Necklace of Ancient Javanese Gold Beads

This necklace comprises 43 larger ancient gold beads from Java and possibly some from Pyu, plus smaller spacer beads. Each was found in Java and latterly was assembled into this necklace. The beads are a mix of locally produced gold beads and others that may have been traded to Java in ancient times, most probably from the ancient kingdom of Pyu, located in Upper Burma and which became renown in the ancient Southeast Asian world for its production of gold beads. Either that or the beads are modelled on Pyu prototypes.

The closure is with a gold hook and loop closure which is likely to be of similar age to the beads themselves.

The threading of the beads is modern – they can be readily re-threaded according to how one might want to wear them.

Some of the beads here are similar to those in Lunsingh Scheurleer (2012, p. 106 and 112), and Miksic (1990, p. 62).

Pyu beads served as models for gold bead production across Southeast Asia. Pyu beads show an extraordinarily high level of gold smithing technique. The gold used typically was alluvial. The beads themselves show a range of sophisticated and intricate designs in filigree, granulation work and casting. Shapes include those based on melons, gourds, cowrie shells, and the like. Some beads, including on this necklace, ingeniously are formed from cagework.

Pyu was a group of city-states that existed from around 200BC to 1100AD in the area that is now present-day Upper Burma (Myanmar). The cities were trade focused and Chinese records from the 9th century evoke a sophisticated culture with sumptuous courts and richly adorned Buddhist monasteries (Richter, 2000, p. 43).

The city-states – there were five major walled cities in total plus some smaller towns – were located along an overland trade route between China and India. In these, the Pyu pioneered urban development in Southeast Asia and were masters in brickmaking, ironworking and water management (Guy, 2014, p. 68).

Pyu culture was heavily influenced by trade with India. Buddhism was imported along with other cultural and political ideas. Pyu civilisation largely ended in the 9th century when the city-states were destroyed by repeated invasions from the Kingdom of Nanzhao. Pyu settlements remained in Upper Burma for the next three centuries but gradually these were absorbed into the expanding Pagan Kingdom, and ultimately, the Pyu assumed Burman ethnicity.

The trading nature of the Pyu means that Pyu gold beads have been found as far afield as Thailand, Vietnam and China, as well as Java and Sumatra.

The gold tests at around 22 carats. The beads variously show signs of age and wear consistent with antiquity.