Three Eye Motif, 50.0×12.0mm, dark brown and black agate (At-090226-3E3)

✦ Every piece at Ancient Dzi Shop is unretouched and sold as shown. ✦

From two of the four sides of this bead, there are no eyes at all — only cream lines stacking and turning against a dark ground.

This antique Tibetan three-eye dzi distributes its motif in the classic 1+2 arrangement: one eye centred on the primary face, two eyes placed side by side on the opposing face. Each eye is a concentric ring construction — a dark pupil enclosed in a warm cream iris, set within a cream field bounded by vertical separator bars. The single eye on face A sits within a broad hexagonal cream surround, its ring crisp and clearly resolved. The two eyes on face B read as a close pair, their cream rings nearly touching at the shared centre line, their pupils reading as twin dark points.

What the 90-degree rotations reveal is equally distinctive. Turn this bead a quarter turn from either main face and the eye compositions disappear entirely, replaced by stacked cream arc lines running across a dark brown-black ground — a completely different visual register from the eye faces. This bead presents four genuinely distinct views across a full rotation, not two. All four are shown in the unretouched photos.

At 50.0mm this is one of the longer antique three-eye pieces in this group, and the darker in overall character. The ground is a deep dark brown running through to black in the body zones, with the cream sitting as warm aged tan rather than the cooler cream-white seen on younger pieces. The drill end caps warm to a rich brown consistent with the body's natural agate colouring — the same three-tone palette of dark brown, black, and cream that runs throughout this crafting group. The surface carries a smooth, well-settled patina. No cracks are present in the photos.

The Three Eye Motif

The three-eye dzi is among the most traditionally significant motifs in the Tibetan bead canon, associated with the wealth deity Kubera and the three streams of prosperity — material abundance, spiritual merit, and the fulfilment of wishes. Carried for centuries by Tibetan traders, nobles, and practitioners, the three-eye dzi endures as one of the most sought-after and immediately recognised motifs in the dzi tradition.

Motif: Three Eye
Length: 50.0mm
Diameter: 12.0mm
Form: Barrel, fusiform
Material: Agate
Age Estimate: 200–400 years
Condition: Smooth aged patina; no cracks visible in photos
Bloodspots: None
Product ID: At-090226-3E3
Collection: Antique Dzi | All Products

From the same crafting group — antique three eye:

• At-090226-3E2 — Antique Three Eye, 48.4×11.9mm, brown-black-cream agate, 1+2 eye split
• At-090326-3E4 — Antique Three Eye, 50.8×12.0mm, warm reddish-brown agate

From the same crafting group — antique double wave:

• At-090226-DW6 — 49.4×11.8mm, black agate
• At-090226-DW7 — 48.8×12.1mm, black agate

More antique three eye dzi:

• At-053126-3E — Antique Three Eye, warm brown
• At-061926-3ETT — Antique Three Eye Tiger Tooth, 46.2×12.9mm

Learn more about dzi beads:

• The Three-Eye Dzi Bead: Meaning & Symbolism
• Dzi Bead Motifs and Their Meanings

Every bead at Ancient Dzi Shop is photographed unretouched — no filters, no colour correction, no digital enhancement. The six photos above show this bead exactly as it is.

✦ Unretouched photos. Authentic piece. Sold as shown. ✦

📷 6 unretouched product photos included.