India
Order Number: MHSABD11

Believed to be at least 1,000 years old.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

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Style: Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran
Size: Height 37 cm
Order Number: MHSAII2

The necklace includes gold beads, animal shaped beads and eye beads. One appears to be slightly broken on the right hand side.

Bead making has been a highly valued skill throughout the world from the earliest times, at least for 40,000 years. Techniques invented by the Ancient Egyptians and Romans are still used today.

They have been used to guard against evil and as adornment. They can indicate a person’s rank and marital status. They are portable wealth and are traded. They are used as amulets in some societies

They are used by religions. The word bead comes from the Anglo-Saxon biddan, meaning to pray. Roman Catholic rosary beads contain a set number of beads for counting prayers, for example 150 for the psalms. Tibetan Buddhist and Hindu rosaries have 108 beads.

The makers guard their techniques closely. In the 13th and 14th centuries the Venetian Doges monopolised world glass making. in 1292 the glass makers were moved to the island of Murano and forbidden to reveal their secrets or even leave. If they did, the punishment was death.

Beads can be made from anything: bone, horn, glass, wood, metals such as gold, silver, bronze, and brass, ceramic, ivory, seeds, berries, stones, shells, pearls, coral, amber, jet and even plastic.

The powerful east Javanese king Kertanegara, whose capital was in Singosari, was brilliant and erudite but brutal and a drunkard.

The post Antique Bead Necklace 2 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Style: Java, Indonesia
Order Number: MHSBD7

Java has many megalithic stone graves with large amounts of beads, some monochrome and some polychrome with various designs and great artistic value, including mutisalah and eye, sunbursts, stripes and mosaic beads. Dealers called them Majapahit beads, looking for a popular label, but they  were never found in Majapahit sites from 1300 AD to 1500 AD, and are much older, probably earlier than 900 AD, and could have been 300 AD.

The mosaic beads are also called rainbow (pelangi) beads and are very beautiful. They tend to have 2 or 4 colour combinations, usually blue and white or blue, white, red and yellow, although the blue in the 4 colours may be changed to dark green, dark blue or brown. They tend to be between 2 and 3.5 cm long.

Eyes, sunbursts and stripes can be all in one bead. They come in combinations of 2, 3 and 4 colours: blue, yellow, white, red, green and very dark green. The most common are blackish green and white and in green and yellow. The largest, about 5 cm long, are green and yellow. Some large beads have white flowers around the opening. In Indonesia eye beads seem to be restricted to East Java and could have been trade items.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Beads 7 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Style: Java, Indonesia
Order Number: MHSBD8

Java has many megalithic stone graves with large amounts of beads, some monochrome and some polychrome with various designs and great artistic value, including mutisalah and eye, sunbursts, stripes and mosaic beads. Dealers called them Majapahit beads, looking for a popular label, but they  were never found in Majapahit sites from 1300 AD to 1500 AD, and are much older, probably earlier than 900 AD, and could have been 300 AD.

The mosaic beads are also called rainbow (pelangi) beads and are very beautiful. They tend to have 2 or 4 colour combinations, usually blue and white or blue, white, red and yellow, although the blue in the 4 colours may be changed to dark green, dark blue or brown. They tend to be between 2 and 3.5 cm long.

Eyes, sunbursts and stripes can be all in one bead. They come in combinations of 2, 3 and 4 colours: blue, yellow, white, red, green and very dark green. The most common are blackish green and white and in green and yellow. The largest, about 5 cm long, are green and yellow. Some large beads have white flowers around the opening. In Indonesia eye beads seem to be restricted to East Java and could have been trade items.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Beads 8 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Style: Java, Indonesia
Order Number: MHSABD9

Java has many megalithic stone graves with large amounts of beads, some monochrome and some polychrome with various designs and great artistic value, including mutisalah and eye, sunbursts, stripes and mosaic beads. Dealers called them Majapahit beads, looking for a popular label, but they  were never found in Majapahit sites from 1300 AD to 1500 AD, and are much older, probably earlier than 900 AD, and could have been 300 AD.

The mosaic beads are also called rainbow (pelangi) beads and are very beautiful. They tend to have 2 or 4 colour combinations, usually blue and white or blue, white, red and yellow, although the blue in the 4 colours may be changed to dark green, dark blue or brown. They tend to be between 2 and 3.5 cm long.

Eyes, sunbursts and stripes can be all in one bead. They come in combinations of 2, 3 and 4 colours: blue, yellow, white, red, green and very dark green. The most common are blackish green and white and in green and yellow. The largest, about 5 cm long, are green and yellow. Some large beads have white flowers around the opening. In Indonesia eye beads seem to be restricted to East Java and could have been trade items.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Beads 9 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Glass
Style: Java
Size: Length 2 cm, Width 2 cm, Height 5 cm, Circumference 15 cm
Order Number: MHSBD14

Java has many megalithic stone graves with large amounts of beads, some monochrome and some polychrome with various designs and great artistic value, including mutisalah and eye, sunbursts, stripes and mosaic beads. Dealers called them Majapahit beads, looking for a popular label, but they  were never found in Majapahit sites from 1300 AD to 1500 AD, and are much older, probably earlier than 900 AD, and could have been 300 AD.

The mosaic beads are also called rainbow (pelangi) beads and are very beautiful. They tend to have 2 or 4 colour combinations, usually blue and white or blue, white, red and yellow, although the blue in the 4 colours may be changed to dark green, dark blue or brown. They tend to be between 2 and 3.5 cm long.

Eyes, sunbursts and stripes can be all in one bead. They come in combinations of 2, 3 and 4 colours: blue, yellow, white, red, green and very dark green. The most common are blackish green and white and in green and yellow. The largest, about 5 cm long, are green and yellow. Some large beads have white flowers around the opening. In Indonesia eye beads seem to be restricted to East Java and could have been trade items.

9th century or earlier.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

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Material: Glass
Style: East Java, Indonesia
Size: Length 2.5 cm, Width 2.5 cm, Height 4 cm, Circumference 12 cm
Order Number: MHSBD15

Java has many megalithic stone graves with large amounts of beads, some monochrome and some polychrome with various designs and great artistic value, including mutisalah and eye, sunbursts, stripes and mosaic beads. Dealers called them Majapahit beads, looking for a popular label, but they  were never found in Majapahit sites from 1300 AD to 1500 AD, and are much older, probably earlier than 900 AD, and could have been 300 AD.

The mosaic beads are also called rainbow (pelangi) beads and are very beautiful. They tend to have 2 or 4 colour combinations, usually blue and white or blue, white, red and yellow, although the blue in the 4 colours may be changed to dark green, dark blue or brown. They tend to be between 2 and 3.5 cm long.

Eyes, sunbursts and stripes can be all in one bead. They come in combinations of 2, 3 and 4 colours: blue, yellow, white, red, green and very dark green. The most common are blackish green and white and in green and yellow. The largest, about 5 cm long, are green and yellow. Some large beads have white flowers around the opening. In Indonesia eye beads seem to be restricted to East Java and could have been trade items.

9th century or earlier.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Rainbow Bead 4 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Style: Java, Indonesia
Order Number: MHSARB7

Java has many megalithic stone graves with large amounts of beads, some monochrome and some polychrome with various designs and great artistic value, including mutisalah and eye, sunbursts, stripes and mosaic beads. Dealers called them Majapahit beads, looking for a popular label, but they  were never found in Majapahit sites from 1300 AD to 1500 AD, and are much older, probably earlier than 900 AD, and could have been 300 AD.

The mosaic beads are also called rainbow (pelangi) beads and are very beautiful. They tend to have 2 or 4 colour combinations, usually blue and white or blue, white, red and yellow, although the blue in the 4 colours may be changed to dark green, dark blue or brown. They tend to be between 2 and 3.5 cm long.

Eyes, sunbursts and stripes can be all in one bead. They come in combinations of 2, 3 and 4 colours: blue, yellow, white, red, green and very dark green. The most common are blackish green and white and in green and yellow. The largest, about 5 cm long, are green and yellow. Some large beads have white flowers around the opening. In Indonesia eye beads seem to be restricted to East Java and could have been trade items.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Rainbow Beads 7 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.