China, 19th century. The translucent golden-brown amber glass beads each incised with a shou character, divided by four blue glass fotou (Buddha heads), one of them connected to a gourd-shaped fotouta (Buddha head stupa), supporting a silk cord tassel intersected by a flattened rectangular jadeite-glass pendant, terminating to a tassel, enhanced by three jinian strands each strung with a bead and teardrops.

Provenance: French trade.
Condition: Good condition with old wear, manufacturing irregularities, small nicks and losses, and traces of use, mostly to the textile bands.

Weight: 270 g
Dimensions: Length 140 cm

The chaozhu was introduced as part of the official ceremonial attire by the Qing rulers, a design that was based on the Buddhist rosary. The regulations were recorded in the Huangchao liqi tushi ('Illustrated Regulations for the Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Qing Dynasty') laying down all that concerns the 'proper' paraphernalia for the emperor and his court. While the emperor would wear four necklaces of different colors to suit the different types of occasions the emperor attended, the crown prince was allowed to use any semi-precious stones strung on apricot-yellow thread, and the emperor's sons and imperial princes of the first degree would use amber with golden-yellow strings. The other members of the court would use any stone with blue-black thread. Many different materials were used including, as with the present necklace, glass imitating more precious materials.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams London, 7 November 2017, lot 835
Price: GBP 3,125 or approx. EUR 5,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An amber-glass court necklace, chao zhu, Qing Dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the utilization of amber-glass beads.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's New York, 19 March 2008, lot 73
Price: USD 3,750 or approx. EUR 5,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A blue-glass court necklace, chaozhu, 19th century
Expert remark: Compare the use of glass imitating precious materials.