Page 32 - 2020 September 21 Elegant Embellishment the RenLu Colelction, Bonham NYC

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AN IMPRESSIVE GOLD ‘LONGEVITY’ HAIRPIN, TONGZAN
Late Ming dynasty
Made by rolling a beaten gold sheet into a tapering shaft with an
openwork lotus reserve between repoussé bands, the shaft slightly
curved toward the top and terminated in a mushroom head with a
pierced shou character between two additional shou roundels.
9in (22.9cm) long

US$8,000 - 12,000
明末 蘑菇首壽紋金筒簪一支

According to Yang Zhishui, the distinctive shape of this hairpin,
characterized by its long conical shaft gently angled toward a
mushroom-form head, was fashionable during the Ming dynasty. This
type of hairpins was generally used by men and was also made in
other materials, including jade, agate, and amber. Compare a pair of
gold hairpins of this type, unearthed from the Xu Da Family cemetery
of the Ming dynasty in Nanjing, measuring 11.5cm, published and
illustrated in Zhongguo Gudai Jinyin Shoushi (Beijing: Gugong, 2014),
vol. 2, pp. 438-439, pl. 5.43. The present example is distinctive for its
unusually large size.

See also a similar gold hairpin in Celestial Creations. Art of the Chinese
Goldsmith, The Cheng Xun Tang Collection (Art Museum, The Institute
for Chinese Studies, The Chinese University, Hong Kong 2007), Part II,
pp. 396-397, no. G28.

30 | BONHAMS