Antique Chinese Silver Bead Necklace With Mandarin Ducks & Enameled Clasp

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Outstanding antique Chinese "Yuan-yang" (Mandarin duck) necklace features twenty-one finely detailed 15.72-mm (5/8-inches) silver beads, twenty-two 10.24-mm (3/8-inches) pierced silver beads and a 3/4 x 3/8-inch enameled clasp. The Yuan-yang symbols, a representation of the male and female Mandarin duck, have represented fidelity and happiness in love to the Chinese since before the Tang dynasty of A.D. 618 - 906. Depictions of Mandarins, which mate for life, dating to A. D. 538 were found in the Mogao Caves south of the Silk Road city of Dunhuang, China.The larger beads in this necklace show a male and female mandarin pair facing each other over a sphere, perhaps a pearl, with a front-facing male and a female looking back over a shoulder. The pair is beautifully accompanied by a variety of lush flowers and leaves with an auspicious symbol that appears to be a brush, and there are flower petals around the stringing holes on both ends. The smaller beads are pierced in triangular stacks of three small holes creating a pretty, lacy character, and the clasp has floral-and-foliate enameling in green, gold and blue on a pink ground.In excellent antique condition, the beads test positive for at least 800 silver, the necklace measures 29-inches long and weighs 90.2 grams.Please Note: We will happily accommodate most shipping requests and read more

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