Historical background of glass beads

It has existed since the Western Zhou Dynasty. During the Warring States period, it became very popular. The excavated tombs of the Warring States period almost all have glass beads. Its development is inseparable from the continuous improvement of technology and equipment, and the glass texture is cleaner. At the same time, people wear less jade, can not meet people's requirements, and promote the production of glass beads, fine beautification.
In 1978, a world-renowned set of chime bells was unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Leigudun, Suixian County, Hubei Province, and many glass beads were unearthed. The two strings of glass beads in this picture are funerary objects in the tomb. One of the strings is made of seven monochrome glass beads, the beads are round, purple brown, the surface is smooth, the shape is regular. The other string of beads is beautifully decorated, typical dragonfly eye glass beads, mostly oblate bodies of different sizes, with light blue or green as the base color, and the surface is decorated with several white and light blue similar rings, whose central part is slightly higher than the surrounding, in a convex shape. This string of glass beads should be made by wrapping wire method, and then dipped in white material and light blue material respectively, forming a ring point on the bead bead, and bonding when both are not completely coagulated.
Dragonfly eye glass beads are the main form of glass beads in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. At the same time, it is also spread throughout Central Asia, West Asia and North Africa, and is a common variety of Chinese and western glassware. The size of each bead in this string is different, except for a green diamond, the rest of the shape is oblate, there is a perforation, the shape is uniform. These glass beads are beautiful in color and regular in shape, reflecting a high technical level, and can be used as a typical representative of glass beads in the Warring States period.