Two Western Shou Chinese Rock Crystal Beads

These two archaic items carved from rock crystal date to the Western Zhou period, around the 8th century BC. One is in the shape of a tortoise, and the other as a disc or torus form. The tortoise has a small, irregular hole drilled into its tail to allow suspension perhaps from a necklace. The torus disc is of irregular shape – from having been hand-carved and polished and has plenty of wear.

Rock crystal along with jade were common hardstone materials from which such personal ornaments were made during China’s archaic period.

The two came from the estate of well-known collector Seward Kennedy (1925-2015) who assembled a vast collection of ‘curiosities’ over a period of more than six decades. Kennedy trained as a lawyer, and was American but spent most of his latter years in London. He did though maintain residences in London, Paris and New York. Most of what he acquired he picked up from dealers and antique markets in the UK, Europe and the US.

The two items here are in excellent condition and with obvious significant age.