INDONESIAN, 19TH CENTURY

The finial was commisioned by the Oei family, a Chinese family residing in Indonesia, in the second half of the 19th century. The design is taken from the Imperial format of high, multi-tiered finials denoting higher rank, rather than the typical Mandarin, lower-rank officials' single-tiered 'button' finials. The absence of any animal motifs in the finial and the presence of shou characters indicates a Chinese craftsman at work who had previously worked for Islamic patrons. Diamonds in a gold setting are very rare and again indicate a Straits-born Chinese in Indonesia, most likely Sumatra or Java. Compare the examples in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Exhibition of Ch'ing Dynasty Costume Accessories, Taipei, 1986, nos. 4 - 7.