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147

Banded AGATE BEADS

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Asian Antiques Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:750.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Banded AGATE BEADS
Online Auction only, with advance bids accepted at iCollector and at the Gallery. No live bidding
in the Gallery, and tie bids go to the earliest bidder. All proceeds will go 100% to the World Peace Foundation Building Fund of Hadley, MA.
Wonderful hand-made miniature beads from Very Hard Banded Agate. What the ancients "commented" about Agate is not known, but they put a lot of effort into making necklaces or other jewelries from it so the feelings must have been almost as strong as for Jade. And the Banded or Striped Agate was the most precious because of the care with which they used it.....almost always in small amounts**. The reason is that the raw material was scarce in surface finds, and people then did not know how or where to look to mine it. Thus the time taken to make these small artifacts was less than the cost of the material....something to occupy the long winter months for Northwesterners who preferred such an occupation to boredom. Thus it was the Yuexi peoples, craft-oriented pastorals living North of the Silk Route between Xian and Dunhuang, who had near-sighted members who learned to do such fine work (No one in my family would be capable without great magnification - which the ancient Chinese did not have). 20 examples of these neat Agate Beads - from my personal collection - are being offered here, in sizes from 1/8" to 1/4" (any direction). They are additionally rare because the Yuexi were forced out of NW China by the cooperating Chinese and Xiongnu tribal armies, and moved westward into Afghanistan and conquered that region in the 2nd-1st centuries BC. Thus ended this fine craft after only a century or two - never to be revived in their new homeland further West. It is also possible that no more than a couple of Yuexi families were ever involved - another reason for their rarity. Warring States period and almost impossible to find in any of the markets in China since I got these in the 1990s. Historical little pieces that will delight you. ** See: "SPARKLING SPLENDORS: The Art of Ancient Chinese Carvingson Rock Crystal and Agate / The Taoshi Zhai Collection" 2000, Roger Chow, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Several strings of beads are shown using this material....but only one has a couple of miniatures - on Page 185. A string of larger beads but few in number is found on Page 88, entry #48.
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