BULLETIN
OF THE METROPOLITAN
SOME CHINESE JEWELRY AND
JEWELED ORNAMENT
the Ming period (I368-I644), certain kinds
of jeweled ornament such as the headdresses worn at court attained a size and
elaborateness beyond necessity and were
comparable in their overdecoration to the
baroque pearls and other kinds of high ornamentation reaching their peak in Europe
contemporaneously.
Some ornaments of a woman's crown in
the form of two phoenixes' (fig. i)-fenghuang, symbol of good fortune and special
emblem of the Empress-of gold, set with
double rows of the original pearls on the tail
feathers and (on one of the birds) a pearl on
It is interesting to observe that somewhat
the same aura as that surrounding German,
Italian, and Spanish jewelry of the Renaissance is noticeable in the few specimens of
jewelry and jeweled ornament that Chinese
archaeology has restored to us. It is true,
for instance, that Renaissance jewelers
made little use of the diamond, that the
craft of the metalworker was never subordinated to the gem, the latter being frequently
only a secondary feature of the design, and
FIG. I.
ORNAMENTS
OF A HEADDRESS
CHINESE,
T'ANG
MUSEUM OF ART
IN THE FORM OF TWO PHCENIXES
DYNASTY
(68-90o6)
each wing, are indeed perfect examples of
the craft of the metalworker in which the
gems are decorative but subordinate. These
are said to have been found near I Chou in
a tomb of the T'ang dynasty. The chief
feature is the exquisite workmanship of the
filigree, comparable to Spanish filigree of
the fourteenth century in its lacy quality.
In this quaint bird-known for his jack-ofall-trades nature, part pheasant, part swallow, part peacock, and sometimes part
snake-the pheasant head is made, like the
body, of a close filigree resembling fine
chain mail and crowned with openwork filigree feathers suggesting in their curly foretuft the jui-head (scepter) design. Under
and back of the swallow-like beak project
1 Acc. nos. 30.76.303and 304. L. 4 %6 in.;
w. 23/ in. L. 4% in.; w. 2 Y16 in. Shown this
monthin the Roomof RecentAccessions.
that the scale was often larger than might
be considered necessary or in good taste today. These things are not all unequivocally
true of Chinese jewelry, of course, but there
is a general connection that is interesting.
The Chinese, for instance, in their ornament did not use diamonds, or, for that
matter, any of what the Western world
calls "precious stones," with the notable exception of pearls. These they employed in
abundance, together with amethyst, amber,
jadeite, coral-to mention some of those
most frequently seen-enamel, and imitation jewels made of colored fluxes tinted
appropriately. That the craftsmanship of
the early jewelry-T'ang and pre-T'angwas of more importance than the few gems
that sometimes adorned it cannot be questioned, but neither, on the other hand, can
the fact that in later times, beginning with
74
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BULLETIN
flowing gold feathers; at the sides and from
the end of the body, respectively, spread
openwork feathers for flying and smooth,
spiky ones for display. Across the mid portion of the latter, and on their flame-like
ends, a double row of pearls is drilled through
and fastened with fine wire. The conception
of the birds is one of
extreme dignity and
elegance, relieved in a
charming way from
itoo stern a simplicity
by such rich details
as the curly foretuft
and (on one bird)
some small but particularly lively and
graceful outside tail
feathers.
FIGS. 2-4.
MUSEUM OF ART
OF THE METROPOLITAN
FRAGMENTS
CHINESE,
with the graving tool, and expending such
skill and patience in filigree work that this
art has perhaps never been surpassed in any
other country. In jewelry of a highly ornate
character, which came to be the fashion,
there were added to the intricate metalwork
various types of decoration-enamel, kingfisher-feather
(feits'ui) inlay, and a profusion of gems, which
hung, clustered, or
were scattered singly
about, giving an effect
of great richness.
Headdresses came to
be built up into tremendous structures,
displaying a variety
of these techniques.
OF AN ORNAMENTAL
CH'ING
DYNASTY,
Jewelry and ornament of the Ming (I 368I644) and Ch'ing (I644-I912) periods present quite a different case, stylistically
speaking, from the earlier designs, in which
the metalwork is for the most part the be-all
and end-all. The Chinese have always used
practically the same technical methods as
the Western world in the fashioning of
metals, such as pouring in molds, hammering in repousse style, carving and finishing
MANCHU
HEADDRESS
I644-1912
The little ladies at the court in Peking
must have fairly staggered beneath the
weight of such elegance, glowing with color
and dripping with pearls! Five fragments of
an ornamental headdress2 belonging to a
Manchu lady of high degree of the late
seventeenth or early eighteenth century
have a wealth of detail and a profusion of
2
30.76.305-309.
Shown this month in the
Roomof RecentAccessions.
75
BULLETIN
OF THE METROPOLITAN
elaborate ornament from which, with our
knowledge of complete objects of the kind,
it is easy to reconstruct the sumptuous
whole. Among the exquisite details which
make decorative patterns of filigree or plain
gold covered with the brilliant turquoise
blue of the kingfisher feather (restored) are
semi-realistic pomegranates, chrysanthemums, plum blossoms, cloud designs, and
symbols of good fortune, such as the bat
and the phoenix, of ancient Chinese lore, as
the reed organ-one of the Eight Musical
Instruments-and of long life, as the character Shou. Large pearls (restored) add luster and elegance to most of the designs (figs.
2-4).
MUSEUM OF ART
clouds, God the Father with an orb, and the
dove of the Holy Ghost; the background is
effectively engraved with foliate scrolls. On
the back, in low relief, is carved an all-over
design of floral scrolls with a vertical border
of guilloche bands; near the upper rim is the
end of the belt clip, which has been broken
off.
Equal in quality to the carving of the
horn are the silver-gilt mountings (fig. 2).
Just as there was great rivalry between
German and Italian armorers,2so too there
was great rivalry between German and
Italian goldsmiths, and it is not easy to
attribute their work. Fortunately the
LESLIE RICHARDSON.
A SILVER-MOUNTED
HORN
POWDER
The Department of Arms and Armor is
concerned essentially with exhibiting work
in steel. Its field is so broad, however, that
even a casual visitor to the galleries will
notice that not only metals but also
leather, bone, horn, ivory, and other materials are well represented. An addition to
this supplementary group of objects is a
powder horn of a stag's antler, with silvergilt mountings (fig. 2), which is to be shown
in the Room of Recent Accessions during
the present month. Later it will be exhibited
permanently in the Hall of the Princes
(Gallery H 8).
This powder horn is indeed a princely
piece, for in quality of workmanship there is
none better among the threescore specimens
exhibited in the Museum. It belongs to a
period when hunting as the sport of noblemen was at its height. Stags' antlers obtained as trophies were usually converted
into powder horns; when they were exceptional, they were preserved intact, and
sometimes beautifully engraved, and dated
and signed by the artist.' Our horn is
tinged yellow with age. Its face, worn from
constant handling, is carved in relief with
the figure of a dismounted knight in full
armor, kneeling unhelmeted before a wayside crucifix, a ritual which one still often
sees in Europe today. Above the knight are
I A pair of antlers signed with the artist's
initials G.H. and the date 1563was in the collectionof BaronNathanielRothschild.
76
FIG. I. ENGRAVED BASAL CAP ON
TERMINAL OF POWDER HORN
mountings bear the mark3 (fig. I) of the
maker, Jeremias Ritter, who was a master
in I605, and also the mark of the city of
Nuremberg, which was always noted for its
carvings and metalwork. Our powder horn
is an unrecorded work by Ritter,4 who was
one of the leading goldsmiths of Nuremberg. It was Ritter who executed, after the
2 A referenceto the rivalrybetweenthe Colman family of Augsburgand the Negrolis of
Milanappearson a shieldin the Royal Armory
in Madrid,on whichthe maker(DesideriusColman) is representedas a bull charginga Roman
soldieron whose shieldis the word Negrol.
3 The Nurembergmark, together with the
mark of JeremiasRitter, is stampedon one of
the base plates; a third mark (the initial J) is
stampedon the pivoted lever of the spout cap,
on its attachment, and on the slide; a fourth
mark(the initialJ reduced)appearson eachside
ringandon the rimsof bothbranchesof the base.
4 A list of the extantworksof JeremiasRitter
is given in Marc Rosenberg'sDer Goldschmiede
Merkzeichen, 3d ed., 1922.