Questions
Re: Please help ID this bead. -- Mor Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Will Mail author
06/03/2014, 09:03:13

Hi Mor,

Belated greeting on my part.

This is a fascinating, curious bead. I don't think it's ancient, and it's certainly not an ancient Southeast Asian bead. The bearded face in profile looks like a modern image to me. I'm still trying to figure out how the bead has been made. It seems to be trying to fit into a tradition of West Asian folded beads, but of course it's not folded. Do you think the black pattern has been overlaid on top of the white glass or has the design been cut into the glass and filled with an oily black material? I'm reminded slightly of the technique that was used in early fakes of Jatim polychrome beads from Java where a monochrome bead was used as a base and the design was cut into it and filled with quite convincing coloured inlays. This is not the same - not at all - and I haven't seen a bead like yours in any of my trips to Java, but it occurs to me that the technique might be similar.

In any case, this is not a fake, since it's not trying to replicate any known ancient bead. It's clever and interesting in its own right. I hope we'll be able to find out more about it.

All the best,

Will



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