A rare pair of reticulated gilt-silver 'phoenix' crown ornaments, Liao dynasty | 遼 銀鎏金透空穿花鳳紋冠翅一對

Acquired in the late 1970s. 

得於1970年代末

The present pair of ornaments were originally part of a highly elaborate gilt-silver crown worn by a high-ranking female aristocrat during the Liao dynasty (907-1125). Intricately made from a thinly hammered gilt-silver sheet featuring a complex openwork design of phoenix amid elaborate floral scrolls, this pair of ornaments is not only a symbol of the prestigious social status of its original owner, but also a testament to the technical mastery achieved by the skillful metal workers during the Liao dynasty.

A well-known gilt-silver crown flanked by a pair of similar openwork ornaments enclosing long-tailed phoenix against scrolling tendrils, discovered from the tomb of the Princess of Chen at Qinglongshan town in Naiman Banner, Inner Mongolia, in 1986, now preserved in the Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Inner Mongolia, was included in the exhibition Gilded Splendor. Treasures of China's Liao Empire (907-1125), Asia Society, New York, 2006, cat. no. 3 and cover (detail). The Princess of Chen's tomb has been dated to the 7th year of Kaitai, corresponding to 1018. See also a gilt-bronze crown set with a related pair of ornamental plaques in the San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas (accession no. 2021.1.1), published on their website.

Compare a gilt-bronze crown adorned with a related pair of openwork plaques with a dragon design, in the Guimet Museum, Paris, illustrated in Jia Xizeng, 'Liao dai jin guan [Liao Dynasty Gilt Crowns]', Zijincheng / Forbidden City, November 2011, p. 108, fig. 6-2, together with one from the Mengdiexuan Collection, p. 109, fig. 7-4; and another with a pierced scrolling floral design, excavated at Wenduo'er, Aluke'erqin Banner, Inner Mongolia, published in Liu Bing and Zhao Guodong, 'Chifengshi alukeerqinqi wenduoeraoruishan liaomu qingli jianbao [Report on the excavation of the Liao tomb at Wenduo'er, Aluke'erqin Banner, Chifeng]', Wenwu / Cultural Relics, no. 3, Beijing, 1993, pl. 6, fig. 1. See also a silk headdress with the similar vertical side flaps on either side, found in the tomb of a female at Yemaotai, Faku, Liaoning Province, published in The Archaeological Team of the Liaoning Provincial Museum, 'Faku yemaotai liaomu jilue / Excavation of the Liao Dynasty Tomb at Yehmaotai in Faku County, Liaoning Province', Wenwu / Cultural Relics, no. 12, Beijing, 1975, p. 36, figs 16 and 17.