Page 151 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

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A RARE GOLD ‘KALAVINKA’ HAIRPIN ORNAMENT
LIAO DYNASTY (AD 907-1125)
The front of the ornament is shaped in repoussé as a bejeweled kalavinka, This rare gold ornament is in the form of a kalavinka, a winged celestial
its hands crossed in front of the chest as it foats amidst clouds. All of the being that is half woman- half bird. This unusual being can be seen as
outlines are beaded and it is soldered to a plain gold back. the central decoration of several gold and silver bowls dated to the Liao
dynasty and illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber: Die Sammlung
2 in. (5.1 cm) wide; weight 6.1 g
Pierre Uldry, Zürich, 1994, pp. 215-16, pls. 244-247. Like the present
$8,000-12,000 fgure, the kalavinkas on the bowls have feathered wings and bodies
and the hair is worn in a topknot. Based on its size and construction, it
is likely that the present gold ornament is the head or terminal of a gold
PROVENANCE hairpin. Such a terminal, in the shape of Xiwangmu seated on a phoenix,
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, can be seen on a gold hairpin dated to the Song dynasty illustrated by
no. CK35.
Julia M. White and Emma C. Bunker, Adornment for Eternity: Status and
Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Rank in Chinese Ornament, Denver Art Museum, 1994, p. 181, pl. 93.
Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 87.
A very similar gold ornament in the collection of the Minneapolis
EXHIBITED
Institute of Art, Minneapolis, was included in the exhibition, The Art of
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold & Silver in the
the T’ang Dynasty, Los Angeles County Museum, 1957, no. 303, and
Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 35.
was also included in the exhibition, Early Chinese Gold and Silver, China
LITERATURE House Gallery, China Institute in America, New York 1971, no. 31. In
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, p.
Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 35. 89, no. 35, Bo Gyllensvärd notes that a similar pair, in the full round, is in
Bo Gyllensvärd, ‘T’ang Gold and Silver’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far the collection of The Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Eastern Antiquities, No. 29, Stockholm, 1957, fg. 82b.
Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art 遼 金迦陵頻伽形髮簪飾
and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 33.