Lot 37. Two rare openwork gold beads, Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE); 1.4cm., 1/2 in., and 1.7cm., 5/8 in. Weight 13g. and 14g. Estimate 4,000 — 5,000 GBP. Lot sold 5,000 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's 2008

each of spherical shape with twelve facets composed of twelve small gold rings soldered together with an arrangement of granulations each comprising four small granulated beads reinforcing the structure.

Exhibited: Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1954-55, cat. no. 13.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 13.

Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 13.