Dragonfly eyes are a common name for an ornament in ancient times. Dragonfly eyes are made of glass, glass is also known as glass, because of the later development of the glass bead matrix inlaid with concentric circles, creating a "eye" effect of the mosaic glass, guess because of the shape of dragonfly eyes, so called dragonfly eyes.
The "eye" culture is said to have originated in West Asia or India, and the belief that the eye has the function of warding off evil spirits is mostly in the form of steppe peoples engaged in animal husbandry, and on the way of the nomadic migration, they wear this kind of inlaid glass beads, on the one hand, they can avoid evil spirits, and on the other hand, they may be used to exchange what they need at any time.
This glass bead with "composite eyeballs" flowed into China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. This colorful and brilliant West Asian glass bead was greatly loved by the Chinese princes and nobles at that time.
For this reason, there was a high social demand in China at that time, which led to the use of local raw materials by Central Plains glass craftsmen to imitate, replacing soda with lead oxide and barium oxide, and creating dragonfly eye glass beads with lead and barium components that were different from the formulas in West Asia and the eastern Mediterranean.
▲Warring States dragonfly eye glass beads excavated from Luoyang Jincun
In the late Spring and Autumn period and the early Warring States period, glass eyeballs were mostly spherical and irregular, and had a flat square or flat drum shape. The size is relatively small, and the vast majority are less than two centimeters in diameter. Generally between 1-1.5 cm. The beads are mostly green, blue or yellow, and the parents are translucent. Its ornamentation is simple, using geometric patterns commonly used in West Asia, which is very different from the traditional patterns of cloud patterns, cockroach patterns, dragons, wall evils and other patterns on Chinese jade or metal objects in the same period.
▲Warring States inlaid jade inlaid dragonfly eye glass copper mirror excavated from Luoyang Jincun, Henan
Collection of the Harvard University Museum
The ornamental style of dragonfly eyeballs is unique, and it can also be said that it is biased towards The West Asian style, and its theme is only concentric circles. Concentric circles are generally three layers, but there are also as many as five or six layers, embedded in a flat inlay method, the center point is dark blue, and the outer layer is brown-white or blue-white. The embedded eyeballs are integrated, not protruding or easy to fall off.
▲ Warring States Dragonfly Eye Glass Beads Excavated in 1954 from Tomb No. 5 of Gongxingshan in Hengyang, Hunan Province
Collection of Hunan Provincial Museum
The dragonfly eyeballs of the late Warring States period are different from those of the late Spring and Autumn period or the early Warring States period, with a slightly larger size, a diameter of about two centimeters, and the handiwork is more and more refined. Although the color has not broken through, it is still opaque white, blue, brown, and earth yellow. However, its ornamentation is brilliant and varied, and the circle pattern is either raised or carved, resulting in the effect of drum eyes; there are also white outlines of the eyes that form concentric circles with "praying for the moon", resulting in the effect of squinting, making the "eyes" more vivid and vivid.
▲Dragonfly-eyed glass beads Collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Warring States "Dragonfly Eye" as the most important stroke in the history of China's glass development, and an important part of the ancient bead culture, "Dragonfly Eye" its unique charm and cultural connotation has won more and more collectors' pursuit and favor, Glass collector Muzhi believes: "In any case, people can not ignore the Warring States Dragonfly Eye Jewelry after thousands of years, across the era and region of the unique beauty. ”