Silk-wrapped agate, called "Qiong" by Tibetans, is bright and transparent in color and twisted with silk. If it is amber, it has naturally formed eyes as the top grade.
Tibetan silk-wrapped agate has been handed down from generation to generation and worn close to the body, which is regarded as a godsend. Because of the Tibetan people's unique complex of winding the sky, we can't get the correct source of winding silk agate from their stories. Today, we only have rational analysis and restore the ins and outs of these beads bit by bit according to historical records.
In the 5th century, Tibet was bordered by Uighurs in the north, with big food in the west, Tianzhu (Boluo Dynasty) in the south and Nanzhao in the east. In mythology, the territory of ancient elephants reached Jerusalem in the west. Such a vast territory and the blending of many nationalities make the Tibetan people have extremely diverse cultural sources. During the heyday of Tubo in the Tang Dynasty, the empire was rich and powerful, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, fought many times abroad, and plundered a lot of wealth and jewels. There are also a large number of craftsmen who make beads. During the Tubo period, Tibetans generally wore beads, and the emperor and the royal family were the owners of noble beads.
Agate beads of Sassanian Empire (AD 226-AD 630) have long flowed into Tibet through the Musk Road. According to Chinese historical records, the merchants of Ripas are called "Persian eyes", which means a strange man who is good at identifying precious pearls. It can be seen that at that time, beading was the main business content, and Han merchants were once forbidden to exchange tea for beading in the Song Dynasty. The easternmost end of Beaded Road should be Han! During the war between Tubo and Dashi, Tubo troops frequently plundered Sasan's pearl ornaments. We can imagine that the main source of silk-covered agate in Tibet is Persia in the west, and if we enlarge our vision, Greece and Egypt in the west, or the biggest source of silk-covered agate.
Today, you can still see beads made by local craftsmen in Ruhr and Kurdish areas of Iran, similar to agate beads wrapped in ancient Tibetan silk. The production process of silk-wrapped agate has never stopped, only the tools and mentality of the producer have changed.
Others believe that the agate wrapped in silk was brought to Tibet by Princess Wencheng in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Tubo gets married, Princess Wencheng enters Tibet, and Buddha beads. If these three elements are linked, there is a very popular story: the emperor of the Tang Dynasty wanted to test the Tubo emissary and took out a strange bead for the Tubo emissary to wear. What is special about this bead is that its hole turns to the ileum nine times and the rope can't pass through it. The clever Tubo messenger tied the thread to the leg of a little ant and put the ant on the pearl hole, so the ant passed the thread through the nine-turn hole.
Before the Tang Dynasty, agate beads had big holes, but they became thinner at the center of the beads. In addition, the two holes are staggered. It's difficult to string strings when encountering such ancient beads. I broke the rope between the beads several times. Why didn't I think of using small ants!
Agate beads wrapped in ancient silk are distributed in Himalayas, Yunnan, China, and Xinjiang, Ningxia and Gansu provinces in the west. This area happens to be the territory and country of Tubo. Silk-wrapped agates have been unearthed in ancient tombs in Hexi Corridor, Northeast China and Korean Peninsula, which is clear evidence that Xianbei people in the Khitan Tangut wear silk.
Ancient artificial beads have the aura of heaven and earth, and it takes hundreds of days to make beads. Agate is as hard as steel. The ancients took agate stone with beautiful natural texture, cut it and polished it, and then polished it with an iron drill. A pearl is worth more than a thousand dollars. Only those who are as rich and expensive as princes are eligible to wear them. Only in this way can nobles and craftsmen refine beauty to the end of vision and create pearls of psychic gods. They are all bones under the long river of history, leaving only beautiful beads to enjoy with us. It is a great fate to see or get an ancient pearl wasteland.
According to the ancient records of Vajrayana, silk-wrapped agate is as pure as scale-free curd and as bright as dew, symbolizing the eyes of joy, infinity and eternal life.
The ancient people's fear of evil eyes is called evil eye consciousness. From ancient Greece to Tibet, the consciousness of evil eyes is widespread, and the corresponding protection is the protection of god's eyes. Beads with eye patterns are used to resist the invasion of evil spirits This is the origin of an eye for an eye. Tibetans are consistent with Greece, Rome and India in wearing the eyes of the gods. Perhaps the Himalayan ancient cultural circle contains all the civilizations in Eurasia.
The natural texture of agate wrapped in silk has different symbolic meanings. Black eyes are sambara's eyes. According to legend, Zambala fought with the Bodhisattva and was hit in the head by the vajra, so we should pour beads with cold water every day to relieve Zambala's headache and let him give us money. The story of God in Tibet is vivid and interesting. God has personality defects and emotions just like mortals.
There is also a milky white crystal eyes wrapped in the middle, called the eye of love between men and women. Wearing it can make people get wonderful love!
Agate wrapped in silk can be handed down from generation to generation, buried underground and offered for fire.
The silk-wrapped agate handed down from generation to generation is oily and transparent, with bright colors, such as amber brown, dark color, deep red and milky white.
Buried agate beads wrapped in silk are gray calcified, and the surface will be covered with white skin of ancient jade with pits. Ancient bead lovers soak this silk-wrapped agate in clear water for a long time to make it vomit, and then wear it on their bodies. Slowly, the gray skin on the surface will recede, and the beads will gradually return to the handed down appearance. Playing with beads is also a pleasure.
Fire offering is a prayer ceremony of Tibetan Buddhism. Monks burn fresh branches to worship the gods. During this time, they will put the gifts offered by worshippers to the gods in the flame. Fire-wrapped silk is a burnt bead, which is gray and calcified, just like burning jade in the Central Plains. The fire-wrapped wire is in opaque limestone state, and there are fine cracks on the surface of the beads. The price of this kind of beads is much lower than that handed down from generation to generation. Senior beaders know that fire-wrapped beads also have their special vicissitudes, religious blessings and low prices, so some lovers specialize in collecting them.
Tibetan silk is worn close to the body and tied around the neck with a rope together with the dharma mantra given by the living Buddha. In Tibet, we will encounter tangled silk that is broken in half, and most of them are cut with an axe saw when family brothers are separated.
Ancient Tibetans thought agate beads were decorations of gods. The myth lost to the world because of the battle of heaven originated from Greek polytheism in BC. When Tibetans get these beads, they will smash a small hole in them, because the beads worn by God are too big for ordinary people to enjoy, and only those who have been damaged can wear them. This is an interview with King Lang Yifa. It is the most correct explanation for the many smashing marks on agate beads in ancient Tibet.
In today's Tibetan pastoral areas, it is difficult to see ancient silk-wrapped. After several years of pearl fever in Tibet, the old tangled silk in Tibet has almost disappeared. The tangled silk that used to be a sacred pearl is now the favorite of collectors of Tibetan pearls in the mainland. This change between things and people is not reincarnation.
It is recorded in Zhu Jing Materia Medica that silk-wrapped agate is a precious medicine, which is used to make pills and has magical power.
In Tibet and Nepal, the powder of silk-wrapped agate is also added to the casting of advanced Buddha statues, which is one of the mysterious formulas of Tibetan Nima bronze Buddha statues.
Silk-wrapped agate is also used to light Thangka in Tibetan ceremonies. Some silk-wrapped yarns with obvious wear marks are considered to be the beads used by temples to light Thangka for thousands of years. Most of these beads were handed down by Tibetan monks and are rare in the city.
Four or five years ago, in Chongsaikang, Lhasa, an agate wrapped in silk was worth several hundred yuan. In June last year, an operator bought a silk-wrapped agate with an eye pattern at a price of100000 yuan in Yushu pastoral area. Later, this agate bead was sold in Beijing at a price of nearly one million yuan and became an ornament of an entertainment star.
The market price of ancient agate beads wrapped in Tibetan silk has increased by nearly a hundred times in a few years. Ordinary people are not surprised, each several thousand yuan, regular shape, eyes in the middle, symmetrical lines, colors like amber, Bessie, black and white silk, are hundreds of thousands.
At present, there are many imitations of agate wrapped in ancient silk in the collection market. Imitations mostly come from Central Asian countries and Brazil to process agate materials. Some manufacturers sell beads wrapped in Tibetan silk, each worth several hundred yuan. The difference between imitation and genuine is different.
Authenticity identification method:
1. Look at the pearl type. Tibet's winding silk is round and full, while western Asia's is jujube-stone-shaped and slender.
2, look at the pulp, Tibet's wrapped silk skin is bright, oily, shining in the sun, imitation is dry, machine polished, no human skin intimacy!
3. Looking at the weathering pattern, the differentiation pattern of the old silk is naturally distributed, and the new one is hand-knocked, which is stiff and ugly.
4, look at the hole, the old hole is bright, there is no trace of grinding drill, the hole is in the shape of water droplets, which is a ligature mark worn for thousands of years. The hole of the new product has traces of drilling by electric drill. The hole is very regular and there are no traces of wear. Even if it imitates the water hole, it is artificial with an electric drill.
5, look at the price, the genuine price is high, and the imitation price is low. This is the most effective and direct way to distinguish. Nowadays, Tibetan pearl merchants know the market price very well, and it is absolutely impossible to sell genuine products below the market price.
The agate string wrapped with silk depends on the length, the preservation degree of beads and whether the dyeing is optimized. It is difficult to price your strings without knowing the size and whether they have been treated.