DIA140mm, China
This beautiful necklace is made up of a string of hollowed jade beads.
The colour works strikely well with the hand woven Chinese knots string.
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DIA140mm, China
The creature of the pendant is known as a “Tao Tie”, in mythical legend he is fifth son of the dragon. The Tao Tie has the face of a goat and the body of a man, he has eyes under his armpits, teeth of the tiger but the voice of a baby.
The Tao Tie is said to be a greedy eater and thus his images are found in a lot of bronze cauldrons, even the gourmet experts are referred to as old Tao.
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DIA140mm, China
It would be hard to guess what is the black metal badge behind the dragon.
….
A bronze mirror! This mirror is unfortunately not polished, so you will not be able to turn it over to re-apply the lipstick after meal.
For the Chinese, the bronze mirror is a lovers’ keepsake, a token of love. The story goes back to the Southern and Northern dynasty; a couple was departed during the war, the husband saw the bronze mirror in half and each kept a piece as a keepsake. Years later, after a lot of hardship the two was able to find each other with the token mirror. And finally the circular mirror was completed again.
破鏡重圓
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DIA120mm, China
Jade huang is one of the six forms of jade used for the recruitment of the court, a little bit like the staff identification card of today. Each form and its different material would represent a different grade in the court. By the Shang dynasty, it is more of a decorative object worn over the chest as a pendant.
This necklace is made up of piece of a hetain jade (nephrite) huang, tied together in the fashion of the famous jade armor.
Dia130mm, China
The pendants of this necklace are called Yu Le Li and they are believed to be a cousin of the bracelet!
Many many years ago, Yu Le Li was a jade cylindrical tube used in the ritual ceremony for demon cleansing. As times goes by it was developed into the form of the bracelet and also as a waist pendant. The small pendant form is now used in this necklace.
Ceremonial Gong
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DIA130mm, China
The beautiful jade pendant has the theme of a carp swimming among the lotus, this theme is popular in Chinese painting. It is true that muddy lotus pool offer an ideal habitat for the carp fish and that it makes an interesting composition, the reason for this established theme lays in another reason. Like most Chinese decoration, it is an idea of blessing; the words lotus 蓮 (lian) and carp 鯉 (li) shares the same pronouncation with the words joined 連 (lian) and branches 理 (li). 連理 refers to two individual trees having their branches joined together (inosculation), a marriage, becoming one. A blessing for the marriage, an ideal X’mas present for the wife.
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DIA100mm, China
The pendent for this necklace is a jade head piece.
The idea of a headpiece comb developed very early in China; the word “beauty” 美 came from a goat 羊 hat over a dancing man 大 (a man 人 with his hands extended). The concept of head gear developed into a social etiquette, a complete system was formed for ranking of officials, classes and for different occasions. When a young noble male reaches the age of 20, there will be a crowning ceremony, signifying the change from a boy to a man.
Some head pieces are secured on the hair bundle rather than as worn as a hat and this pendant is one of them.
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DIA130mm, China
Before looking into the subject, I have always thought that 琉璃 “liu li” is only a posher name for glass 玻璃 “bo li”. Unlike the ordinary glass “liu li” is a precious material, one of the 7 treasures of musaragalva, agate, liu li, amber, pearl and musk.
“liu li” is in fact a totally different material and is produced with an entirely different technique. The technique of “liu li” production has been used in China for over 2000 years, it is believed to be an accidental discovery during early lead making. In the process of making oxidized lead, a glaze like substance is found to be attached to the clay kiln, a further firing of the glaze with quartz became the early formula of liu li. Unlike glass, “liu li” is opaque and formed by a laborious task of casting and sanding.
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DIA130mm, China
For the Something Old Something New Collectible Jewellery is the necklace of the three fish, the dushan jade fish are hang on a hand woven Chinese knots necklace.
Three fish are seen as a sign of blessing, in the East Han dyansty, when bribery was a common affair, there was a just officer named Yang Zhen. Yang was in charged of the appointment of government official, unlike the others before him, he would only appoint those who has the ability and reject those who tried to bribe him. One day, when Yang was at a low point in his life, he saw three fish jumping out of pond. He feels that the gods has understood him and blessed him with the three fish and soon after he was promoted to be one of the three top officials. The three fish became a symbol for the three top officials under only the emperor himself, in today’s terms they are the prime minister, the secretary of home affairs and the secretary of defense.
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DIA165mm, China
The figurines on this necklace used to be the ornaments of a child’s hat. A special hat would be made for the child’s birth, 100 days celebration and the first birthday. The hat is seen as a blessing for the child, depending on the gender, family social status, the design of the hat varies.
The gold plated enamel ornaments would have belongs to a hat of a wealth family. The 9 figurines are the 8 Immortals (one either side) + the god of Longevity (in the middle). The 8 Immortals are; Iron-Crutch Tie Guai Li, Philosopher Han Xiang Zi, Elder Zhang Guo Lao, Lan Cai He, Immortal Woman He Zian Gu, Leader Lu Dong Bin, Han Zhong Li and Royal Uncle Cao Guo Jiu, they are Taoist saints who are not very powerful and have a few human frailties. One of the many stories of the 8 Immortals is about their birthday wishes for the Queen Mother of the West and thus the appearance is associated with birthdays and blessings.
Here is a clip from the Xiang opera “8 Immortals birthday wishes for the Queen Mother of the West”
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Mountain Folkcraft 