Category Archives: Creative Museum

Crayfish on Japanese Combs

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The Creative Museum bought a new Japanese comb. I think it’s Taisho, c. 1915.

Although the comb shape is different from this late Edo example below, the idea is the same. A cambaroides japonicus, or Japanese crayfish is folded over the comb. The Creative Museum’s fish has a golden eye, while the late Edo comb’s fish seems to be molting its carapace, or shell.

This decapod crustacean is native to Hokkaido and Touhoku in Northern Japan, where they live in clean, cool water. (Lobsters live in salt water.)

कंघी

Subtext: I found the fish! ;-)

BarbaraAnne’s Hair Comb Buying Guide

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Here are my picks from around the web.

This masterpiece was brought to my attention by The Creative Museum. Merci, Monsieur Touzinaud.

The most magnificent cameos are those where the artist gives the natural coloration in the stone a purpose in his carved figure. In these stunning examples, the color defines flowers in the women’s hair.

After the French Revolution of 1789, Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul, wore combs with three medallions, which held up his shoulder-length hair in a bun. Medallions on the best combs were porcelain cameos. On E-Bay, just such an 18th Century comb from is selling for 3500 Euros. Gold outlines vermeil as well as the three sublime cameos. The decoration sits on tortoiseshell. I have asked the seller for a closeup of the maker’s marks to see if I can find out who the jeweler was.

On Ruby Lane, a beautiful Victorian tortoiseshell comb is selling for $395. The pique work is done by hand in 14K gold, it has a Peigne Josephine influence, beautiful condition, c. 1850. I love it.

These silver kanzashi in perfect condition depict traditional Japanese instruments and are selling on E-Bay for $680. The biwa rests on top of a drum. They are listed as being c. 1930.

I love this antique Mexican silver comb with an amber carving of Maya woman. She is wearing a traditional headdress with earrings that move. The comb was made to hold a mantilla veil. I love the open design paired with the intricacy and accuracy of the carving. It symbolizes imagination and a respect for Indian ancestors in a Spanish world, and is selling for $254 on E-Bay.

This enamel-on-silver Chinese hair pin, c. 1900, is selling for $165 on E-Bay.

From the site 1stdibs, this French Art Nouveau comb c.1905 was first sold at the Galleries LaFayette in Paris and ended up with a dealer in Chicago. The maker is unknown, and it is selling for $650.

Finally, a beautiful blonde tortoiseshell English Victorian comb supports tulip buds in crescent moons on top of a row of seed pearls. It was made by Treacher & Co, is in pristine condition and comes in its original box. Price: $2250. c. 1880. Also found on 1stdibs.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine

The Riches of the French Empire by the Creative Museum, as well as these books, which can be found in our Resource Library.


The Comb: Its History and Development
Le Peigne Dans Le Monde
Hair Combs: Identification & Values

Las “Falleras” Valencianas

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By The Creative Museum. The English translation may be found in the first comment.

Tous les ans, du 14 au 19 mars, à Valencia, a lieu l’une des fêtes les plus réputées d’Espagne : “LAS FALLAS”. Elle attire un nombre considérable de touristes venus de toute l’Europe. C’est LA Fête au sens pur de l’art, de la culture valencienne, du bruit, de la musique, de la lumière et du feu, le tout poussé à l’extrême. Las Fallas, c’est aussi la fête de tous, des plus jeunes aux plus anciens.

Pour les femmes de la ville, c’est l’occasion de revêtir leurs plus beaux atours, selon une tradition vieille de plusieurs siècles. On organise aussi des concours pour désigner la plus belle FALLERA de l’année.

Leur costume est magnifique : une robe brodée d’or et d’argent, un châle de dentelle et des chaussures de satin, mais leur coiffure attire particulièrement l’attention. C’est en soi une œuvre d’art qui nécessite une longue préparation et de nombreux accessoires. La parure complète de “fallera valenciana” comprend un grand peigne en laiton repoussé et deux petits peignes de côté assortis, des épingles pour fixer les macarons de cheveux tressés et deux tiges à double extrémité décorées de strass qui se glissent en travers du chignon.

Cet ensemble est complété par des bijoux assortis : pendants d’oreilles, broche de corsage et collier de perles. (Note de l’éditeur: ce collier de perles du XVIIe siècle en Espagne a été utilisé dans le film Alatriste)

Creative Museum possède d’autres modèles de grands peignes que vous découvrirez dans le Museum.

The teeth are missing on the two small combs

This Spanish instruction document lists each item of a fallera costume. Depending on the fabric of the dress, silk being the most expensive, the complete outfit can cost from 2,000 to 10,000 euros.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine

How to create the Valencia Hairstyle Professionals who will create the hairstyle for you
Las fallas de Valencia / The Festival of Saint Joseph

Creative Museum: Ancient Jade Chinese Combs

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After rebellions crushed a united China under the Han Dynasty in 220 AD, a turbulent period began where power moved from North to South. During the Six Dynasties (220 – 589 AD), especially the Period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (386-589), Confucianism was challenged, as Buddhism and Taoism took hold. It was a period of great political turbulence and artistic creation, especially in poetry.

These two magnificent jade combs, just acquired by The Creative Museum, might have been made in the Southern Dynasty period 420 – 589 because of the decorative carvings’ relationship to Xu Ling’s famous poetic anthology, “New Songs from the Jade Terrace.”


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In his book, he gathered the poems of anonymous authors, who wrote about life in a luxurious palace, as well as sex, relationships, love, and beauty. Scholars believe the poems were written by women.

Religiously, Buddhism was traveling from its Hindu origins in India to Chinese culture. As Buddhist characters entered into Chinese mythology, the Creative Museum’s combs might portray Jiālóuluó, a celestial music master in the form of a man with an eagle’s head and wings, and a ram, who was a sun god.

Then there is the myth of the archer Yi and the Sun. As the story goes, the Sun God’s children were having fun riding in chariots together, but their collective heat was causing crop havoc on earth. Concerned, their father Dijun sent the great archer Yi to frighten his children into behaving. When Yi realized this wouldn’t work, he started killing them. After he finished, only one sun was left, the one we see today.

This could be the meaning of the other carvings on these two exquisite jade combs. Please notice that in each carving, the man wears his hair in a top knot.

I’m going to make a guess. The carvings on these combs represent the life of Chinese Buddhist mythological character Yi in love and in war.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine the dating and identification page of The Creative Museum, and these books, which can be found in our Resource Library.


New Songs from a Jade Terrace: An Anthology of Early Chinese Love Poetry
Chinese Aesthetics: The Ordering of Literature, the Arts, and the Universe in the Six Dynasties
Fine Chinese Jade Carvings

Creative Museum: Recent Acquisitions

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The Creative Museum has acquired four new pieces:

This is one of the greatest Auguste Bonaz combs I have ever seen. I don’t even know what to say. For me, when I look at this, I see a mythical griffin with real ruby eyes, as in the English tradition, or a Japanese water-god dragon with real-gold accents, as in the Japanese gold maki-e tradition — or both! There are gold-button accents as a picture frame on the Art Nouveau part of the comb. Around that is an Art Deco celluloid design, which was cut on a comb-making machine in Oyonnax. This is a masterpiece. I think any museum thinking of doing an Art Deco exhibition could make this Bonaz a centerpiece, and viewers would gasp.

I will date this comb as late Edo / Early Meiji. It is painted lacquer with a sumptuously colored tree with red and gold berries or buds. The tines are also painted gold, and the comb is signed. I can’t wait until they create their own photographs of it.

What makes this French Empire comb special is the combination of design elements: cones made out of wrapped silver wire, cut steel “jewels” dotting the silver frame, and clear aquamarines. The comb is imaginative, unusual, original, and an unknowingly prophetic nod to modernism.

Marquetry is the furniture maker’s and jeweler’s craft of applying pieces of veneer onto a smooth surface. This technique allows the artist to create pictures and sumptuous designs. In this early 19th-Century comb from Russia, a master jeweler used gold marquetry to create delicate garlands amid thicker gold circles and arches on tortoiseshell comb.

This kind of taste and buying ability, combined with writing and photography, is what makes a museum. Bravo.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please see the publications and exhibits of the Creative Museum, as well as the books in our Resource Library.

Creative Museum: The Riches of the French Empire

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Multimedia exhibitions on comb scholarship are the hallmark of the Creative Museum. “The Riches of the French Empire” shows us how fashion expressed the tragedy of revolution, themes of antiquity brought back a refined aesthetic, Napoleon recognized a business opportunity, and how men put women in charge of exhibiting their wealth. The comb was an essential fashion element in every development.

When the monarchy was overthrown, the voluminous hairstyles of Marie Antoinette disappeared. During the Reign of Terror (1793 – 1794), the guillotine took the lives of 16,594 people. In 1795, many women of noble descent cut off their hair to honor those condemned to death. Hairstyles had evocative names such as “The Sacrificed One,” and “The Victim.”

When we juxtapose this painting of Marie Antoinette from the Musée Antoine Lecuyer and this portrait of a woman after the Revolution (painter: Louis-Léopold Boilly, Musée du Louvre), we can see the traumatic effects of terror, when it follows a revolution.

However, the French admiration of antiquities shaped the Directory Era (1795 – 1799), and women grew their hair long again. Napoleon saw a business opportunity. Classical tendencies could give a boost to the trade in luxury goods. With this aim in mind, he proclaimed himself Emperor of France in 1804 and gave the job of making French fashion cross the bridge between pre- and post-Revolution to his wife, the Empress Josephine.

Neo-classic style became refined in French society. “Hair was parted at the side, swept back, and edged with kiss curls. A comb held up a high bun.” Josephine’s innovations gave birth to the French Empire comb. Its harmonious shape and splendid decoration make them museum pieces today.

Iconic women were essential to spreading this new fashion. Besides Josephine, there was her daughter Hortense de Beauharnais from her first marriage

Pauline Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sister,

and Madame Tallien, who wore the favorite diadem decoration, coral beads.

The Creative Museum has an outstanding collection of French Empire combs. Some have rubies, others have pearls. You’ll have to see the presentation to get all the information on them. But they are absolutely gorgeous.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please see the Creative Museum’s presentation The Riches of the French Empire.

New Acquisitions at the Creative Museum

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Just as prowling for treasure is a way of life, so world-class scholarship is a state of mind.

The Creative Museum has acquired two stunning new pieces for their collection: a gilt-gold hair pin with opals, rubies, and turquoise surrounding an emerald, probably from India.

and a Burmese ivory grooming comb. The carved ivory is laced with red pigment. A comb of this size was called “male,” while a smaller wooden comb was called “female.” However, they were both made for women.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine the publications of The Creative Museum.

You may also learn from these books, which have been added to our Resource Library.


Traditional Jewelry of India
Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma 1775-1950
Eclectic Collecting: Art from Burma in the Denison Museum

The Hair Combs of Lucien Gaillard

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Lucien Gaillard (1861-1942) was a contemporary of René Lalique and achieved equal fame c. 1900, as Art Nouveau and Japonisme swept Paris. However, unlike Lalique, Gaillard’s animals and insects were proportioned exactly. He did not elongate parts of his animals to express Symbolist philosophy. In his famous “Bluebird” comb, he observed the arch of birds’ bodies as they dove in flight and made each bird a slightly different size. You may compare Lalique’s landmark “Two Swallows with a Stalk of Oats” to Gaillard’s “Bluebird,” which sold at Christie’s for $218,000 on Oct 21, 2009.

Gaillard also paid homage to the Japanese use of realistic proportions with cherry blossoms. An Edo artist painted this cherry tree in gold maki-e tortoiseshell comb: The Miriam Slater Collection.

Gaillard carved his cherry blossoms out of horn, painted the tree bark, and depicted flower buds with pearls.

One of Gaillard’s other masterpieces resides in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Two dragonflies fight over prey. They are asymmetrical, but the design is perfectly balanced. In addition, Gaillard mixes translucent stones, semi-translucent wings, and opaque bodies.

Here are some other combs from a 2004 catalogue by Millon & Associés:

A painted horn relief of mulberry branches supports blue-white glass flowers on each end of this comb.

Gaillard spread an orchid and attached a silver ring to the inner petals. The ring sports two ladybugs and two pearls.

This horn comb’s sculpted gold leaves hold a mother-of-pearl bud. Notice how the stem of the center leaf overlaps the middle tine of the comb.

The Creative Museum also has two combs similar to the designs of Lucien Gaillard. One has clear horn leaves embellished with a paste-diamond spray and a green cabochon, and the other is a pair of ginko leaves. One ginko leaf is edged with paste diamonds, while the other has a lighter green cabachon.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine the books Christie’s used, which have been added to our Resource Library. They are both by Alastair Duncan.


Paris Salons 1895-1914: Jewellery, Vol. 1: The Designers A-K
The Paris Salons, 1895-1914: Jewellery, Vol. 2: The Designers L-Z

Creative Museum: Tuareg Jewelry Worn by a Wodaabe Woman

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by The Creative Museum:

Parmi les peuples de la savane africaine, les Peuls, appelés aussi
Fulanis, se font remarquer par la finesse de leurs traits. Les hommes
comme les femmes attachent beaucoup d’importance à leur aspect physique
qu’ils entretiennent avec le plus grand soin. Ils utilisent de nombreux
accessoires de beauté trouvés sur les marchés, au hasard de leurs
déplacements. Les bijoux des artisans Touaregs sont très prisés car ils
sont du plus bel effet dans leur chevelure. Sur la photo, une femme
Peule (du groupe des Wodaabe) a placé en arrière de son chignon frontal
une superbe épingle traditionnelle en argent ciselé. Découvrez aussi les
épingles collectées par Creative Museum.

कंघी

Pour plus d’informations, suivre les liens suivants :

The Creative Museum’s magnificent collection of African combs and these resources:


Tuareg Jewelry
Music of the Tuareg
Wodaabe Beauty Competition

Creative Museum: Diadem from the French Revolutionary Period

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The Creative Museum has just acquired this French seed pearl diadem. The horse-head marking on one tine indicates it was made c. 1789 – 1798, during the French Revolution.

In 1791, the Chapelier law abolished corporate rights to control precious metals. Corporations could not punch a company mark on the pieces they made and could not have any say in deciding how they would be taxed. However the Association of Goldsmiths created four “revolutionary punches,” one of which, the horse-head, is found on this comb. They did it to control the quality of manufacturing.

In this breathtaking diadem, each seed pearl is strung to a narrow, delicate wire, which is then held inside carved grooves. It has 4 “galleries.” On top is a spectacular row of seed pearls in circular motion. Underneath comes a carved section with three tones of gold, followed by narrow rows of seed pearls and yellow gold.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine


Kindle Store
What Marie Antoinette Wore to the
French Revolution
Le Peigne Dans Le Monde
Napoléon et les joyaux de l’Empire

You may also examine the publications of The Creative Museum.