Intricately carved red coral from the deep dark seas between Taiwan and Japan. These rare masterpieces originated 300-1500 meters below sea level, among underwater canyons, valleys and introverted cliffs. TAIWAN RED CORAL focuses on the artists who have spent countless hours carving each one of these amazing works of art.

Red corals are organic gemstones formed out of the skeletons of individual polyps that join into a colony. It has the shape of small leafless bushes, and is flaming red in color. There are 7 treasures of Buddhism: gold, silver, pearls, carnelian, amber, lapis lazuli and the most precious one, red coral.

Red coral grows at 200-2000 meters depth and is a treasure of the sea which many collectors dream of acquiring. 80% of the red corals in the world are from Taiwan, and red coral is often called Taiwan red coral because it is mostly collected, processed and sold in Taiwan. This dragon and phoenix piece is a gorgeous and elegant bright red coral that is luxurious and extremely rare.

Red coral grows at a very slow rate; it takes decades to grow into a decent size and reach the hardness required for sculpturing. It is uncommon to have an artifact at this size.

This coral sword was chiseled by sculptor Zheng-Yu Huang. It is 69cm in length and has been signed “jade stone” by the sculptor.

The hilt and blade are sculptured from the one piece of red coral. The pommel, bell and tassel have been beautifully carved into individual branches of the coral, which took the artist 2 years of painstaking work.