Juliette Hammer
Sale Coordinator
Lot 45Y
AN ALOESWOOD BEAD ROSARY IN A PEWTER BOX Qing Dynasty
14 May 2025, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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Chen Xie
Specialist
Edward Luper
Specialist, Chinese Works of Art
Lazarus Halstead
Head of Chinese and Asian Art, London
AN ALOESWOOD BEAD ROSARY IN A PEWTER BOX
Qing Dynasty
The eighteen finely grained beads strung together by a yellow chord, with circular pewter box and cover.
The box 14cm (5 1/3in) diam. (4).
The eighteen finely grained beads strung together by a yellow chord, with circular pewter box and cover.
The box 14cm (5 1/3in) diam. (4).
Footnotes
清 沉香木念珠手串 配盒
Aloeswood (chenxiang, 沉香) bead rosaries were highly prized in Qing dynasty China, valued both for their exquisite fragrance and their association with Buddhist devotion, Imperial status, and literati refinement. The beads were often strung into nianzuo (念珠) or Buddhist rosaries, used for meditation and prayer. Aloeswood, imported from Southeast Asia, was among the most expensive materials of the time, signifying wealth and spiritual cultivation. Qing emperors and high-ranking officials frequently commissioned such rosaries, sometimes incorporating gold or jade separators, as seen in surviving palace collections. See for example one wood rosary, Qing dynasty, illustrated in A Garland of Treasures: Masterpieces of Precious Crafts in the Museum Collection, Taipei, 2014, p.84, no.11-48.
See a similar Chenxiangmu beaded bracelet in a tin box, Qing dynasty, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2019, lot 678.