Jade, gold

These exquisite earrings suspend jade teardrop beads below studs emblazoned with the Chinese character 寿 (shòu, or "long life").  This version of the character is the simplified version, which is normally not used in art, although the traditional version of the character (壽) is so complex that it might have been impossible to saw out of the handmade 6mm wide studs.

Without knowing provenance, it is also possible to suppose that the characters are intended to be in Japanese, as the version on the earrings is the preferred form in kanji (which directly translated means "Chinese characters", or 漢字).

The metal is gold-toned but not stamped with a karat mark. The earrings are 28mm long.