A VERY RARE IMPERIAL TOURMALINE AND AQUAMARINE ROSARY-BRACELET, SHOU CHUAN

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A VERY RARE IMPERIAL TOURMALINE AND AQUAMARINE ROSARY-BRACELET, SHOU CHUAN
18TH/19TH CENTURY

Comprising eighteen pink tourmaline beads, evenly divided by a larger blue tourmaline bead and a double-gourd bead suspending a yellow tourmaline carving of a coiled chilong, terminating in two aquamarine drop-shaped beads, spaced with clusters of seed pearls and tiny coral beads
11 3/4 in. (30 cm.) long

Lot Essay

Apart from tourmaline, rosaries were made of a variety of other precious and semi-precious material, such as jade and jadeite, lapis lazuli, coral, ruby, turquoise and fragrant wood. Comparable examples may be found in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, illustrated in Qingdai Fushi Zhanlan Tulu, Qing Dynasty Costume Accessories, nos. 65-71, no. 71 being the closest, strung with pink tourmaline beads. For jadeite and aquamarine examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing, cf. Qingdai Houfei Shoushi, Qing Dynasty Consort Jewellery, nos. 238 and 243, respectively.

Compare also with a pearl-inlaid aloeswood rosary sold in these Rooms, 26 April 1998, lot 534, and a turquoise and coral rosary offered in the present sale, lots 627 and 628.

(US$9,000-12,000)

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