拍品專文
The pair to this hairpin, broken, of more mottled colour and without its pearls and rubies, is in the collection of the Shenyang Palace museum (illustrated, Daily life in the Forbidden City, Treasures from the Shenyang Palace museum, p.65). According to Yang Renkai, much of the jewellery in the museum was part of a cache of treasures brought by the last Emperor Puyi to Shenyang after he left the Forbidden City to become the King of Manchukuo. The pieces were subsequently confiscated and now reside in a number of museums within the area.
A photograph of the Empress Dowager Cixi, in the Freer gallery, shows her wearing a hairpin of similar design, with a pearl of similar size attached to an earpick style base of undeterminable material. Other haipins of this design are known and are found in the National Palace Museum Taipei, the most similar of being the Sandalwood coiled dragon illustrated, op. cit., Catalogue no. 175, p. 213, although only this one has a pearl of similar size to that of the photograph.
While it is not known who commissioned these hairpins, the use of the dragon motif is very rare in women's jewellery, there being only 14 dragon hairpins out of more than 350 published hair ornaments in the National Palace Museums of both Beijing and Taipei. Of these half are of the coiled dragon type, all made in different materials, suggesting that they may have been a series commissioned by a powerful lady within the Qing court for formal use. Since the Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the few women to wear the twelve symbol robe, representing imperial power, it is plausible to assume that she may have once been the owner of this hairpin.
It is not known when this hairpin was separated from its partner, but it appeared in Hong Kong in the 1950's where it was purchased by the grandparents of the present consignor, who was told that it was imperial, but was not given any further details as to its origin
A photograph of the Empress Dowager Cixi, in the Freer gallery, shows her wearing a hairpin of similar design, with a pearl of similar size attached to an earpick style base of undeterminable material. Other haipins of this design are known and are found in the National Palace Museum Taipei, the most similar of being the Sandalwood coiled dragon illustrated, op. cit., Catalogue no. 175, p. 213, although only this one has a pearl of similar size to that of the photograph.
While it is not known who commissioned these hairpins, the use of the dragon motif is very rare in women's jewellery, there being only 14 dragon hairpins out of more than 350 published hair ornaments in the National Palace Museums of both Beijing and Taipei. Of these half are of the coiled dragon type, all made in different materials, suggesting that they may have been a series commissioned by a powerful lady within the Qing court for formal use. Since the Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the few women to wear the twelve symbol robe, representing imperial power, it is plausible to assume that she may have once been the owner of this hairpin.
It is not known when this hairpin was separated from its partner, but it appeared in Hong Kong in the 1950's where it was purchased by the grandparents of the present consignor, who was told that it was imperial, but was not given any further details as to its origin