Bead

5th-4th century B.C.E.

This pair of glass beads was made during an early period of highly inventive glass bead making in China from the fifth to third centuries b.c. The raised-eye motifs show the influence of beads that had been made in Egypt, India, and western Asia since the third millennium b.c. as protection against the “evil eye.” These beads have an earthenware core, to which drops of glass paste were applied to create the multilayered eyes. No evidence shows that Chinese eye beads were believed to have protective qualities; most likely they were made for personal adornment.