Author Archives: RP Birt

Eight Chinese Immortals

These Immortals are from a silk and paper screen that was hand painted…. it is one of the most colorful depictions i have seen.There is a good explanation of the the eight immortals here,
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Chinese Mandarin Court Necklace Fodouda

These were shot for the PrivateCollection Blog… there is just something special about them…. Fodouda (Buddha’s Head) beads are unique in their shape … completing the circle of the necklace and joining the counter weight ….
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Mornings Can be Tough!

Some mornings it just takes me a while to become cute…  but after a couple of tries… I’m good to go!
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Chinese Silver Dragon Beads

These 13 huge 22mm ( 28mm with stems) silver beads, each with 2 three claw dragons were not around very long… I would have liked to have had more time to work with them. There was something special in the way that they felt and the sounds they made when they would ‘rattle’ together… perhaps [...]
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Chinese Carved Jade Beads

These carved jade beads were probably from a Mandarin Court necklace… the large 28mm Head Bead had so much character that it seemed to be looking into the camera.
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Chinese Peking Glass Beads

A lot of my time is spent photographing various types of beads… the Chinese were amazing at creating things out of glass… often combining other elements such as knotting or jade links… the challenge is always to try to present what is really a repetitive element in an interesting way…    
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Chinese Ornament Art

Chinese ornament art…  having this image in two categories is hopefully not a contradiction…. and these photographs are art too!
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Something Different for Contrast

once and a while I actually get away from the keyboard and get to go outside… flowers are always willing to pose!  
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Chinese Tourmaline Pearl Necklace

this was a difficult piece to photograph… all of the different surface angles acted like mirrors… couldn’t get all of the reflections out but the contours of the stones came out well in the neck form shots.
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Somba Moods

I suppose that he would have to show up sometime… there is only so much Chinese jewelry… but an unlimited amount of him…
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Chinese Silver Six Dragon Bracelet

a beautiful piece to photograph….
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Chinese Cloisonné Tea Caddy

The writing on the bottom leaves no doubt where it is from!  
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Chinese Ethnic Silver Necklaces

These large necklaces (many are over 18” in diameter and weighing well over a pound) are also called torques. They have been popular in China since the Tang Dynasty ( A.D. 618. – A.D. 907)… and remain popular today with many of Southwestern China’s ethnic minority  groups… Miao (Mong/Hmong, Dong, Zhuang, Li and others.)
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Chinese 19th century Carved Jade Lock

Photographing jade is always a challenge. It is difficult to capture the ‘life’ that is there. Normally, I wouldn’t include my fingers in a shoot… but with this piece it was easier to tilt the object than the camera. I had originally photographed this 19th century Nephrite Chinese lock for PrivateCollection’s 07-04-11 blog but I [...]
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Chinese Silver Lapis Buddha Ring

sometimes there is a piece that has surprises… this was definitely one of them!  
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