Page 100 - Christie's, Important Chinese Works of Art December 2, 2015 HK

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT ASIAN COLLECTOR PROVENANCE

3126 Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 December 2009, lot 2031

A RARE TOURMALINE AND JADEITE BEAD Qing court necklaces were an essential part of court dress, indicating
COURT NECKLACE, CHAO ZHU both rank and seasons, with different gemstones required for
different ceremonies. The materials and form of the mandarin court
LATE QING DYNASTY necklace were strictly codified in the Qing Huidian Tukao, written in
the early Qing dynasty, and also in the Huangchao Liqi Tushi, which
The necklace is composed of one hundred and eight pink was revised during the thirty-first year of Qianlong (1766). Cf. a court
tourmaline beads, divided at three evenly spaced intervals with necklace with amethyst, pink tourmaline and coral beads, included in
a jadeite Buddha’s head bead, the matching jadeite fota of triple- the joint exhibition, Secret World of the Forbidden City, The Bowers
gourd shape, the mouth of which is fitted with a yellow ribbon Museum of Cultural Art, California, and the Beijing Palace Museum,
that is attached to an oval pink stone and from which suspends 2000, illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 72, where the author provides
another length of ribbon, terminating at one end with a kingfisher instructions on how to wear the necklace.
feather embellished filigree mount, encasing a pear-shaped
spinel, on one side of the fota suspending a string of smaller blue 楁㷗Ἓ⢓⼿炻2009⸜12㚰1㖍炻㉵⑩2031嘇
tourmaline beads, terminating with a similarly mounted spinel,
and on the other side, suspending two strings of blue tourmaline
beads, each fitted with a yellow beryl and peridot respectively.
Each tourmaline bead ƒ in. (1.3 cm.) diam., box

HK$1,200,000-2,000,000 US$160,000-260,000

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