Confucius was a Chinese teacher, politician, and philosopher who lived during the Spring and Autumn period (770 – 476 BC). He is also known by the honorific name Kong Fuzi which literally means ‘Grand Master Kong’. Confucius acquired great knowledge through diligent study. He mastered poetry, history, the Zhou rites as well as the six arts: rituals, music, archery, charioteering, reading and calligraphy, as well as arithmetics. According to legend, Confucius had as many as 3,000 students. Among them, about 72 became outstanding sages and later worked as disciples to spread Confucius’s teachings. We believe that the prayer beads of this rosary depict those disciples. It consists of 18 hand-carved peach kernels with two sages in a pine tree forest on either side of each kernel. Pine trees are symbolic for the wish to have a Long life. The carving is very well done and the prayer beads probably date from the first half of the 20th century although they may be earlier. Imagine what an immense task it must have been to carve these small figures out of a very hard material. Total length approximately 54 cm. Bead length 2.4 cm. Width 2.1 cm. Depth 1.5 cm.