A GOLD 'FLOWER' AND PEARL HAIRPIN

MING-QING DYNASTY (1368-1911)

Details

A GOLD 'FLOWER' AND PEARL HAIRPIN
MING-QING DYNASTY (1368-1911)
The needle-shaped hairpin terminates in a semi-opened flower head centered by a pearl enclosed within the rows of petals formed from filigree and thin gold sheets.
4 ½ in. (11.3 cm.) long; weight 4.5 g

Provenance

Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK61.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 112.

Literature

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 61.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 54.

Exhibited

Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 61.

Lot Essay

Two similar gold hairpins with filigree petals supporting a turquoise bead rather than a pearl are illustrated by Simon Kwan and Sun Ji, Chinese Gold Ornaments, Hong Kong, 2003, pp. 482-83, pl. 323, where they are dated Ming dynasty.

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