Researching Chinese Beadwork

For years I was advised by many people that “there is no beadwork in China.” Since I grew up in a house filled with modest examples of Chinese decorative art worked in materials including cinnabar, jade, mother-of-pearl, cloissoné, porcelain, rosewood, soapstone, bamboo and silk, I found it hard to believe that the Chinese had never worked in beads.

A fair amount was already known about Peranakan or Straits Chinese beadwork of Malaysia and Indonesia, but nothing had been written about mainland Chinese beadwork, and the museums I checked with had few or no examples.

In 1997 I began going to China to look for evidence of beadwork. I began finding it right away. Eventually I began finding contemporary Chinese beadworkers too. My goal is to document as many examples, and learn about the lives of as many contemporary beadworkers, as possible.

For the last several years I have been working with several translators of classical and contemporary Chinese to have various beadwork-related texts translated into English. Progress is slow but significant, and will continue for some time. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my translators Jeff Keller, Lei Xue, and Grace Chen McClone, who have contributed so much to my understanding of Chinese culture, Chinese art, and Chinese beadwork.

I would also like to thank the organizations that have provided me with research grants: the Portland Bead Society, the Northwest Bead Society, and the Bead Study Trust. Their support and encouragement continues to mean a great deal to me, and I hope my future publications on Chinese beadwork will be worthy of their confidence.

I am especially interested in pieces of Chinese beadwork that bear inscriptions written in Chinese characters, in western Arabic numerals, or in the Latin alphabet, because such inscriptions illuminate fundamental Chinese attitudes and assumptions and attest to shifts in Chinese society over time.

On this page are images from my presentation “Respect and Cherish Written Words: Interpreting Inscriptions in Mainland Chinese Beadwork from the Ming Dynasty to the Present Day.”

I gave this presentation at a conference in Istanbul on November 24, 2007, and will be giving it again in Chicago on April 9, 2008 at the Fortnightly Club of Chicago, at the invitation of the Community Associates of the Art Institute of Chicago.

I hope you enjoy these images of pieces currently housed in private collections. 
All images are copyright protected and may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from Valerie Hector. 

Valerie Hector

 

Silk panel, possibly used as a funerary gift, embroidered with European glass beads forming the characters ji le shi jie, a name for the Pure Land of enlightenment to which all practitioners of Pure Land Buddhism aspire.  

First half of the 20th century.  13 1/4" w. x 12 3/4" h.  Photo:  Larry Sanders. 

(For more information on Pure Land Buddhism, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Land or http://www.cloudwater.org/pureland.html.)