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Carnelian
The Carnelian bead can display colours from Translucent- to opaque chalcedony.
Their shine can be from waxy to vitreous.
The colour gradations are from creamy flesh tones through rusty orange to dark reddish brown.
In the natural variety, from India, the color is caused by iron oxides,
It can be distributed uniformly as you can observe in these Indus Valley beads.
But the iron oxide patterns can also be seen as cloudy patches or as dots.
Carnelian was the favorite stone of the beautiful queen Mumtaz.
She was the beloved wife of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan. When she
died, he
made the Taj Mahal as a memorial for her. Here you will find carnelian
as the most
important stone in the
Pietre Dure inlay
in the white Makrana marble.
Since
the days of the Indus Valley
Culture man has know the art of transforming agate into carnelian.
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Cambay - the worlds most important bead center Beads are great travellers. But they all have a home, a place of origin.
Most of the carnelian beads found round the world originated in India, Gujarat, in a place called Cambay.
Cambey has been a stone-working center since the indus Valley people started, out of the regions rich deposits, to make beads out of carnelian, onyx and agate more than 5000 years ago!
The high iron content of the carnelian from Cambey accounts for its wondelfull red orange colour. These colours are brought out by drying the stones in the sun and then repeatedly heating them. The techniques and tools used by the Indian artists have only changed little since the days of the Indus Valley culture.
Their beads are all hand made and therefore less uniform in size and shape,
They are drilled with less precision than modern machine-made beads.
But the Cambay carnelian beads have the warmth and beauty that comes from being hand crafted.
Because of their enduring appeal, Cambay is still one of the largest stone From AD 1300 the lapidary industry flourished in the Cambay area, as craftsmen produced Muslim amulets and prayer strands, and great quantities of carnelian beads for the African market. Arab traders ferried these goods to eastern Africa in monsoon-driven dhows, or carried them to Mecca and Cairo and thence into western Africa via camel caravan. The 19th century brought competition—first from carnelian beads and ornaments carved in Idar-Oberstein in Germany, then from molded glass imitations made in Bohemia—and the Cambay bead trade declined. But Africa remains the major consumer of the region’s output.
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Very large carnelian bead
 
60 * 31 * 28 mm
As one can observe in the sharp edges of the hole,
this large and heavy carnelian bead has never been used.
It looks new. But the 'miscolouring' made by calcium in the earth
reveals that this bead actually is very old!
A - Large 'primitive' carnelian beads
39 * 20mm (big pieces)
Period: Most probaby 1000 A.D.
Origin: Greater India
Uttar Pradesh -
India
Different shapes, forms and colours of carnelian
38 * 21 mm
36 * 24 * 10 mm
 
24 * 24 * 11 * 8 mm
33 * 9 mm
 
24 * 8 * 3,5 mm
20 * 18 * 9 mm
  
13 * 5 mm 10 * 3 mm 13 * 7 * 3 mm
20 * 10 * 7 mm
 
29 * 4,5 mm
11 mm
Multi-faceted carnelian bead from the British period:
30 * 30 * 11 mm
 
19 * 15 mm
Uncooked grey banded agte. How the sardonyx beads are made you can see here.
 
25 * 18 mm
An large interesting slightly cooked agate bead
 
16 * 15 mm
 
21 * 9 mm
 
15 * 12 mm
 
14 * 13 mm
 
13 * 12 mm
 
12 * 9 mm
 
8 * 8 mm
 
9 * 7 mm
34 * 8 mm
Maybe the most beautiful translucent bead in my collection!
Click on picture for larger version
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Contact: Gunnar Myhlman -
Gunnars@mail.com
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