4863

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    Red Venetian Glass & Brass Bead Necklace

    Andhra Pradesh, India
    19th century

    length: 80cm, weight: 237g

    Sold

    Provenance

    UK private collection

    – scroll down to see further images –

    This fine necklace is of dozens of strands of hundreds of tiny red glass trade beads produced in Murano, Venice before and probably well before 1880. The beads are not of uniform size, which is another indicator of their relatively early nature. Venetian glass beads were produced in their millions and exported right around the world. They turn up in ‘tribal’ necklaces from Borneo, to the Himalayas to the Americas.

    Technically, the beads are known as Cornaline D’Aleppo beads. They were manufactured first as tiny white glass beads which were then dipped in molten red glass to give them their colour.

    The red glass beads here have been accompanied by four large faceted double brass beads made locally in India and of a form that is characteristic of Andhra Pradesh.

    Such necklaces were worn by Gondh women in Andhra Pradesh (Untracht, p. 84).

    The example here is threaded onto the original twisted cotton thread. They are robust and wearable and have a superb patina.

    References

    Sarah Corbett, pers. comm.

    Untracht, O., Traditional Jewelry of India, Thames & Hudson, 1997.

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