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Lot Essay
The present gold peizhui 帔墜 is exquisitely worked in pierced relief within a pointed, leaf-shaped frame. The densely layered composition depicts a pair of mandarin ducks amid lotus blossoms, all enclosed by a border chased with overlapping foliate motifs. The scene belongs to the decorative tradition known as manchi jiao 滿池嬌, a poetic lotus-pond subject composed of flowering aquatic plants and birds. Particularly favored during the Song and Yuan dynasties, such imagery united naturalistic observation with auspicious meaning: paired birds evoked marital harmony, while the robust lotus growth and many-seeded pods conveyed wishes for continuity, abundance and numerous descendants. A peizhui was a weighted pendant attached to the lower end of a xiapei 霞帔, enabling the long, narrow garment to fall evenly and remain properly arranged. This manner of wear is clearly illustrated in the portrait of the Song-dynasty Empress Xuanzu (AD 902-961) in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (中畫00030100000) (Fig. 1), in which a pendant is shown suspended from the end of the xiapei. Although the silk textiles themselves have rarely survived, pendants made of gold, silver, gilt silver and jade have been preserved in numerous tombs of the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties.
The xiapei emerged as an element of women’s dress during the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and became increasingly prominent under the Sui and Tang. By the Song dynasty it had been incorporated into formal court attire. The Song shi, in its account of imperial dress, describes the costume of empresses as comprising a large-sleeved robe, a long skirt, a xiapei and jade pendants. Although garments embellished with gold, pearls and other costly materials were theoretically restricted to titled women, the use of the peizhui appears to have extended beyond the court and official elite. Wu Zimu’s Mengliang lu, describing marriage customs in Southern Song Hangzhou, records that wealthy families presented the bride with the “three golds”: a gold bracelet, a gold bangle and a gold peizhui. Where gold was unavailable, gilt silver might be substituted, suggesting that the ornament was both a marker of status and a desirable component of elite bridal dress. Under the Ming dynasty, the xiapei and its pendant became increasingly regulated as visible expressions of female rank. Regulations announced in the fourth year of the Hongwu reign, corresponding to 1371, prescribed gold pendants for titled women of the first through fifth ranks, gilt-silver examples for the sixth and seventh ranks, and silver pendants for the eighth and ninth ranks. Subsequent revisions further distinguished the materials and bird motifs appropriate to each grade: pheasants and peacocks were associated with the highest ranks, while mandarin ducks, paradise flycatchers and floral designs were assigned to progressively lower grades. The peizhui therefore served not merely as a functional counterweight and ornament, but also as an emblem of courtly hierarchy.
The earliest example presently known is the Northern Song gold peizhui from a tomb at Mufushan, Nanjing. Formed from two openwork gold sheets joined to create a hollow, heart-shaped pendant, it is decorated with a pair of phoenixes flying amid peonies. A further Song-dynasty gold peizhui, decorated with two boys supporting a flower, was sold at Sotheby’s New York, 25 March 2026, lot 173. Particularly relevant to the present ornament is the gold manchi jiao peizhui discovered from the early Yuan tomb of Lu Shimeng and his wife at Huqiu, Suzhou. That example similarly depicts a pair of mandarin ducks among lotus leaves and aquatic plants, creating a lively image of birds sporting in a densely overgrown pond. Although later Ming examples became increasingly formalized and commonly feature a single rank-appropriate bird, the present pendant, with its paired birds and abundant lotus-pond imagery, preserves the more intimate and pictorial character associated with the Song and Yuan examples.
The xiapei emerged as an element of women’s dress during the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and became increasingly prominent under the Sui and Tang. By the Song dynasty it had been incorporated into formal court attire. The Song shi, in its account of imperial dress, describes the costume of empresses as comprising a large-sleeved robe, a long skirt, a xiapei and jade pendants. Although garments embellished with gold, pearls and other costly materials were theoretically restricted to titled women, the use of the peizhui appears to have extended beyond the court and official elite. Wu Zimu’s Mengliang lu, describing marriage customs in Southern Song Hangzhou, records that wealthy families presented the bride with the “three golds”: a gold bracelet, a gold bangle and a gold peizhui. Where gold was unavailable, gilt silver might be substituted, suggesting that the ornament was both a marker of status and a desirable component of elite bridal dress. Under the Ming dynasty, the xiapei and its pendant became increasingly regulated as visible expressions of female rank. Regulations announced in the fourth year of the Hongwu reign, corresponding to 1371, prescribed gold pendants for titled women of the first through fifth ranks, gilt-silver examples for the sixth and seventh ranks, and silver pendants for the eighth and ninth ranks. Subsequent revisions further distinguished the materials and bird motifs appropriate to each grade: pheasants and peacocks were associated with the highest ranks, while mandarin ducks, paradise flycatchers and floral designs were assigned to progressively lower grades. The peizhui therefore served not merely as a functional counterweight and ornament, but also as an emblem of courtly hierarchy.
The earliest example presently known is the Northern Song gold peizhui from a tomb at Mufushan, Nanjing. Formed from two openwork gold sheets joined to create a hollow, heart-shaped pendant, it is decorated with a pair of phoenixes flying amid peonies. A further Song-dynasty gold peizhui, decorated with two boys supporting a flower, was sold at Sotheby’s New York, 25 March 2026, lot 173. Particularly relevant to the present ornament is the gold manchi jiao peizhui discovered from the early Yuan tomb of Lu Shimeng and his wife at Huqiu, Suzhou. That example similarly depicts a pair of mandarin ducks among lotus leaves and aquatic plants, creating a lively image of birds sporting in a densely overgrown pond. Although later Ming examples became increasingly formalized and commonly feature a single rank-appropriate bird, the present pendant, with its paired birds and abundant lotus-pond imagery, preserves the more intimate and pictorial character associated with the Song and Yuan examples.