Lot 552. An extremely rare gold filigree 'Phoenix' finial for an imperial concubine court hat, Qing dynasty, 18th century. Height 5 3/4  in., 14.6 cm. Estimate $60,000 — 80,000. Sold for $471,000. Courtesy Sotheby’s.

the brilliant and intricately worked gold wires forming a multi-tier ornament of two phoenix stacked over a domed base along a vertical axis, the base with eight pendent lobes each with a ruyi-form edge and one of the 'Eight Buddhist Emblems' applied to the surface, surmounted by an openwork gold orb set with four pearls, a phoenix perched atop, its feathers, eyes, beak, and crest minutely detailed and with medium and small pearls secured to the crest, chest, wings, and five long tail feathers, surmounted by a large pearl on its back, a second phoenix of the same design perched atop the large pearl and surmounted by a further large pearl, a teardrop-shaped smoky hardstone crowning the finial at its peak.

Provenance: Collection of Joseph (1919-2008) and Ruth Sataloff. 
Gifted to the Portland Museum of Art, Maine, in 1994 (acc. no. 1994.39.4).

Exhibited: Worshiping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits, Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 2001, cat. no. 5.15.