Pearly Garden
Green cloisonne beads meet the semi-precious stone green agate and button (freshwater) pearls in this short, delicate 46 cm necklace. For more info on the necklace, please click on Details, and if interested in my musings, please go to Story.
The identification of the beads start from the bead in the centre, moving upwards, with measurement for some of the bigger beads, with metal beads named last.
Length: 46 cm (18”)
Weight: 72 gms
Oval shaped green cloisonne: 23 mm long, and 15 mm at its widest
Green agate: 11mm
Button (freshwater) pearls: 11 mm
Small blue round cloisonne
French gold-coloured metal discs
Small Japanese granulated gold-coloured metal rounds
Gold filled crimp tubes
Gold-coloured metal box clasp engraved with Chinese characters “prosperity” and “longevity”
I have just five of these big green cloisonne beads with white and pink flowers, from a long time back. They were possibly from Zhou Tai’s shop in People’s Park in the ‘90s. The green agate beads were from Mr L, and I love this intense green which I have not come across again since. I knew instinctively that the green agate and the cloisonne would take to each other, but it took some ferreting around in my bead cupboard to settle on these button pearls that would ‘cool’ down the intensity of the green agate and the green cloisonne, and also ‘fit in’ in its own right. The last ‘invitee’ to my bead table to join the cast of this necklace were the small, finely worked blue cloisonne beads with pink and red flowers. At first I wondered if their addition would overcrowd the necklace, but eventually decided that I like the profusion of blooms!
Overall, this is a more ‘delicate’ necklace than some others on Manik, but I know that there are different necklaces for different folks! For those of you who like a lighter necklace, this weighs in at only 72 gms. Given the flowers and the pearls, I am naming this necklace Pearly Garden. At 46 cm, you could wear it inside of a collar or over a round neck or framed by a u-neckline. Given the design on the cloisonne, it would probably work better with a monochromatic outfit, but this would suit a range of colours, possibly on the more muted spectrum. I am thinking of off-white, cream, and interestingly, it looked great when I placed it against a dusty magenta. With a box clasp, please listen for the ‘click’ sound to know that the clasp has engaged. If you don’t hear it, try flipping around the part to be inserted. Enjoy!
