Author Archives: jencruse

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"The Comb," by Jen Cruse is lavishly illustrated with over 500 photographs. This is a wide-ranging, scholarly reference book.

Sikhs and Sikh Combs

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An important comb type, little publicised and infrequently encountered, is a notable feature of the orthodox Sikh community whose peoples, now dispersed throughout the world, originated mainly from the Punjab State of north-west India, bordering on Pakistan. This is a territory through which the 5 tributaries of the river Indus flow – the word Punjab signifies “the land of the 5 rivers”. Amritsar is the state capital, their language is Punjabi.

The term Sikh is derived from the Sanskrit word Shiksh meaning “to learn”; in Punjabi, it is translated as Disciple.[1] A Sikh initiated into the Khalsa is regarded as an “orthodox” Sikh, belonging to the community of Amritdhari. Founded by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, he gave Khalsa Sikhs five distinguishing marks of identity, the five sacred K’s or Panj Kakke, and a code of conduct setting them apart from other groups and requiring them to live pure lives.[2]

According to a post on Beard Gains, men are barred from cutting any body hair or beard – Kesh – and expected to wear a turban; to wear a Kachh, a pair of shorts (underpants), as part of the required clothing; a Kara, a bangle of steel or iron, to be worn on the right wrist and a Kirpan – a short dagger, a sword with curved blade, or a knife of similar shape – always to be carried on the body; a Khanga (Kanga) comb worn in the hair under the turban to hold the topknot of the Kesh in place, symbolising personal hygiene and cleanliness in body and spirit.

2016 - Sikh Khanga combs in wood [for BS] 2

Before putting on his turban, the Sikh plaits his hair into one long braid, winding it up and securing it on the top of the head. Into this the comb is inserted for safe keeping. Women are expected to observe a similar but modified code and may have a Khanga attached with a black cord tucked under a bun. The tradition is, however, tending to die out in recent generations.

2016 - Sikh Khanga combs in wood [for BS] 1

A Khanga comb is a small grooming tool having a distinctive shape with the ‘shoulders’ usually sloping sharply downwards from a rounded or squared top edge. The small teeth are fine cut or sawn, mostly by hand. In many cases, the guard teeth are angled outward at the lower tip. These combs were made in wood, ivory and rhino tusk or in buffalo horn but not cattle horn.

The combs measure between 1 ½ -2 ¾ ins (4-7 cm) in width and 1 ¼ -1 ¾ ins (3.5-4.3 cm) in depth. The illustrated combs are all dating to the later 20th C although the 3 small ivory examples are much earlier.

2016 - Sikh Khanga combs in ivory [for BS]

References:
1. Srinivasan, Radhika. Cultures of the World: India. Times Books International, Singapore. 1994 [p.72]

2. A Popular Dictionary of Sikhism: Sikh Religion and Philosophy (Popular Dictionaries of Religion) 1 New edition by Cole, W. Owen, Sambhi, Piara Singh (1997) Paperback Cole, W.Owen. and Sambhi, Piara Singh. Curzon Press, Richmond, Surrey. 1990/1997 [p.90]

Jen Cruse is author of the authoritative reference The Comb: Its History and Development

Sri Lankan Hair Pins — Formerly Ceylonese and Singalese

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The hairpins known as Kondakoora emanate from Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon. Often erroneously described as Mughal or Turkish turban pins, they were traditional to the low-country regions of southern Sri Lanka, as opposed to the hills of the Kandy region, where they were worn by wealthy women to secure the chignon. Positioned horizontally through the bun allowed the bejewelled finial to be clearly visible and sparkling; a fashionable accessory from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries.


A Singalese woman wearing her kondakoora (c1900)

Kondakoora pins were generally made of silver, brass or gilded metal. From an arrow point at one end, the relatively flat shaft extends to an ornate, tear-drop or boteh-style finial of pierced foliated openwork enriched with gemstones, the embellishments continuing down the upper portion of the shaft. The finial is slightly angled back from the line of the shaft. The most typical examples were set with faceted white zircons known as ‘Matara diamonds’, sourced from the region of Matara, a seaport on the south coast of Sri Lanka not far from the more popular town of Galle. Occasionally gemmologists in Britain refer to a white zircon as a ‘jargon’ or ‘jargoon’, a popular term used in Georgian period jewellery. Besides zircons, some pins were set with moonstones, others with pink or blue sapphires – which were not rubies as is often supposed, as rubies were not indigenous to Sri Lanka. Occasionally they were set with faceted polished steel studs. Dimensions vary between 3 – 5 ins (7.5 – 13 cm) in length.


Group of Kondakoora

Less often encountered are the kondakoora made from tortoiseshell. These simpler versions were of the same overall shape as their metal counterparts but lacked any further embellishment save for some pierced designs on the finial and shaft. Yet another variant of kondakoora was formed as a straight or rod-like épingle, without the ornate boteh finial but displaying the arrow-like end point. Either of gilt metal, silver or brass, the exposed upper portion was decoratively chased in traditional patterning.


Kondakoora Variants

By the turn of the 20th century, fashions among the coastal Ceylonese women were changing and the traditional kondakoora pins eventually lost favour and were put aside. Many found their way to northern Europe, England in particular. Converted to either brooches or traditional hairpins by the attachment of suitable devices, they re-emerged as a new vogue in the first half of the 20th century.


Kondakoora showing a hairpin element fitted to the back

Whilst the majority of the silversmiths and jewellery makers on the island were Tamils, some migrated from Sri Lanka to the Malay Peninsula in the 19th century, where they made jewellery items for local Straits Chinese clients. Overtime, the creative Tamil art integrated with the local skills and inevitably cross-fertilisation of styles evolved. As a result, it is not always easy today to discern whether some items are Sri Lankan or Straits Chinese in manufacture.

Displays of Sri Lankan kondakooras are exhibited in such museums as the British Museum in London, the National Museum of Colombo in Sri Lanka and the National Negara Museum of Malaysia.


Old postcard from the National Museum of Colombo showing (19th C)

Acknowledgement: Michael Backman Ltd for some of the details sourced from an article in Ethnic Jewels Magazine: Coastal Sri Lankan 19th Century Jewellery by Michael Backman

Jen Cruse is author of


The Comb: Its History and Development

Jen Cruse: Combs from the Miller Comb Museum

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The three combs shown here each carry an important provenance – that of the Miller Comb Museum in Homer, Alaska, and date to the first quarter of the 20th century. They are featured in my book on page 79 (published in 2007) and have since come into my collection.

For me they are most interesting as this exquisite, smooth colour of turquoise celluloid (sometimes sky blue) is uniquely of US origin and quite unusual in the European market and in fact probably not used by European manufacturers at that time – dense bright green yes, and the solid colours of red and black.

The colours of the combs perfectly set off the clear paste-stone settings and gold decoration while their imaginative designs demonstrate a truly artistic flair by an inspired craftsman. As with the majority of combs, however, they are not marked or stamped with any identifying name.

For more scholarly research, please examine our Resource Library and Jen’s book:


The Comb: Its History and Development

Jen Cruse: Stratton Combs

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In 1920, the English company of Jarrett, Rainsford & Laughton Ltd resulted from a merger of two smaller companies, each manufacturing items of inexpensive jewellery and haberdashery goods. However, Stratton Ltd was already owned by Laughtons at the time of the merger and the new company retained the Stratton name for their Fancy Metal Department.

From 1923, part-finished powder boxes were imported from the USA for assembly and decoration until the early 1930s when the company set up its own compact and lipstick case manufacturing plant. By 1939 Strattons were so successful that they were responsible for producing about 50% of these items made for the British cosmetic industry. The factory was destroyed in 1940 and production was not resumed until after the war, in new premises and with newly designed machinery.

Expansion in the 1950s saw the introduction of matching sets of ladies’ handbag accessories, including such items as compacts, lipstick holders, folding cased combs, pill boxes and cigarettes cases. Unfortunately there are few surviving records of the early 1950s; the first extant advertisement for a folding cased comb is dated 1955, which probably coincides with the introduction of their cased comb range. If you are reading this article you are probably interested on fashion, and looking for designer polarized sunglasses for women and well here’s the website for you.

The combs were injection moulded from either cellulose acetate or nylon and all products carried the familiar logo ‘Stratton Made in England’. The introduction of the ‘trigger’ comb around 1960 provided an easy mechanism by which the comb sprung from its case, not dissimilar from the ‘flick knife’ principle.

By the 1960s there were Stratton agents worldwide and new designs kept pace with changing fashions. However, comb production slowly declined and by the end of the 1980s cased combs no longer featured in the Stratton catalogues. Both compacts and folding combs were out of fashion. The last folding combs appeared in the US catalogues for 1987-88 and in the British catalogues for 1988-89. The company was finally sold in 1997.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine our Resource Library and


The Comb: Its History and Development

Jen Cruse: Mauchline Ware and Combs – Scottish Souvenirs of the 19th Century

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Mauchline Ware is a distinctive form of Scottish decorative treen, said to have originated in the Ayrshire (now Strathclyde) town of Mauchline in the late 18th or early 19th century.

The wooden articles, generally known as Mauchline Ware, were made of Scottish planewood or sycamore (sometimes black lacquered) and were wide ranging in both design and purpose. The front surface was decorated with a painted or small transfer-printed view, portrait or building, and varnished over.

These objects were a popular form of tourist souvenir in the 19th century, and the images depicted covered the whole of the British Isles. Many small items and a large variety of boxes may be found with the characteristic vignettes, the commonest being tea caddies, snuff boxes and pill boxes, trinket boxes, stamp boxes, rouge boxes, needle cases and étuis.

In the early days, the pictures applied to the treen surfaces were either hand-painted or pen-worked. Around 1850, the application of transfer-printing was devised. By about 1860 photographic images became the preferred technique, thus producing more affordable pieces at a faster rate.

Through the 1800s, Mauchline Ware was made in such towns as Mauchline, Cumnock and Lanark and also in Laurencekirk, in the north of Scotland. By the second half of the 19th century, W&A Smith of Mauchline was one of the first companies to exploit the growing tourist industry by making, for export, souvenirs that related to cities, resorts and spa towns in Europe, North America and South Africa.

Although most types of Mauchline Ware are well documented, there is sparse mention of cased combs and an absence of references in the literature of the Mauchline Ware Collectors Club. The three cases illustrated here measure just over 4 ins (10.5 cm) in length and not quite 1 ins (2.2 cm) in width. The combs, original to each case, are made of ebonite (vulcanite or hard rubber).

The image on one of the cases is that of Old Tip Top house, Mt. Washington, N.H. – a known design. This house was built near the summit in 1853 but was eventually replaced by the New Tip Top House sometime in the 20th century.

Another case shows the quay at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. The image on the black lacquered case is that of Southwell Cathedral in Nottinghamshire, England.

Very few Mauchline Ware pieces were marked with makers’ names. It is likely, however, that the Mt. Washington example illustrated was made by the Smith factory in Mauchline and dates between 1885 and 1895, the peak period for the growth of tourism in New England.

At that time the Boston based distributor of Mauchline Ware was Charles Pollock, described as an “Importer of White Wood Fancy Goods,” no doubt the agent for W&A Smith. An entry in the Company’s ledger, dated 1888, lists combs among the Mauchline Ware products although specific details are not known. This particular item was bought at a small antiques market in London in 1999 for £20 (about $35) and is in excellent condition. Unfortunately the original retail price is unknown.

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For more scholarly research, please examine our Resource Library and these books:


Mauchline Ware – A Collector’s Guide
The Comb: Its History and Development

Jen Cruse: The Swastika Motif

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The comb in the photograph, a celluloid low back comb (simulating tortoiseshell), was bought in an Antique shop in Quebec City in 1995 for C$50 (£30). The decorative band along the heading, fixed to the comb by three rivets, comprises two clockwise pointing swastikas set with clear paste-stones, placed between three flower and leaf motifs of gilded metal, possibly aluminium.

The Swastika, a cross in which the arms or bars (sometimes referred to as crampons) are extended at right angles, is a sacred symbol derived from Sanskrit, the language of the Aryan (Hindu) civilisations of ancient India, dating back at least 8,000 years. The motif is now regarded by many cultures around the world as a good luck symbol and an implied prayer for success and accomplishment. The four arms may either point to the left or to the right, the latter being the more familiar and in this form may have been based on a sun symbol representing the clockwise movement of the sun.

The motif (with clockwise arms) was adopted by Hitler as an emblem of the Nazi Party, and incorporated into the German national flag from 1935 to 1945. Consequently it became a symbol of oppression in the countries occupied by Germany during the Second World War and was often called the “crooked cross”.

Occasionally combs are encountered that carry the swastika symbol as part of the decoration. The connection between this comb and the wearer is uncertain; it may allude to a Nazi supporter or a patriotic emigrant, or on the contrary, to one who has escaped the Nazi tyranny. The comb in this case is most probably American made, sometime during the first quarter 20th century, with the decoration added at a later date. Could it have been a commemorative piece?

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For more scholarly research, please examine our Resource Library and


The Comb: Its History and Development

Jen Cruse: The Butterfly Motif

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The butterfly, the short-lived ethereal beauty of gardens and countryside, has been a favourite motif adorning hair jewellery for at least the past 250 years and particularly popular through the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its delicate form is found on combs and hairpins from many countries around the world, and even featured on the celebrated comb attributed to one of the passengers on the fated Titanic before it sank in 1912. In Christian art, the butterfly symbolises the resurrected human soul. One Oriental source describes it as a sign of conjugal felicity – the Chinese Cupid – while another describes the butterfly, coupled with the chrysanthemum, as portraying beauty in old age. For the Maori peoples it represented the soul; for the Greeks, immortality; yet for the Japanese it indicated a vain woman or a fickle lover. Always popular in England, butterflies were a favourite in the 1870s during the vogue for insect motifs in jewellery and later favoured by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco artists and designers.

Here are a few examples:


Butterfly cased comb in celluloid. British or French, c. 1920s – 1930s.


Butterfly on translucent horn, China, mid-20th century.


Cut steel butterfly with horn tines. English, mid to late 19th Century.


Polished bone butterfly hairpin. Bali, 1950s to 1980s.


Celluloid butterfly comb and two hairpins. USA, c.1910-1920s.


Buffalo horn with inlaid mother-of-pearl butterfly. Indonesia, mid to late 20th Century.

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For more scholarly research, please examine our Resource Library and


The Comb: Its History and Development

Sumba Combs

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The spectacular high combs worn by young women, brides and adolescent girls in East Sumba, Indonesia, form part of their rich traditional costume for festivals, ceremonies and weddings. These treasured objects, belonging to the Island’s aristocratic families, have passed down the generations since at least the early 19th century.

The combs are known as hai kara jangga and are placed upstanding over the brow or high on the head, crown-like and held in place by ribbons or a band. They are hand carved from mottled tortoiseshell (from both thick and thin plates) or occasionally from buffalo horn. Once carved and polished, they are deeply curved in the horizontal plane almost to a semi-circle – there is no curvature in the vertical plane. The combs all follow a basic format: an upper pierced heading separated from the teeth by a band of solid tortoiseshell displaying engraved linear geometric decoration.

The carved decorative headings, which vary from comb to comb, are designed symmetrically on either side of the central motif, each with various images in silhouette of stylised animals, birds, fish, trees and sometimes the human figure. They have recognisable symbolic meaning within the mythology of the Island’s culture – for instance, the horse represents loyalty, the chicken wealth. The skull trees (andung trees), featured as the central motif on many examples, were once used to display captured heads from hostile encounters and inter-village warfare. The motifs depicted on the combs echo those of the Ikat woven textiles of the region or on some of their standing stone monuments.

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For more scholarly research, please examine


The Comb: Its History and Development

Jen Cruse: The Spider Motif on Combs

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Spiders are not insects but belong to the class of arachnids, along with scorpions and mites. Numerous kinds of spiders exist all over the world and many weave webs from a natural secretion of silk thread exuding from glands in the underside of their abdomen, to attract insects for food. One of the most familiar types of webs is the large complex wheel-like web of the garden spider, the orb-web spider. Mythology broadly describes the web spider as the Mother of Destiny, the Great Weaver spinning the thread of life and weaving the web of time. To the American Indians an image of a spider on its web was a protective amulet against danger from wind, rain and all those natural weather phenomena which might threaten the spider’s own web.

Although the spider is not everyone’s best friend, throughout history spiders must have had a few admirers. Some sources say that, as a motif for jewellery, it originates from the beautiful and artistic hair ornaments worn by women of the Chinese ruling élite of the 17th century.

Illustrations
Celluloid web-and-spider comb is possibly of American origin, dating around 1920s.

Silver filigree spider in the centre of its web has a hinged 2-pronged pin attached to the reverse, making it a beguiling ornament for a dark coiffure under night lights or candles. Of indeterminable origin, it dates to the mid 20th century or earlier.

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For more scholarly research, please examine


The Comb: Its History and Development

Jen Cruse: The Art of Chinese Ivory Comb Carving

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By Jen Cruse:

When trade links with China were re-established in the 18th century, the earliest and largest markets were in the West. Chinese teas and silks were the prime commodities of trade with Europe and America and an increasing demand for items such as porcelains, ivories (from African elephant tusks) and fans developed over time.

Primarily centred in Canton, ivory working reached an exceptional degree of expertise between 1790 and about 1850. At first, private buyers from the West – ships’ captains, trading merchants, diplomats and the like – sought small speciality items to take home as personal gifts for family and friends; ivory combs in the European style were highly favoured.

So enthusiastically were the gifts received that demand grew and it was not long before a burgeoning industry developed and the Cantonese workshops (hongs) were making ivory combs in large quantities for export to Europe and the USA. This was a new departure for the craftsmen as Chinese women did not wear combs such as these, their traditional hair accessories being quite different in format and design.

The majority of the combs were elaborately carved and finished, the craftsmanship and ingenuity of the ivory designers and combmakers being second to none. On carved, fretted or pierced backgrounds, flowers, birds and small animals formed the principal themes, with the mythical dragon a predominant feature (pictures 1 & 2). The combs were not set with jewels or gemstones but relied on the texture and sincerity of the ivory itself for enduring appeal.

Generally the combs carried no marks; however, occasionally the signature of the artist-craftsman was placed within the carving, as seen on the flower comb Fig 2a. The combs were not set with jewels or gemstones but relied on the texture and sincerity of the ivory itself for enduring appeal.

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For more scholarly research, please see


The Comb: Its History and Development

as well as the ACCCI website.