A TIBETAN AGATE ‘CHUNG DZI’ BEADTibet, 19th to early 20th century, or earlier. The bead of tubular form with black ends and etched decorations. The translucent stone of a light amber color.Provenance: Gabriele Aronica, Rome, Italy. Paolo Bertuzzi, acquired from the above. A copy of the original signed invoice from Gabriele Aronica, dated 20 October 2005, stating a purchase price of EUR 3,800 or approx.EUR 5,400 (adjusted for inflation at the time of writing), apanies this lot. Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022) was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy. He was the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashionpany with customers such as the Rothschild family, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. Paolo Bertuzzi later took over his mother’s business and designed exclusive pieces, some of which were exhibited in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, USA. He was also an avid collector of antiques for more than 60 years. His collection includes both archaic and contemporary art, and he edited two important books about Asian art, Goa Made - An Archaeological Discovery, about a large-scale archaeological project carried out with the Italian and Indonesian governments, and Majapahit, Masterpieces from a Forgotten Kingdom.Condition: Good condition with old wear, some nibbling to the edges, and a small crack with associated minor loss.Weight: 3.7 gDimensions: Length 3.4 cmDzi beads are a type of stone bead of uncertain origin worn as part of a necklace and sometimes as a bracelet. In several Central Asian cultures, including that of Tibet, the bead is considered to provide positive spiritual benefits. These beads are generally prized as protective amulets and are sometimes ground into a powder to be used in traditional Tibetan medicine. Beads subject to this process have small ‘dig marks’, where a portion of the bead has been scraped or ground away to be included in the medicine.Literatureparison:Compare a necklace with related etched agate dzi beads, along with imitation glass dzi beads and a gau amulet box, dated to the early 20th century, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number IM.121F-1923.pare a necklace with related agate beads, along with mantra tally counters, dated mid-19th century to mid-20th century, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, accession number 2013-66-27.西藏沖係天珠西藏，十九至二十世紀初，或更早。帶有黑色末端和蝕刻裝飾的管狀珠子。淺琥珀色的半透明石頭。