Page 26 - 2020 September 21 Elegant Embellishment the RenLu Colelction, Bonham NYC

319
A GOLD FLOWER HAIRPIN, ZAN
Ming dynasty
The tapering shaft with subtly beveled top and decorated with incised
lotuses to the upper section, supporting a slightly tilted neck encircled
by thin rings below an angled flower head and three sensitively
rendered leaves.
5 3/4in (14.7cm) long

US$2,500 - 3,500

明 花卉紋金簪一支

There are many different terms for hairpins in Chinese depending on
the design, and how and where they are used for. Broadly, hairpins can
be classified as zan (one-tined hairpins) and chai. (two-tined hairpins).
zan can be found in use by both men and women, while chai is mostly
reserved for women. 319

In Chinese Gold Ornaments (Hong Kong: Muwen Tang Fine Art
Publication Ltd., 2003), Simon Kwan and Sun Ji point out that the
zan was more popular than chai during the Ming dynasty, when there
exist a greater variety of shape and design on the shaft of the zan style
hairpins (p. 100), such as featuring two beveled sides sloping from
the central raised ridge as shown in the present example. Other zan
hairpins with alike shaped shafts are illustrated on page. 101, pl. 213.

320
A GOLD ‘DRAGON’ HAIRPIN, CHAI
Yuan dynasty
The two-tined hairpin gently curved, cast and chased to the upper
portions with two confronting dragons joined by a flower head, the
prongs rendered thin and flat.
6 1/2in (16.5cm) long

US$3,000 - 5,000

元 卷龍紋金釵一件

In Chinese Gold Ornaments (Hong Kong: Muwen Tang Fine Art
Publication Ltd., 2003), Simon Kwan and Sun Ji discuss the curving
finishing seen on hairpins during the Yuan and early Ming dynasties, as
well as the gold hairpins with coiled dragon design which is peculiar
to the Yuan dynasty (pp. 458-460, pl. 299 and 300). In addition, a
set of seven gold head ornaments, included a similarly decorated
320 gold hairpin, excavated from a Yuan dynasty burial at Zhoujiatian in
Huangpi, Hubei province, are illustrated in Ancient Chinese Cultures of
Gold Jewellery and Ornamentation by Yang Boda (Arts of Asia, March-
April 2008), vol. 38, no. 2, pl.58.

Compare also similar examples in Radiant Legacy; Ancient Chinese
Gold from the Mengdiexuan Collection by Jenny F. So (Hong Kong:
The Chinese University, 2013), Part II, pp. 112–113, no. 3, and
in Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection by Bo
Gyllensvärd, (Stockholm, 1953), p. 121, pl. 63.

24 | BONHAMS