Country Group:

Item id: 10176

Early Asian quartz, crystal camels, magnificent pair. Probably 18th century or earlier, and possibly much much earlier. They came out of an estate that contained many items that looked to be early central Asian. It is possible that these two came from that area. They came to me with a crystal Stupa which I have listed separately (It is inone of the photos with the camels). The Stupa is still being researched, but it certainly looks to be an early period piece. The first thing that caught my eye was the great personality in the faces, which is extremely hard to do with animals in crystal with early tools. The next thing was a rippling to the surface. The least scientific, but most important thing is the sense of life that the two figures exude. The modern pieces are rarely able to capture this. I’ve searched on line and in books and I can’t find a comparable camel or related animal (let alone a pair). If someone out there knows of any, please let me know. These were very hard to capture in photos. They will not disappoint. Quick Reply ( 3"H x 4.25"W x 1.5"D ) - (390g/365g). My gut feeling is that they may be out of a tomb- from somewhere such as the part of Mongolia in the Gobi Desert where they unearthed Tang period Tombs in the 19thC. If so, the Stupa could be from there too.