Period:Eastern Zhou dynasty Production date:600BC-200BC
Materials:glass
Technique:inlaid
Subjects:flower fruit
Dimensions:Diameter: 3.10 centimetres
Description:
Bead (melon-shaped), decorated with flower-spray. Made of blue-green and brown inlaid glass.
IMG
Comments:Rawson 1992:Beads decorated with layers of coloured glasses, making what are called ‘eyes’, are known from many parts of the world, including Egypt, Mesopotamia and Europe. The form of this bead was probably copied from such foreign examples. The chemical composition (traces of barium), however, indicates that the beads were made in China. Cobalt, needed for the blue colour came from Afghanistan. Both the use of this foreign material and the form in which it was made indicate that the Chinese were in contact not merely with their neighbours in Central Asia, but through them with the lands of the Middle East. Glass beads are found, for example, in the fifth-century BC tombs as that of the Marquis Yi of Zeng. See also BM 1940.1214.5, 27, 34, 35, 42, 43, 44, 46, 55, 75 and 78; or BM 1938.0524.632, 751 and 753.
Materials:glass
Technique:inlaid
Subjects:flower fruit
Dimensions:Diameter: 3.10 centimetres
Description:
Bead (melon-shaped), decorated with flower-spray. Made of blue-green and brown inlaid glass.
IMG
Comments:Rawson 1992:Beads decorated with layers of coloured glasses, making what are called ‘eyes’, are known from many parts of the world, including Egypt, Mesopotamia and Europe. The form of this bead was probably copied from such foreign examples. The chemical composition (traces of barium), however, indicates that the beads were made in China. Cobalt, needed for the blue colour came from Afghanistan. Both the use of this foreign material and the form in which it was made indicate that the Chinese were in contact not merely with their neighbours in Central Asia, but through them with the lands of the Middle East. Glass beads are found, for example, in the fifth-century BC tombs as that of the Marquis Yi of Zeng. See also BM 1940.1214.5, 27, 34, 35, 42, 43, 44, 46, 55, 75 and 78; or BM 1938.0524.632, 751 and 753.
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