Details
A FINE WHITE JADE HAIRPIN
MING DYNASTY, 16TH/17TH CENTURY

The terminal of the slender shaft finely carved with nodules and in openwork with a bamboo root enveloped by pointed leaves surrounding a central flower head, the stone of an even white tone
9 3/4 in. (24.5 cm.) long
Provenance
Sotheby's New York, 12 June 1984, lot 40
Literature
Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades From the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 55
Exhibited
Christie's New York, 13-26 March 2001
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, August 2003 - December 2004

Lot Essay

Cf. a similar hairpin in the standard late Ming form, illustrated by James Watt, Chinese Jades from the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1989, no. 53, where the author notes that the famous jade carver, Lu Zigang, of Suzhou, who was active during the second half of the sixteenth century, carved hairpins in a similar openwork style; and another included in the exhibition, Chinese Jade, An Important Private Collection, Spink & Son, London, 1991, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 83.

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