associated with long life.

[click on images to enlarge     photos by: RidgewoodEntrust]

At the center are two birds surrounded by the prunus with ripened fruit on the branches. The smaller bird with the cocked tail is a magpie; the larger a heron or perhaps a crane. In China the magpie is one of the most popular birds…its name literally translated as ‘bird of joy’…Margaret Duda says a single magpie on the prunus branch means ‘happiness up to your eyebrows’. (Oddly in European folklore the magpie is associated with trouble and unhappiness with multiple superstitions around it)




The crane is mentioned in the I Ching by name. In the hexagram Inner Truth: “A crane is calling in the shade. Its young answers it.” …This indicates a heart free of prejudices and therefore open to truth. All the symbols of joy and fertility suggest that the box was a wedding gift.

I would like to think that the two birds ‘of a different feather’ have recognized each other’s call and found a comrade.