J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Silver and Gold in Ancient China
March 16 – April 14, 2012
40.
A REPOUSSÉ AND CHASED GOLD DIADEM (CHAI)
Southern Song Dynasty, A.D. 13th Century
with twenty-two short upright columns joined as pairs and aligned in a rising arc, each slender tapered column decorated in high relief with leafy sprays of prunus and chrysanthemum on both sides and each pair capped with an oval chrysanthemum flowerhead motif, the decoration all in varied relief and with finely chased details throughout, the ‘U’-shaped terminals of each pair of columns soldered at the base to the extended terminals of the two outermost columns which are turned back toward the center of the arc and bent straight down to form twin tines, the whole applied on one side with a flat band of gold incised with double-line zigzag decoration incorporating triple-dot motifs on the front, soldered across the looped bases of the twin columns and turned onto the back at both ends to strengthen and complete the diadem.
Width 4 1⁄2 inches (11.5 cm)
Archaeological finds show that gold and silver multi-flower diadems of this type first appeared in the Song dynasty and continued to be popular through the Yuan dynasty. As discussed in Hunan Song Yuan jiaocang jinyinqi faxian yu yanjiu (The Discovery and Research on Gold and Silver Wares Unearthed from Caches of Song and Yuan Dynasties in Hunan), Beijing, 2009, p. 307, gold and silver diadems are commonly unearthed in the South, but they also are found in Song and Jin mural paintings in Shanxi and Henan, demonstrating that they were also fashionable in Central China.
A gold multi-flower diadem with seven pairs of floral columns excavated in 1966 from a Song dynasty tomb at Lucheng, Linxiang county, now in the Hunan Provincial Museum, is illustrated in Hunan chutu jinyinqi (Gold and Silver Excavated in Hunan), Changsha, 2009, p. 58, no. 30. Another gold diadem with eleven pairs of floral columns, excavated in 1978 from Longgang village, Xinhe, Linli county, now in the Changde City Museum, Hunan province, is illustrated in the same catalogue, op. cit., p. 124, no. 99, attributed to the Yuan dynasty.
A gold diadem with fifteen pairs of floral columns and a horizontal band across the stems, similar to the present example, excavated in 1978 from Linli county, is illustrated in Hunan Song Yuan jiaocang jinyinqi faxian yu yanjiu (The Discovery and Research on Gold and Silver Wares Unearthed from Caches of Song and Yuan Dynasties in Hunan), Beijing, 2009, p. 31, no. 60.
Compare also the gold diadem of this form but lacking the applied band across the base, illustrated by White, Bunker and Chen in Adornment for Eternity: Status and Rank in Chinese Ornament, Denver, 1994, p. 178, no. 90, where the author cites two similar gold diadems excavated in 1983 from a Song dynasty hoard at Yongjia, Zhejiang province, illustrated in Wenwu, 1985, No. 5, p. 85, no. 11.
A Song gold diadem in the Uldry Collection is illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber: die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Zurich, 1994, p. 243, no. 293, where the author cites a very similar gold diadem from a Northern Song tomb excavated in 1963 at Wangjiawan, Taipingmenwai, Nanjing, illustrated in Kaogu, 1961, No. 2, p. 101, no. 3 (center).
南宋 橋形筒花金釵 寬 11.5 厘米
