401g Chinese amazonite skull – Zhong Kui, demon-slayer, Halloween – 8.8 x 5.8 x 6.5 cm Skull- 401 g
05
days
01
hour
53
minutes
34
seconds
No bids placed
Catawiki Buyer Protection
Your payment’s safe with us until you receive your object.View details
Trustpilot 4.4 | 143878 reviews
Rated Excellent on Trustpilot.
This object will sell during a livestream so make sure you’re watching!
Chinese amazonite skull Zhong Kui, the Demon Conqueror, weighing 401 g and measuring 8.8 × 5.8 × 6.5 cm, origin China.
AI-assisted summary
Description from the seller
Zhong Kui, as Chinese tradition tells, passed the imperial civil service examination as the best of them all. But the emperor revoked the honor because his face was deformed and ugly. In his anger Zhong Kui struck his head against the steps of the palace until he died. In the afterlife, however, the outcast became the King of Spirits, the conqueror of all demons and evil beings; he was said to command eighty thousand demons.
Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty lay ill with fever for over a month. In a dream he saw a small spirit who stole the perfume sachet of his consort Yang and the imperial flute. Then a great spirit seized the thief, tore out his eyes and swallowed them. He then revealed himself: He was Zhong Kui from Mount Zhongnan. Sweating, the emperor awoke, and the fever was gone. He ordered the court painter Wu Daozi to fix the dream image, and since then Zhong Kui’s grim face has watched over doorstep and New Year pictures. In gratitude Zhong Kui married off his younger sister to his faithful friend Du Ping. In paintings this bridal procession appears as a merrymaking procession of spirits: demon attendants carry banners and parasols, blow horns and bear the bridal sedan chair.
This skull resembles such a procession and is at the same time a testament to the entire madness of life. Blue, turquoise and green, yellow, orange and red, brown, gray, beige and sandy: every color seems represented, as if the ghosts had thrown their banners over him. In several spots it opens inward and releases small nodules, crystallized lumps, as if demons trapped inside were crouching there. But his face bears the mark by which one recognizes Zhong Kui: from the nose to the chin it is gnawed, porose and pockmarked, as if an acid had worn away layer after layer. What once brought scholars titles and honor makes the king of the spirits unmistakable, for demons flee only before this countenance. This face exists only once.
The name of his stone is also based on a mere guess. Amazonite, a blue-green variety of the feldspar mineral microcline, bears the name of the Amazon, from whose region people once believed green stones came. Whether those stones were indeed amazonite remains uncertain to this day; as a mineral it was described only in the 18th century. A name based on appearance, a judgment based on the face: for Zhong Kui, as for this stone, what it contains is what counts in the end.
Material: Amazonite-bearing mixed rock (trade name “Chinese Amazonite”): blue-green amazonite (variety of feldspar microcline) in combination with dark brown, waxy-glossy as well as cream to beige mineral parts, porous gray zones and iron oxide coloration;
Origin: China
Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 6.5 cm
Weight: 401 g
Special features: Extremely multicolored pattern in blue, turquoise, green, yellow, orange, red, brown, gray, beige and sand tones; highly porous, hollow-sponge-like region in the lower face (from the nose to the chin, especially on the left half of the face) as well as isolated pores on the forehead and skull cap; several naturally open small druses with knobby crystalline formations, including above the right eye, above the left side of the skull, at the back of the head and on the underside; angular beige to khaki inclusions at the back of the head; occasional strong turquoise-green speckles, including on the chin, lower jaw and right cheekbone; fine natural hairlines, including along the right lower edge of the jaw and in the inclusions at the back of the head
Seller's Story
Ich lasse mich immer wieder von der Schönheit der Natur überraschen und berühren. Mineralien und Edelsteine empfinde ich als Verkörperung jener Perfektion und Harmonie, die allem Sein zugrunde liegt. In ihnen verdichtet sich die Essenz der Erde – kristallisiert für die Ewigkeit und doch in jedem Stück einzigartig.
Jedes Mineral, das ich anbiete, ist von mir persönlich ausgewählt. Nicht nach bloßem Glanz, sondern nach dem Gefühl von Wahrhaftigkeit, das es in mir hervorruft. So findet nur das seinen Weg in meine Hände – und weiter in Ihre –, was ich selbst als würdig empfinde, in seiner Schönheit weitergereicht zu werden.
In meinem Handeln leiten mich Ehrlichkeit, Sorgfalt und die Freude am Teilen dieser Schätze. Ich verstehe mich dabei weniger als Händler, sondern vielmehr als Vermittler zwischen der Natur und den Menschen, die bereit sind, ihre Geschenke mit Achtsamkeit anzunehmen.
Zhong Kui, as Chinese tradition tells, passed the imperial civil service examination as the best of them all. But the emperor revoked the honor because his face was deformed and ugly. In his anger Zhong Kui struck his head against the steps of the palace until he died. In the afterlife, however, the outcast became the King of Spirits, the conqueror of all demons and evil beings; he was said to command eighty thousand demons.
Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty lay ill with fever for over a month. In a dream he saw a small spirit who stole the perfume sachet of his consort Yang and the imperial flute. Then a great spirit seized the thief, tore out his eyes and swallowed them. He then revealed himself: He was Zhong Kui from Mount Zhongnan. Sweating, the emperor awoke, and the fever was gone. He ordered the court painter Wu Daozi to fix the dream image, and since then Zhong Kui’s grim face has watched over doorstep and New Year pictures. In gratitude Zhong Kui married off his younger sister to his faithful friend Du Ping. In paintings this bridal procession appears as a merrymaking procession of spirits: demon attendants carry banners and parasols, blow horns and bear the bridal sedan chair.
This skull resembles such a procession and is at the same time a testament to the entire madness of life. Blue, turquoise and green, yellow, orange and red, brown, gray, beige and sandy: every color seems represented, as if the ghosts had thrown their banners over him. In several spots it opens inward and releases small nodules, crystallized lumps, as if demons trapped inside were crouching there. But his face bears the mark by which one recognizes Zhong Kui: from the nose to the chin it is gnawed, porose and pockmarked, as if an acid had worn away layer after layer. What once brought scholars titles and honor makes the king of the spirits unmistakable, for demons flee only before this countenance. This face exists only once.
The name of his stone is also based on a mere guess. Amazonite, a blue-green variety of the feldspar mineral microcline, bears the name of the Amazon, from whose region people once believed green stones came. Whether those stones were indeed amazonite remains uncertain to this day; as a mineral it was described only in the 18th century. A name based on appearance, a judgment based on the face: for Zhong Kui, as for this stone, what it contains is what counts in the end.
Material: Amazonite-bearing mixed rock (trade name “Chinese Amazonite”): blue-green amazonite (variety of feldspar microcline) in combination with dark brown, waxy-glossy as well as cream to beige mineral parts, porous gray zones and iron oxide coloration;
Origin: China
Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 6.5 cm
Weight: 401 g
Special features: Extremely multicolored pattern in blue, turquoise, green, yellow, orange, red, brown, gray, beige and sand tones; highly porous, hollow-sponge-like region in the lower face (from the nose to the chin, especially on the left half of the face) as well as isolated pores on the forehead and skull cap; several naturally open small druses with knobby crystalline formations, including above the right eye, above the left side of the skull, at the back of the head and on the underside; angular beige to khaki inclusions at the back of the head; occasional strong turquoise-green speckles, including on the chin, lower jaw and right cheekbone; fine natural hairlines, including along the right lower edge of the jaw and in the inclusions at the back of the head
Seller's Story
Ich lasse mich immer wieder von der Schönheit der Natur überraschen und berühren. Mineralien und Edelsteine empfinde ich als Verkörperung jener Perfektion und Harmonie, die allem Sein zugrunde liegt. In ihnen verdichtet sich die Essenz der Erde – kristallisiert für die Ewigkeit und doch in jedem Stück einzigartig.
Jedes Mineral, das ich anbiete, ist von mir persönlich ausgewählt. Nicht nach bloßem Glanz, sondern nach dem Gefühl von Wahrhaftigkeit, das es in mir hervorruft. So findet nur das seinen Weg in meine Hände – und weiter in Ihre –, was ich selbst als würdig empfinde, in seiner Schönheit weitergereicht zu werden.
In meinem Handeln leiten mich Ehrlichkeit, Sorgfalt und die Freude am Teilen dieser Schätze. Ich verstehe mich dabei weniger als Händler, sondern vielmehr als Vermittler zwischen der Natur und den Menschen, die bereit sind, ihre Geschenke mit Achtsamkeit anzunehmen.
Details
Main mineral
401g Chinese amazonite skull – Zhong Kui, demon-slayer, Halloween – 8.8 x 5.8 x 6.5 cm
Mineral form
Skull
Weight
401 g
Country of origin
China
Sold by
Giveaway Disclaimer
Giveaways may be organised as part of Catawiki Live. Participation in a giveaway is subject to the Giveaway Policy. By bidding on an object, you acknowledge that you may automatically be entered into a giveaway, where applicable.
Each giveaway may have different entry requirements and rules. The seller will announce these during the livestream. Make sure you understand the rules before taking part.
