Manchu Chinese Ruyi-style Silver Hair Pin

This fine, and particularly ornate hairpin of ruyi form, is of high-grade, solid silver, which is likely to be pure and so of a higher grade than sterling silver.

The ruyi sceptre form is a symbol for fulfilling wishes in traditional Chinese culture.

The finials of the ruyi are worked into tight swirls.

The head of the ruyi and its shaft are repoussed and engraved with butterfly and pomegranate motifs, and various Daoist symbols, all symbolising fertility, happiness, wealth and marital happiness. This suggests that the hairpin was intended as a dowry or wedding gift.

Similar though less elaborate examples are illustrated in van Cutsem (2005, p. 140) and Duda (2002, p. 126).

The luxurious nature of the example here is suggested by the fact that the motifs are worked into the silver on the shaft beneath the head of the ruyi even though they are barely visible.

Such hairpins were worn by aristocratic Manchu women in Beijing and other northern centres – their long hair would wrapped around pins such as these and kept in place, giving them the elaborate wing-tipped hairdo that became synonymous with wealthy Manchu women. The desire for such elaborate hairstyles fell out of fashion with the 1911 overthrew of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty which ended imperial rule in China. (Han Chinese women on the other hand favoured smaller and less elaborate hairstyles and so Han hairpins tended to be much smaller and less elaborate.)

This example is in very fine condition.

 

Above: A Manchu Woman with a ‘wing’ hairstyle, probably Beijing, photographed by John Thomson, 1869.