Most ancient peoples have a long history of making jewelry with turquoise, such as American Indians and ancient Persians. Among all ethnic groups in China, Tibetans use turquoise the most.
Basically, every Tibetan has some form of turquoise. On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, people have known about turquoise for a long time. Generally speaking, the quality of turquoise imported from Persia is the best, while that imported from mainland China is average. The southwestern United States is a new source of supply. Tibetans' evaluation standard for high-quality turquoise products is that the color is sky blue and there is no crack.
Turquoise has played an important role in Tibet since ancient times. It was used in the crown of the first Tibetan king as an altar offering, and it was also a gift from the Tibetan king to the Lama in a high position and a tribute to neighboring countries. Gold and turquoise are still the main materials in jewelry worn by Lhasa nobles in this century.
In many Asian societies, blue is considered auspicious, and this blue or bluish gem is endowed with many special powers. Some Tibetan communities believe that wearing turquoise rings can protect a safe journey. Dreaming of turquoise means auspiciousness and the beginning of a new life. Wearing turquoise to turn green is a sign of liver disease. Some people say that this shows the function of turquoise to suck out jaundice virus.
Many Tibetans wear turquoise necklaces around their necks and are regarded as souls. An ancient legend describes the relationship between turquoise and soul: according to God's will, the subjects of the Tibetan king are not allowed to throw any turquoise into the river because the soul may leave his body and die.
Turquoise is usually used to make beads. Dimensions range from 8 to 60 mm, either polished or unpolished. Turquoise can be the main bead or washer on the rosary, and 108 beads are sacred.
Many Tibetan communities use turquoise in their daily hair accessories. Nomadic women comb their hair into petals decorated with turquoise and coral. For married women in southern Tibet, turquoise beads in their hair are essential, which expresses their wishes for a long life for their husbands. Not wearing any turquoise in your hair is considered disrespectful to your husband.
In the western Himalayas, valuables such as turquoise are directly sewn on women's dresses or children's hats.
Sometimes the front of the whole coat is decorated with metal sheets, shells, beads of various materials, buttons and turquoise. Ornaments on children's hats also have protective effects.
Most Tibetan women also make necklaces with turquoise beads and other valuables such as coral, amber, pearls and jadeite. Men's jewelry is relatively simple, usually a few turquoise beads strung together with coral are hung around their necks, or a turquoise bead is tied to the earlobe with a thread. Women in Manan, northwest Nepal proudly wear a 70mm turquoise with two coral beads on the side. Wearing this jewelry means personal safety for the husband who goes out for business.
Amulet container is an important kind of jewelry and jade in Asia. Every Tibetan has one or several such containers to store religious documents. Protective items such as cloth pieces or pocket religious figures cut from the clothes of senior lamas. This kind of container can be an ordinary cloth bag, but it is more beautifully carved gold and silver boxes, rarely without turquoise decoration. Sometimes a piece of turquoise with a suitable size is placed in the center, and sometimes many flawless turquoise, diamonds, rutile and emeralds are uniquely arranged on the 24K gold ancestral objects. Especially in Lhasa and central Tibet, a special kind of amulet is popular: a box with two crossed gold and silver squares on it, usually the whole box is decorated with turquoise.
Any jewelry and jade in Tibet may contain turquoise. It is common to set turquoise on a 24K gold, silver, bronze or white copper ring. There is a very special kind of ring, which is in the shape of a typical "saddle" and usually very large. Tibetan men wear them on their hands or hair, and women like small rings. No matter which Tibetan group, both men and women, love earlobes. Women wear earlobes in pairs, while men only wear one earlobe on their left ear. The earlobes worn by the nobles in Lhasa are daunting. Large earlobes made of gold, turquoise and pearls are dragged from the ear to the chest. A flower-shaped earring worn by women in central Tibet on important occasions (it may be more appropriate to call it "ear shield" because these earrings are carefully placed in front of the ears and tied to the hair or hairnet), and the whole surface is covered with turquoise.
The above examples are just a few kinds of turquoise ornaments. There are many other ornaments decorated with turquoise, such as pendants and chains, milk bucket hooks, apron hooks, chest ornaments, back ornaments, hair ornaments, metal garlands and so on.
Although we can still see turquoise in traditional jewelry in Tibetan cultural areas in daily life, the use of turquoise is declining, and many exquisite folk jewelry enters the crucible of gold refiners or flows to western collectors.
However, the characteristics of Tibetan culture are obvious, showing its brilliant achievements in many aspects, and it still burns an immortal flame. As a part of this cultural feature, turquoise is a hope of Tibetans, and the inevitable change will still leave a place for the soul and beauty of turquoise in Tibet.
Mental function:
(1). American Indians believe that turquoise is the spirit of the sea and blue sky, which will bring good luck to the expedition. It is regarded as a stone of success and luck and a symbol of divine power. Many ethnic minorities in the world regard it as a gift from God.
(2) Turquoise is one of the ancient gems, with a glorious history of thousands of years, and is deeply loved by people at home and abroad. As early as in ancient Egypt, Mexico and Persia, turquoise was regarded as a mysterious thing to ward off evil spirits, as amulets and funerary objects. Two 28-cm-long fish-shaped turquoise ornaments were unearthed at Yangshao Cultural Site in Dahe Village, Zhengzhou, Henan Province (6500-4400 years ago). The oldest and most precious turquoise is the mummy of the Queen of Egypt (Queen Zell) who wore four gold bracelets made of turquoise on her arm more than 5,000 years ago. 1900 When excavated, the ornaments are still dazzling and can be called world treasures. Turquoise is simple and elegant, and has been loved by people in many countries for thousands of years, even reaching the level of superstition. Egyptians carved the goddess of love with turquoise to protect their treasures; Indians believe that wearing turquoise ornaments can ward off evil spirits and get the blessing of the gods; Tibetan compatriots in China believe that turquoise is the embodiment of God, a symbol of power and status, and the most popular sacred ornament. It was used as the crown of the first Tibetan king as an altar offering. Turquoise is recognized as "the birthstone of December" at home and abroad, representing victory and success, and has the reputation of "the stone of success".
Evaluation and purchase of turquoise;
The evaluation and purchase of turquoise are based on color, texture and fragmentation. Its varieties are divided into: blue turquoise, light blue turquoise, blue-green turquoise, green turquoise and foam. It is blue and dark blue opaque or slightly transparent, with glassy surface, uniform color, soft luster and no brown iron wire. Turquoise is divided into transparent turquoise, massive turquoise, blue turquoise, linear turquoise, magnetic turquoise and spotted turquoise according to texture. Transparent turquoise is extremely rare and of high value. Magnetic turquoise is as bright as porcelain with high quality and high price. The international gem circle divides turquoise into four grades: Grade I (Persian), Grade II (American), Grade III (Egyptian) and Grade IV (Afghan). The first class is the best quality turquoise. For details, please refer to the prices of similar products in the market. .