Seven Stripe Chung Dzi, 49.4 × 11.9mm, near-pitch-black ground, 1,000–1,500 years (Ac-081020-7SChung)

We never retouch our photos. What you see is exactly what you will receive.

Seven stripes on a ground this dark take a thousand years to read the way they do in these photographs.

The seven etched stripe bands on this Chung dzi are not cream-white. They are golden-tan to warm sandy-brown, the characteristic tone that etched bands develop on agate of this age as the etching mellows and mineralises over centuries into a colour that reads as warm and organic rather than stark. Against the near-pitch-black ground they create a contrast that is muted, authoritative, and unlike anything produced by newer etching. The bands do not shout, but they do not disappear, and at 1,000–1,500 years the relationship between stripe and ground has reached a visual equilibrium that takes a very long time to arrive at.

The seven stripe bands are distributed around the full circumference of the bead, with three to four visible from any single viewing angle and the rest wrapping to the reverse. Three face views confirm the composition. Face A (Image 2) shows the warmest reading of the dark ground, with a warm dark brown character between the golden-tan stripes. Face B (Image 3) reads cooler, a grey-black ground where the agate's mineral composition shifts. Face C (Image 1) is the most legible face, with the widest stripe registers and the clearest golden-tan to warm-brown band colour. This tonal variation between faces is natural to the agate and gives the bead depth as it turns.

The surface tells the age story without needing interpretation. The ground between the stripes carries mixed gloss and matte surfaces: the original polish survives on the hardest zones of the stone, while softer areas have weathered to a matte, micro-pitted finish over the centuries. This differential surface, part reflective and part absorbed, is visible in the light catch in Images 2 and 3, and it is one of the most reliable visual markers of genuine extreme age in an agate dzi. The stripe bands themselves show the rough, granular, mineralised edges of etching that has been in the stone for a very long time. They are not the sharp, crisp edges of recent work but softened and ingrained, part of the surface rather than sitting on top of it.

The body is an elongated, acutely tapered fusiform, more sharply pointed at both ends than most dzi, giving the bead a lean, assertive profile that reads as ancient in proportion. Both drill holes are age-characteristic. The right end (Image 5) shows the enlarged, irregular-collared opening of ancient hand-drilling, a funnel-type entry worked rather than bored, with an irregular collar that no modern drill produces. The left end (Image 4) is cleaner, with normal age weathering at the collar. Both passages are functional.

A Chung dzi of this age, with this depth of surface history, is not a common encounter.

The Seven Stripe Chung Dzi (七條瓊珠 / Qī Tiáo Qióng Zhū)

The Chung dzi (瓊珠) is the striped category of the dzi tradition, a bead defined by its band composition rather than eyes. The "Chung" in Chung dzi is a Tibetan word meaning crystal, the old Tibetan name for agate and chalcedony. It does not mean "lesser."

The stripe is the continuous line that does not end: the path that persists through every obstacle, and success that builds without interruption. Chung dzi are traditionally prized for protection and steady prosperity. The meaning comes from the stripe itself, not from the number of stripes, so a seven stripe bead is no more powerful than a single stripe one. Choose the Chung dzi whose look feels balanced and pleasing to you. If a bead feels too busy or too plain to your eye, it is not the right bead for you.

Read more in our complete guide: Chung Dzi: The Complete Guide to Striped Dzi Beads.

Specifications

• Motif: Seven Stripe Chung Dzi (七條瓊珠 / Qī Tiáo Qióng Zhū); seven etched stripe bands around the full circumference; golden-tan to warm sandy-brown bands on near-pitch-black agate
• Length: 49.4mm
• Diameter: 11.9mm
• Form: Elongated, acutely tapered fusiform; sharply pointed ends; widest at centre
• Material: Natural agate, near-pitch-black to deep warm dark brown ground (tonal variation across faces); mixed gloss and matte weathered surface consistent with extreme age
• Age estimate: 1,000–1,500 years
• Condition: Differential surface weathering across ground zones (natural, age-consistent); enlarged irregular drill collar at right end from ancient hand-drilling (Image 5); surface micro-pitting consistent with age; no structural cracks; no rework; no medicine digs
• Bloodspots: None observed
• Product ID: Ac-081020-7SChung
• Collections: Original Ancient Dzi | Chung Dzi

You may also like

• Ancient Seven Stripe Chung Dzi, cool grey-black: silvery grey-white stripes on a cool grey-black ground, 39.3×13.9mm
• Ancient Seven Stripe Chung Dzi, warm honey-brown: warm translucent ground, 49.1×12.8mm, tip damage disclosed
• Ancient Five Stripe Cho Dzi 措思天珠: pitch-black bands on milky translucent grey-white, 57.5×13.1mm
• Pair of Ancient Nineteen Stripe Chung Dzi: over 1,500 years, heavily weathered, 46.4×11.8mm and 46.9×11.6mm
• Antique Five Stripe Chung Dzi, terracotta: wide pitch-black stripes on warm terracotta agate, 48.2×13.1mm

From the blog

• Chung Dzi: The Complete Guide to Striped Dzi Beads: what "chung" means, the meaning of the stripe, and how to recognise an ancient one
• How to Tell Real vs. Fake Dzi Beads: reading surface weathering, drill holes, and other age markers
• How to Wear and Care for a Dzi Bead: welcoming, wearing, and caring for an ancient dzi

Seven stripes. A thousand years of surface. A ground so dark the golden bands have been earning their contrast ever since.

We never retouch our photos. Every bead is photographed exactly as it is. What you see is what you receive.