J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Silver and Gold in Ancient China
March 16 – April 14, 2012
43.
FOUR CUT GOLD FOLIATE HAIR ORNAMENTS
Liao – Northern Song Dynasty, A.D. 10th– 12th Century
two gold pins each with two tiers of slender pointed petals chisel-cut from gold sheet, radiating from a central spherical boss raised on a ring of coiled wire and flanked by clusters of leaves lightly incised with veins, soldered onto the flat pin at the back; the third pin decorated with a small bloom with two tiers of six rounded petals with incised details and with tiny knobbed stamens rising from the disc-shaped center, flanked by radiating leaves with serrated edges, soldered onto a flat-shafted pin at the back; the fourth pin decorated with a chrysanthemum-like bloom with three tiers of petals, flanked by four tapering leaves with serrated edges, and with three small buds rising on coiled gold wire stems, soldered onto a thin gold wire pin.
Length 3 1⁄8 to 4 inches (7.9 to 10.1 cm)
Compare the group of similar gold foliate hairpins in the form of stylized flowers, attributed to the Liao dynasty, illustrated by White, Bunker, and Chen in the catalogue of exhibition, Adornment for Eternity: Status and Rank in Chinese Ornament, Denver, 1994, p. 163, no. 76.
A group of similar gold hairpins is illustrated in a line drawing by Zhu in Liao dai jinyinqi (Liao Dynasty Gold and Silver), Beijing, 1998, p. 173, no. 115. Compare also the group of gold foliate hairpins of this type in the Muwen Tang Collection, illustrated by Kwan in Chinese Gold Ornaments, Hong Kong, 2003, pp. 496-497, attributed to the Ming dynasty.
遼 – 北宋 花形金髮飾四件 長 7.9 至 10.1 厘米
