Antique Two Eye & Treasure Vase Dzi Bead, 30.2 × 10.9mm, dark brown agate fusiform (At-062226-2ETV2)

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

The pale end caps on this bead are not the same colour as the motif lines — and that difference is worth looking at carefully.

The body of this bead is a deep, complex dark brown — not uniform, but shifting between a warmer dark brown and a slightly cooler dark grey-brown depending on face and lighting, in the way that agate grounds do when the underlying stone's own banding contributes its own colour variation beneath the etched surface. Against that ground, the motif lines read as bright white to warm cream — crisp and high-contrast, with none of the sandy granularity of the stripe pieces in this collection. The end caps, by contrast, are a warm peachy-cream: paler and softer than the motif lines, with a smooth rounded form that tapers gently toward the drill hole. The two colours — bright white motif and peachy-cream end caps — are distinct from one another, and both distinct from the dark ground. This is a three-tone bead.

The form is an elongated fusiform — 30.2mm in length and 10.9mm in diameter — tapering toward both ends, with the taper slightly more pronounced at one end than the other, visible in Images 5 and 6. The surface is smooth with a semi-gloss finish, consistent with age and long wear. No cracks or chips are visible in any photograph. A small number of fine surface marks consistent with centuries of handling are present at close examination, none of which are structural.

The motif is a Two Eye and Treasure Vase combination distributed across the two main faces. Face A (Images 1 and 3) presents one fully closed concentric ring eye — a white outer ring enclosing a dark brown ground zone with a darker central pupil dot — alongside a treasure vase form rendered in the same bright white etched lines: a rounded body narrowing to a distinct neck with a flaring shoulder above. The eye and vase elements share this face but occupy different zones, the eye reading in the upper register and the vase below and beside it. Face B (Images 2 and 4) carries the second eye and the continuation of the vase composition, the motif lines here slightly more compressed in their arrangement as the fusiform body narrows. The end-on views in Images 5 and 6 confirm the vase shoulder and neck curving into the body of the bead from each end, with both drill holes intact and cleanly placed within the pale peachy-cream end caps.

This bead should be distinguished carefully from its companion piece At-061826-2ETV — the first Two Eye Treasure Vase dzi listed in this collection — which is chalcedony, not agate. The material difference is visible and meaningful: where the chalcedony piece carries a translucency that affects how its ground reads in light, this agate piece shows the characteristic band-specific colour variation of agate, with its ground shifting tone across the surface. The two pieces share a motif and an age range but are made of different stones with different optical characters.

Scattered light cinnabar inclusions are present within this bead, visible in Images 1 and 3 as faint speckling within the body — not prominent, not concentrated, but there. They do not define this bead's character in the way they do in the bloodspot pieces in this collection, but they are present and are disclosed honestly here.

The Two Eye & Treasure Vase Motif

The Two Eye motif (二眼天珠) is among the most widely collected dzi forms, associated in Tibetan tradition with the union of wisdom and compassion — the two eyes sometimes read as representing the dual qualities needed for the path to enlightenment, seeing both the nature of suffering and the means of its resolution. The Treasure Vase (寶瓶/bǎopíng) is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Tibetan Buddhism, representing inexhaustible abundance — a vessel whose contents never deplete, associated with the fulfilment of wishes and the accumulation of merit. Together on a single bead, the two motifs combine protective vision with the promise of abundance: a pairing found in Tibetan material culture across centuries.

Spec Block

Motif: Two Eye & Treasure Vase (二眼天珠 & 寶瓶); Face A: one fully closed concentric ring eye + treasure vase body-and-neck form; Face B: second eye + vase continuation; bright white etched motif lines; warm peachy-cream end caps distinct from motif colour
Length: 30.2mm
Diameter: 10.9mm
Form: Elongated fusiform, tapering toward both ends
Material: Agate — deep complex dark brown ground shifting between warm and cool tones; bright white etched motif lines; warm peachy-cream natural end caps
Age Estimate: 200–300 years
Condition: No cracks or chips observed in any photograph; smooth semi-gloss surface consistent with age and wear; fine surface marks at close examination consistent with long handling; both drill holes intact within peachy-cream end caps
Bloodspots: Present but not prominent — scattered light cinnabar inclusions visible in Images 1 and 3 as faint speckling within the body; not a defining feature of this piece
Product ID: At-062226-2ETV2
Collection: Antique Dzi Beads | Treasure Vase Dzi

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You may also like:

• Antique Two Eye & Treasure Vase Chalcedony Dzi, 29.6×11.4mm — At-061826-2ETV (companion piece — same motif, chalcedony rather than agate)
• Antique Two Eye Dzi, 47.9×11.7mm — At-082624-2E
• Antique Two Eye Dzi, 38.6×12.5mm — At-010726-2E3
• Ancient Two Eye Dzi, 38.4×11.8mm — Ac-052525-2E
• Antique Four Leaf Bodhi Dzi with Bloodspots, 35.7×12.1mm — At-101624-FLB

From the blog:

• The Eight Auspicious Symbols in Tibetan Dzi Tradition
• Understanding Dzi Bead Age and Authentication

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Two eyes, one vase, and end caps that are neither white nor ground — a third colour this bead keeps to itself.

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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