| Original Message: Re: Whole Pig Head Bead |
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Hello Danny, This piece is very helpful in seeing the iconography on redmountain's bead. Just one other note and I think this has been discussed before on BCN. As I have been researching beads, I have arbitrarily taken the definition of a bead to include a hole pierced through the center of the piece. (This definition is problematic in that flat thin pieces like Chinese bis which have holes at their center, yet would not be thought by most to be beads, would also be included. Otherwise it is helpful in that I do not have to consider many kinds of pendants with holes pierced asymmetrically as this would enlarge an already too large subject. ) Others have taken the position that anything with a hole in it can be considered to be a bead. Even the smallest of zhulongs can be heavy and I have never seen anything to show them being strung together in a group. Many zhulongs are the size of the one in your photo - four inches across - and quite substantial. I would prefer to think of it as a pendant, or when truly large - some pig dragons are more than a foot across- as a sculptural "something else." This is not a question with an absolute answer and, as I recall, the definition of a bead versus pendant was not resolved in the previous discussion. Does anyone remember this? Terry All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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