A RARE SET OF KINGFISHER FEATHER-MOUNTED TURQUOISE BUTTONS FOR AN IMPERIAL ROBE

QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)

Details

A RARE SET OF KINGFISHER FEATHER-MOUNTED TURQUOISE BUTTONS FOR AN IMPERIAL ROBE
QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)
Each globular button of greenish-colored turquoise with silver-gilt mounts with very fine rope-twist edge and inlaid in kingfisher feather, at one end a wire hook terminating in a ruyi head, at the other end two overlaid five-petaled flower heads, the feathers of the smaller topmost flower of a slightly lavender blue color; with original circular box relief-decorated on the cover with a mallow blossom and covered in blue cotton, lined in pink silk
1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) long (5)

Lot Essay

Buttons of this type made from various materials are illustrated in Catalogue of the Exhibition of Ch'ing Dynasty Costume Accessories, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, pp. 288-9, where some, nos. 315, 316 and 318, can be seen to include kingfisher feather on silver-gilt ruyi-shaped mounts similar to those of the present buttons.

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