A KINGFISHER FEATHER JEWEL-ENCRUSTED COURT HEADDRESS, DIAN ZI - LATE 19TH CENTURY
A KINGFISHER FEATHER JEWEL-ENCRUSTED COURT HEADDRESS, DIAN ZI - LATE 19TH CENTURY
The oval flat-crowned headdress with a semi-circular section sweeping towards the forehead, the wired black ribbon frame elaborately applied with shaped metal filigree phoenix covered with kingfisher feathers and pigments, with a band of similarly covered shou characters and bats on geometric grounds to the rim. 11¾ in. (30 cm.) wide - Estimate: £2,000 - £3,000 ($3,954 - $5,931)
Note: Two examples of headdresses of this type are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, exhibited Jewellery and Accessories of The Royal Consorts of Ching Dynasty, Beijing, 1992, nos. 3 and 4. Compare a similar example, circa 1880, illustrated by L. Wrigglesworth, The Accessory, London, 1991, p. 7. Another is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Stephen W. Bushell, Chinese Art, London, 1924, vol. II, fig. 108. Similar headdresses were sold in our New York Rooms, 26 March 2003, lot 76, and 21 March 2000, lot 77.
Compare also a similar court headdress sold in these Rooms, 11 July 2006, lot 65.
Christie's London. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART INCLUDING EXPORT ART. 13 May 2008