A GOLD 'FLORAL' HAIRPIN SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY |

formed as a conjoined pair of long tapering rods, each rod comprising a thin shaft of solid-cast 22-karat gold set with a conical finial, the finial crafted from sheet gold worked in repoussé with a dense composite floral pattern in high relief against a pierced gold-mesh ground, the rods secured together by an oval chrysanthemum-form cap crafted from sheet gold, total weight 24.77 grams

Several gold hairpins of this type have been found in Southern Song dynasty tombs in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu province, including two pairs identical to the present, and a closely related set in which the two rods are connected by a shared 'floral' U-shaped finial and signed Wang zuo gongfu (made by Master Wang), all in the collection of the Zhenjiang Museum and illustrated in Zhenjiang chutu jinyinqi [Gold and Silver Wares Unearthed in Zhenjiang], Beijing, 2012, pls 112 and 125. See also a gold hairpin of the same type as the present in the collection of the Pengzhou City Museum published in Sichuan Pengzhou Songdai jinyinqi jiaocang [Song Dynasty Gold and Silver Works Stored in Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province], Beijing, 2003, col. pl. 7.1; and another exhibited in Jin yao fenghua: Mengdiexuan cang Zhongguo gudai jinshi/Radiant Legacy: Ancient Chinese Gold from the Mengdiexuan Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2013, p. 23.