Ancient Seven Stripe Chung Dzi with Bloodspots, 28.5×14.3×8.6mm, irregular form (Ac-111720-7SOS)

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

The three dimensions of this bead are 28.5mm, 14.3mm, and 8.6mm — and the fact that none of those numbers describes a round cross-section is the first thing the photographs show you.

A standard Chung dzi fusiform is round or nearly round in cross-section: length, diameter, and that is all. This bead has a third dimension because the cross-section is substantially flattened — 14.3mm tall and only 8.6mm deep. The upper profile is more domed and prominent than the lower profile, creating an asymmetric silhouette that varies depending on which axis you hold the bead on. From one angle it reads as a wide, compressed oval; from another it reads as a narrower, taller shape. The bead sits slightly tilted in its natural resting position. This is not a flaw — it is the form the stone was cut from, and it is unlike the cross-section of any other Chung dzi in this collection.

Against this irregular body, seven acid-etched stripe bands run across the surface in sandy-beige to warm off-white. The stripes are wide relative to the dark inter-stripe ground zones — the wide-stripe proportion gives this bead a more stripe-dominant visual weight than pieces where the dark ground dominates. The stripe surfaces carry the rough, granular matte texture characteristic of ancient etching that has accumulated mineral deposit and aged into the stone's surface over five to eight centuries. The stripe edges are ragged and irregular — they do not have the clean, crisp edges of a younger etched piece. The ground zones between and beyond the stripes are pitch-black to deep dark grey on the end cap areas, with a distinct translucent cool grey zone visible in the central body — the underlying agate's own colour showing through the etched surface where the bead's natural translucency has not been fully suppressed by the darkening chemistry.

Within the sandy-beige stripe bands, multiple vivid rust-orange dot clusters are visible across all lateral photographs. These are cinnabar bloodspot inclusions — 硃砂 (zhūshā), mercuric sulfide — sitting within the etching material of the stripe zones themselves. Cinnabar ranges in colour from vermilion to rust-orange, and the inclusions on this bead read clearly at the rust-orange end of that range. They appear as discrete dot clusters — two to four dots grouped together — distributed across different stripe bands on multiple faces. Sub-surface cinnabar inclusions within the stripe material itself are a less common bloodspot presentation than surface deposits; on this bead they are unambiguous and visible across multiple photographs from different angles. Their presence is an authentication marker for a piece of genuine age and material complexity.

No other seven-stripe Chung dzi in this collection shares these characteristics. Ac-101922-7SChung (Ancient Seven Stripe, Grey-Black Ground) is a compact round-cross-section fusiform with no bloodspots and a strictly grey-black-white palette. The three ancient seven-stripe beads at 1,000–1,500 years — Ac-081020-7SChung (SeS-1), Ac-041320-7SChung (SeS-2), and Ac-080620-7SChung (SeS-3) — are all standard round fusiform bodies with no bloodspots. This bead stands alone: flattened asymmetric form, cinnabar within the stripe bands, and a central translucent grey window through the dark ground.

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The Seven Stripe Motif — 瓊珠七線紋

Seven is among the most cosmologically significant numbers in Tibetan and Buddhist tradition — seven offerings on the altar, seven steps of the newborn Buddha, seven branches of devotional prayer. A seven-stripe Chung dzi (瓊珠七線紋) carries seven unbroken circuits of protection around its body, associated with continuous fortune, completeness of sacred number, and the accumulation of merit. The cinnabar inclusions (硃砂, zhūshā) within this bead's stripe bands add a further dimension of authentication in Tibetan collecting tradition: the presence of mercuric sulfide, whether surface-visible or sub-surface, is understood as evidence that the bead has persisted long enough in the material world for its own chemistry to become complex — a bead that has had a history.

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Motif: Seven stripe (七線紋); seven acid-etched horizontal bands; sandy-beige to warm off-white stripe colour with rough granular matte texture and ragged edges; pitch-black to deep dark grey ground zones; translucent cool grey central body zone (underlying agate visible through ground)
Length: 28.5mm
Diameter: 14.3mm (tall) × 8.6mm (depth — flattened cross-section)
Form: Irregular asymmetric fusiform; substantially flattened non-round cross-section; upper profile more domed than lower; slight natural tilt in resting position; no two faces present the same silhouette
Material: Natural agate; pitch-black to deep dark grey etched ground; translucent cool grey agate visible in central body zone; sandy-beige acid-etched stripe bands; high-gloss on dark ground zones; matte-rough on stripe surfaces
Age Estimate: 500–800 years
Condition: Fine surface crackline network on central translucent ground zone (disclosed, Image 3); small pinhole in upper right stripe band (disclosed, Image 2); no chips; no medicine digs
Bloodspots: Yes — rust-orange cinnabar (硃砂, zhūshā) dot clusters within sandy-beige stripe band material; multiple clusters visible across multiple faces and photographs; sub-surface inclusions within stripe etching zones
Product ID: Ac-111720-7SOS
Collection: Ancient Chung Dzi | Ancient Dzi Beads

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You may also like:

• Ancient Seven Stripe Chung Dzi, Grey-Black Ground — Ac-101922-7SChung — Compact round fusiform, no bloodspots, 500–700 yrs
• Ancient Seven Stripe Chung Dzi SeS-1 — Ac-081020-7SChung — Standard fusiform, 1,000–1,500 yrs
• Antique Nine Stripe Chung Dzi with Bloodspots — At-110223-9SBS — Nine stripes, pitch-black ground, two bloodspot types, 300–500 yrs
• Ancient Single Stripe Chung Dzi with Bloodspots — Ac-061426-1SChungBS — Single stripe, mosaic calcification, cinnabar, 1,500–2,000 yrs

From the blog:

• What Is a Chung Dzi? Understanding Striped Agate Beads
• How to Identify Genuine Antique Dzi Beads

Seven stripes, three dimensions, and cinnabar sitting inside the bands themselves.

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

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

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