Featured Japanese? Chinese? Damascene on Pearl Locket with stones necklace

Hoping to get some help on this necklace. Anyone know what these markings are/read? Age/origin? Any other info regarding the necklace would be much appreciated! It is a damascene on pearl locket necklace with quartz(?) and other natural stones I assume?
Thank you in advance!!

 

that's rather nice !!

where did u find it. ( location)
how long ya had it

nice pics too !

 

Thank you! It was a Mother’s Day gift from my (ex)husband around 20 or so years ago. I THINK he bought it off eBay so am unsure of any more specifics other than those vague ones, unfortunately.

 

It is not damascene,it is some type of material inlaid into mother of pearl.

 

Thank you! I had understood damascene as what mine shows from going off similar looking necklaces but now looking up the actual definition I can see how it differs some, mine being mother of Pearl. The material appears gold and copper in color

 

well, he had good taste !

 

He was married to me for 24 years so can’t argue with that! Haha

 

I don't recognise the kanji so it may be a logo rather than a character. On balance I would say it is most likely Japanese.

 

Agree, the locket is Japanese. My age guesstimate for the locket is 1920s-30s, but others may have to correct me.

The composition with the necklace is a marriage, probably made by a late 20th century home crafter, who added modern beads and wire to an earlier piece. If you like it like this, it is a happy marriage.
I am not happy about the tightness of the wire on the loop and the loose wire end though. If you know someone who is good at minor jewelry repairs, you can ask them to tidy it up, give the loop more space or maybe add a bail.

 

Interesting it may be a logo, good to know thank you!

 

That’s what I was leaning towards was Japanese and was thinking the same about the beaded portion not being original to it so that helps. Thank you!

 

I think the inlay is wood of some kind.

 

Just wondering, is it actually inlaid, or is it painted?
The shading on the wing looks like it is painted on, and the flakes on the blades of grass and missing part of one blade look like missing paint with a smooth MOP surface underneath, rather than the indentation of missing inlay.
It is good to be very careful when you store it, make sure nothing touches that MOP surface.

 

That’s what I was thinking. I looked closer and it looks like maybe something was inlaid and then they used paint or something over that possibly?

The two large leaves, especially top in the screen shot you can see either the very shallow indentation or maybe it’s the cleaner area the paint used to be. Also the missing parts of the leaves look more broken off than worn off when you look closely. However on the dots above the leaves which I guess are flowers it looks like you can see paint spread out from dark in the center where the brush hit and then thinning out towards edges. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s what I’m seeing.

 

I always thought it was painted on so will check tonight with a magnifier to see it closer

 

I will check it closer with a magnifier tonight to see the finer detail. I always thought it painted on

 

What doeMOP surface mean?

Whata does MOP surface mean?

 

mother of pearl...