Set of gold belt plaques with inlaid rubies and sapphires

This set of Die Xie band are very decorative. Jewel inlaids and gold filigree hacraftsmanship are applied. In early Ming dynasty, this technique is very highly ranked, in terms of this refined object, it should be made for the Ming court. Both techniques are influenced by the Western world, the earliest gold filigree technique is noted in ancient Roman empire, it became popular in the Middle East in the years before Christ. In Fatimid and Seljuks period this technique has been developed even more, which became extremely complicated. Moreover, it is not rich in China for finding precious stones due to restrictions of geological environment, therefore, almost all decorative precious stones on ancient Chinese works of art are dependent on imports, such as Zheng He's or later trading imports from Burma and Southeast Asian region, and it secures the provenance of import in regards of this special type of luxury. It became a symbol of social status for the nobles. There are totally 37 pieces of this set, each one has a white jade body, and decorated with golden threads with exquisite craftsmanship. Rubies are inlaid on the golden surface of those objects, which shows a luxurious taste.