Ancient Seven Stripe Chung Dzi, 39.3×13.9mm, cool grey-black ground, silvery grey-white stripes (Ac-101922-7SChung)

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

This bead operates in three tones only — grey, black, and white — and the way those three tones are distributed is what makes it unlike any other piece in the collection.

The ground is a deep cool grey-black, shifting toward near-pitch-black at the central body zones and the upper ridge, and softening to a translucent cool dark grey at the end cap zones where the underlying agate shows through. Against this ground, seven narrow silvery grey-white stripe bands run across the body. The stripes are not bright white — they are a cooler, slightly muted grey-white, with rough granular texture at their edges consistent with aged acid etching that has weathered over five centuries into the surface of the stone. The combination — cool dark grey-black field, narrow silvery grey-white lines, rough textured stripe edges — produces a palette that reads as austere and precise. No warm tones. No colour contrast. Three values only: dark, mid, and light, all in the same grey register.

The body form reinforces this character. At 39.3×13.9mm, this is the most compact Chung dzi in the collection by proportion — the lowest length-to-diameter ratio of any piece in the group. Where other fusiform Chung dzi extend their bodies over 40 to 57mm, this one achieves its form in a short, wide silhouette. The seven stripe bands are concentrated across this compact body, and from any lateral face the narrow silvery lines against the dominant dark ground read as compressed and dense rather than spread across a long body.

The dark ground carries a natural pale spotting pattern distributed across its surface — small pale mineral inclusions within the agate, visible as light-toned spots against the dark background throughout the lateral photographs. These are natural sub-surface agate inclusions: not bloodspots (there is no warm reddish colouration characteristic of cinnabar), not surface damage, but the stone's own internal mineral variation rendered visible through the darkened surface. They are disclosed here fully.

Both drill hole end caps show a translucent cool grey agate at the tips — lighter in tone than the dark body, confirming the darkening of the ground zone is etching chemistry rather than the agate's base colour. The drill holes are small and centrally placed. A small ink inscription is visible near the right end area in Image 5 — a previous seller's stock marking, disclosed.

No other seven-stripe Chung dzi in this collection shares this combination. 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 longer fusiform pieces estimated at 1,000–1,500 years with sandy-tan to sandy-grey stripe colours. The antique At-061920-7SChung (Antique Seven Stripe) is 200–300 years old with a honey-brown semi-translucent ground. The vintage V-052222-7SChung (Vintage Seven Stripe) is circa year 2000 with cream-white stripes on a warm chocolate-brown elongated fusiform body. This bead sits between the ancient and antique categories at 500–700 years, with a strictly grey-black-white palette, the most compact body form in the Chung dzi group, and the natural pale mineral spotting within its 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 around its body: seven complete loops of protection, seven layers of continuity, seven expressions of unending fortune. In the Himalayan collecting tradition the seven-stripe bead is understood as a bead of complete sacred number — balanced, contained, and whole. On this ancient piece, those seven circuits have persisted for five centuries across a ground that has deepened toward black with time, the pale stripe lines holding their positions through everything the stone has passed through.

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Motif: Seven stripe (七線紋); seven narrow acid-etched horizontal bands; silvery grey-white stripe colour with rough granular texture at edges (age-consistent with 500–700-year-old etching); deep cool grey-black to near-pitch-black dominant ground; strictly grey-black-white colour palette throughout
Length: 39.3mm
Diameter: 13.9mm
Form: Very short wide fusiform; most compact length-to-diameter ratio in Chung dzi collection; small centrally placed drill holes at both ends; translucent cool grey agate at end caps
Material: Natural agate; deep cool grey-black to near-pitch-black ground with natural colour variation (lightening to translucent cool grey at end caps); silvery grey-white acid-etched stripe bands; natural pale mineral inclusion spotting across dark ground surface; high-gloss on dark ground zones
Age Estimate: 500–700 years
Condition: Natural pale mineral inclusion spotting distributed across dark ground surface (natural agate feature, disclosed, visible throughout lateral photographs); small ink inscription near right end (previous seller stock marking, disclosed, Image 5); no chips; no cracks; no medicine digs
Bloodspots: None (pale spotting confirmed as natural mineral agate inclusions, not cinnabar)
Product ID: Ac-101922-7SChung
Collection: Ancient Chung Dzi | Ancient Dzi Beads

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You may also like:

• Ancient Seven Stripe Chung Dzi SeS-1 — Ac-081020-7SChung — Ancient 1,000–1,500 yrs, longer fusiform, sandy-tan stripes
• Ancient Seven Stripe Chung Dzi SeS-2 — Ac-041320-7SChung — Ancient 1,000–1,500 yrs, warm honey-brown ground
• Antique Seven Stripe Chung Dzi — At-061920-7SChung — Antique 200–300 yrs, cream stripes, honey-brown ground
• Ancient Nineteen Stripe Chung Dzi Pair — Ac-080420-19SChung — Ancient pair, over 1,500 yrs, blue-green burial deposits

From the blog:

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

Grey, black, and white. Five centuries. Nothing else.

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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