Nine Eye Motif with Bloodspots, 48.8×12.1mm, Dark Brown Agate (At-071426-9EBS2)

🪨 Natural agate. Unretouched photos. What you see is what ships.

The cream zones on this bead are not simply cream. Under macro they resolve into dense fields of reddish-orange pinpoint dots, so concentrated that the white of the eye rings and connecting bands is almost entirely coloured by them.

This antique nine eye dzi carries extreme natural cinnabar across the cream zones of its motif. The nine eyes are arranged in the classic grid, pairs of eyes in upper and lower registers on each main face, joined by vertical lines, and the bloodspots are everywhere: in the eye rings, in the connecting bands, and at the edges where cream meets the dark ground. Three macro photographs show individually visible reddish-orange dots across every cream zone in view, densest within the eye rings. This is cinnabar (硃砂, zhūshā), a natural red mineral inclusion within the agate.

The ground is very dark brown through the body, deepening to pitch-black between the eyes, as the flat-lit photographs show. The motif lines are cream-white where the cinnabar is lightest, warming to reddish-orange where it is densest. Both end caps carry a warm reddish-brown tone, with small, clean drill openings.

The bead is a classic fusiform barrel at 48.8×12.1mm. The surface carries age-consistent texture across the dark zones, fine micro-pitting visible in the macro shots, consistent with three to five centuries. No chips or cracks are visible.

The Nine Eye Motif

Nine is among the most auspicious numbers in Tibetan tradition, the number of completion. The nine eye dzi, the King of All Dzi, is associated with merit, protection from misfortune, and wisdom and good fortune at the highest level. It is one of the most sought-after dzi motifs, and a nine eye with strong bloodspots is a combination many collectors look for. Read more in Why the Nine Eye Dzi Is the King of All Dzi.

Bloodspots

Bloodspots are inclusions of cinnabar (硃砂, zhūshā), a reddish-orange mineral that occurs naturally within the agate. Cinnabar cannot be added after a bead is made, and it appears in new beads as well as old, so it is not a measure of age; it is valued for its own beauty. On this bead it is extreme, filling the cream of every visible eye ring and connecting band and reaching to the cream-to-dark edges throughout. Learn more in our guide to bloodspots in dzi beads.

Specifications

• Motif: Nine Eye
• Length: 48.8mm
• Diameter: 12.1mm
• Form: Barrel
• Material: Natural agate; warm reddish-brown end caps
• Age estimate: Antique, 300–500 years
• Condition: Good; age-consistent micro-surface texture; no chips or cracks visible
• Bloodspots: Extreme; reddish-orange natural cinnabar throughout all cream zones, shown in three macro photographs
• Product ID: At-071426-9EBS2
• Collections: Antique Dzi | Bloodspot Dzi

More Nine Eye Dzi

Ancient (500+ years)

• Ancient Nine Eye Dzi, dark brown agate, 500–800 years
• Ancient Nine Eye Dzi, cream-white agate, 800 years

Antique (100–500 years)

• Antique Nine Eye Dzi, 54.2mm, medicine dig
• Antique Nine Eye Dzi, 54.8mm, warm dark brown
• Antique Nine Eye Dzi, 54.8mm, very dark brown
• Antique Nine Eye Dzi, 53.3mm, deep dark brown
• Antique Nine Eye Dzi, 59.8mm, very dark brown
• Antique Nine Eye Dzi, 60.6mm, dark brown and honey-toned
• Antique Nine Eye Dzi with Bloodspots, 77.0mm
• Antique Nine Eye Dzi, 39.7mm, pitch-black and brown
• Antique Nine Eye Dzi, 59.0mm, amber on dark agate
• Antique Nine Eye Dzi, 57.6mm, asymmetric form
• Antique Nine Eye Chinese Dzi, Qing period

New and vintage

• New Nine Eye Dzi, grey-black agate
• New Nine Eye Dzi, dark grey-brown agate
• New Nine Eye Dzi, warm brown, matte
• New Nine Eye Dzi, two-tone brown
• Antique-Style Nine Eye Dzi (modern faux antique)

All photos are unretouched. Colour and surface detail are as photographed.

📷 8 unretouched product photos included.