| Original Message: Re: Agate Beads Found In Southwest China |
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Hi
I'd like to add to this discussion some historical perspective.
When talking about the Liao dynasty(916-1125), we are talking about a geographical area in North East China (later known as Manchuria) that was ruled by the Qidan tribal peoples.This area was later ruled by the Jin dynasty (1115-1234) ,the Ruzhen tribal peoples to whom the Manchu,the rulers of the Ching dynasty,were descended.
When describing an item as from Liao dynasty i would expect that it would be found(excavated) in that geographical area.
You described your agate beads as having been found in South West China.During the Liao dynasty South West China ,loosely where Yunnan province is now,would have been its own independant State, the NanZhao, with its capital in Dali.
At this time The Song dynasty,the somewhat battered, and in retreat, remains of the Han people(960-1279) and the Tangut Kingdom of Xixia(1038-1227) also were in power controlling various areas of what we now call China.
Confusing right?
In my experience i have known dealers who name items as from the Liao dynasty but they are trying to "spice " up the origin,the pieces they have might well be from that "time period" but might not be specific the the Qidan peoples.If the item was from a known Liao dynasty burial site it would not be from SW China area ,but there is a possibility,fairly remote i would guess, that an item with characteristics of Liao artistic work could have been traded to other areas.
I would tend to agree with Jamey that India should be focused on as an origin.Yunnan province(if that is the SW China referred to) borders Burma and historically has been active in trade from India/Burma and Tibet.Having said that though much of "China" has also seen such trade,so agate beads and other items of Indian origin are also found in burial sites all over China and from various time periods.I would therefore not rule out seeing items orginating from outside China in Liao(Qidan) specific burials but if your agate beads were indeed excavated in Yunnan province area i would speculate on that evidence alone that they were not connected to the Liao dynasty.
To sum up i'd say we should use knowledge of the history of technology in beadmaking,history of trade patterns and if possible knowledge of the time period and location of the excavated site to get an idea of possible history of the beads in question.
I haven't tried to identify your beads in question because i simple don't know enough but when i hear SW China and Liao dynasty in the same sentence i would be wary. Peace Springee
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