Category Archives: Creative Museum

Creative Museum in Weranda Magazine

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The Creative Museum was featured in Poland’s Weranda Magazine. The Polish-to-English translation was done by Kajetan Fiedorowicz. (Thank you!) Both of us thought real scholarship in hair-comb history was too vast to be portrayed in a magazine article. However, here is what Weranda wrote. They tried, I guess. My favorite part was the way they photographed a small portion of The Creative Museum’s collection.

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“Combs were used to underline natural beauty, bring luck in love, and scare off bad spirits. In the beginning, fish-skeleton combs were used as bug removers. Supplied by Mother Nature, they had nothing to do with hair grooming at all.

“In Ancient Greece, an anonymous first woman left a comb in her hair as an ornament out of boredom. We don’t know who she was, but her novelty was immediately noted, and a new fashion trend started. Craftsmen carved beautiful scenes on ivory and bone. Upper-class women would wear combs made of gold and silver, often encrusted with precious stones.

“In the Middle Ages, combs went back to being utilitarian. Sometimes, an inscription “memento mori” would remind one of unavoidable death. (Editor’s note: the carving art was reserved for liturgical combs, especially in France.) Most women covered their hair with headdresses.

“In the 16th Century, combs became ornaments made of expensive materials once more. They denoted social status, as did jewelry or a fan. Since a wig was able to support a heavier comb safely, their popularity allowed jewelers to adorn combs with additional precious stones.

“The 19th Century brought the Industrial Revolution to comb making. In France, Germany, and in also in Poland, gutta percha and early plastics replaced expensive tortoiseshell, making combs cheaper and affordable to the general public.

“Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, known for her innovations in jewelry design, played a leading role in creating new trends in hair combs. Jewelers became very busy trying to please the queen.

“Today we have wide access to various combs. However, those truly amazing pieces are available only in museums and well guarded private collections.”

The Creative Museum: E Burlisson Comb

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Mysteriously trolling the streets of Paris, exquisitely dressed, Alain found this: a celluloid comb signed by a heretofore unknown designer, E. Burlisson. The shape of the comb, with its black edge, is pure Art Deco. However, the floral designs that fill in the edge are Art Nouveau. Looking at Ancestry.com, I did find a Burlisson family in London in 1891. If the maker is English, the comb did not come from Oyonnax. Perhaps it came from another company in France, England, or America.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

Art Deco Jewelry: Modernist Masterworks and their Makers

Imperishable Beauty

The Creative Museum’s French Collection

European Liturgical Combs

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When a new bishop was consecrated in Medieval Europe, ceremony required several rituals be performed before he stepped onto the altar. He wore sandals, sat on a throne, covered his shoulders with an amice, and purified his hair. Ivory combs decorated with Biblical scenes were made specifically for this purpose.

This comb portrays the Torah portion where King David seduces Bathsheba. It was made in the 16th Century and resides in the Musée du Louvre.

The Creative Museum has this ivory comb, where two angels hold the bishop’s monogram securely on a pedestal.

Made in the 9th Century AD, this comb depicts Samson taming the lion and also resides in the Musée du Louvre.

The Latin inscription on the edge says, “This comb was sent by Queen Bertha to Pope Gregory.” Queen Bertha converted her husband King Ethelbert, thereby bringing Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. Although the historical event occurred c. 590 AD, the comb was made in the second half of the 12th century and resides in London’s British Museum.

This Northern Italian 15th-Century comb depicts the Adoration of the Magi (also known as the Three Kings) and can be seen in the Musée du Louvre.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

Le peigne: Dans le monde by Robert Bollé

The Creative Museum: Chinese Butterfly Ivory Comb

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The Creative Museum photographed an ivory comb I sold to them and found a ghost spirit I never knew was there. Metamorphosis. Art Nouveau’s icon emerged from its chrysalis. I’m speechless. As I was looking at real butterflies, the black lines in between sections of their orange wings reminded me of leaded glass lamps.

Dare we think — Resting,
Louis Comfort Tiffany
had epiphany?

Photo credit: Joel Olliveaud.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

Chinese and Japanese Hair Ornaments, a publication by The Creative Museum, which can be purchased via paypal.

Celluloid Combs: Leominster, MA, and France’s Oyonnax Valley

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Who invented celluloid? The credit cannot go to one person or one continent. However, the world’s first thermoplastic was registered in 1870. With celluloid, heat and machines could be used to mold, cut, and carve many objects per hour for the first time. Capitalists invested. Artists’ imaginations went wild. Endless possibilities of color, shape, and intricacy gave birth to the Art Deco Movement, and the Industrial Revolution met comb making.

Two of the most famous manufacturing areas at the turn of the 20th Century were in Leominster, Massachussets, and France’s Oyonnax Valley. Leominster combs were unsigned. However, the most famous designer of Oyonnax was Auguste Bonaz.

What I want to show is how designer, material, hand tools, machine, manufacturing process, and factory were one, while the art had infinite identities.

This comb-rubbing machine resides in an old Leominster factory. It made about 1300 revolutions per minute and held the parts of celluloid combs together.

These are tools used by Leominster factory workers to do hand work on more expensive pieces.

This machine is a Farnham Plummer, which could cut 120-dozen side combs a day, in horn. It could be constructed to cut combs of any size.

In Oyonnax, you see a factory of similar turning machines made by French inventors.

And here is the breathtaking art they produced.

American Celluloid Combs from The Creative Museum.

Auguste Bonaz: from The Creative Museum, The Mary Bachman Collection, The Myrna Klitzke Collection, and The Jo Sullivan Collection.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

Collector’s Guide to Hair Combs: Identification and Values by Mary Bachman

The Comb: Its History and Development by Jen Cruse

Comb Making in America by Bernard W. Doyle

Le peigne: Dans le monde by Robert Bollé

Charlemagne Crown, Carolus Magnus

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I believe Diana Scarisbrick put Charlemagne’s original crown on the cover of her book, Royal Jewels: From Charlemagne to the Romanovs

A Carolus Magnus-style crown was also made in 1804 for Napoleon’s coronation.

What I like about Napoleon’s version is that the design resembles a Dogon crown in The Creative Museum. Its theme is the honor of ancestors, as the chief sits atop and remembers.

The Dogon people live in the central plateau region of Mali, south of the Niger River in West Africa.

Heavily involved in the slave trade, the French had established strong presence on the West African coast as early as 1659. Their port was in St. Louis, or present-day Senegal. If you look on a map, Senegal is but a few miles away from Mopti, Mali, home of the Dogon.

Do the crowns allow us to connect the dots?

Creative Museum: Haute Couture Combs

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Par le Creative Museum:

Les défilés de Haute Couture sont toujours attendus avec intérêt car on aime à être ébloui par la féerie de couleurs et de formes qui s’y déploient. Les grands couturiers donnent tout pouvoir à leur imagination pour concevoir des parures vestimentaires qui frappent le regard et soient en même temps appréciées au même titre que des œuvres d’art.

De ce fait, une création prendra tout son sens si elle est accompagnée des accessoires assortis. Coiffure, peignes, chapeau, maquillage, ceinture ou chaussures doivent ajouter une note particulière : soit accompagner, soit contraster ou encore renforcer un effet.

Il est donc intéressant d’observer les ornements de coiffure créés par les grands couturiers pour certains défilés car ils évoquent à eux seuls le monde de la mode et l’univers particulier des créateurs.

Comb by Chanel


Two combs with enamelled design, by Alexandre


High comb by Christian Dior

Pour voir plus de peignes par des designers de mode, rechercher Lea Stein, Alexandre, Chanel, Adrien Mann dans le Creative Museum:

Creative Museum: American Dazzle

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The Creative Museum has just introduced its fourth slide presentation on the history of American celluloid combs. It is masterful and puts the correct respectful valuation on celluloid, which allowed artists’ imaginations to go wild. Here is “Spotlight on the United States.”

I could tell you about these pictures, but it would probably be more educational to see the Creative Museum’s presentation. :-)

Creative Museum: Odd designs

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by The Creative Museum:

Le peigne d’ornement a pour vocation de mettre en valeur la beauté d’une coiffure et d’un visage. L’inspiration des créateurs se tourne le plus souvent vers des motifs empruntés à la nature: fleurs, insectes ou oiseaux. L’Art Nouveau notamment y a puisé ses racines.

L’inspiration des artistes s’exprime aussi à travers des représentations symboliques ou géométriques, avec des lignes courbes ou droites comme les rinceaux et les frises grecques. N’oublions pas les figures humaines, thème privilégié en Afrique et en Indonésie mais aussi en Europe ou en Amérique.

C’est donc avec plaisir et étonnement que le collectionneur découvre, au hasard de ses recherches, des ornements de coiffure au design totalement insolite.

Qui penserait qu’une hélice d’avion et une boussole puissent décorer un peigne? Tout dépend en fait de la manière dont le sujet est traité. Le métal doré, le faux diamant au centre de l’hélice, les avions en arrière-plan en font un bijou finalement très élaboré.

De la même façon, on peut être surpris par un peigne en forme de bouche. Découpé dans un plastique laminé bicolore, il devient alors un objet sophistiqué et intéressant. Finalement, peu importe le motif; tout repose sur la créativité de l’artiste et le choix des matériaux qu’il utilise.

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For more scholarly research, you may examime
Creative Museum Publications
The English translation may be found in comment #2.

Kirks Folly signed.


Detail of the propeller


Sandy Cole-Namaste signed

Shringar Patti, Maang Tikka, and the Jada Naga

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What is the difference between a shringar patti, a maang tikka, and the jada naga? Many brides wear all of three pieces.

A shringar-patti is worn on forehead, and it includes a fringe worn on either side of the face, consisting of a star or geometrical shaped pieces linking to each other. Hung from it are pipal leaves or stars or drops. The maang tikka is the crescent shaped plaque, sometimes enameled, suspended on to the middle forehead. However, the Jada Naga has a hallowed place in Hindu tradition and mythology.

Krishna is said to have defeated the evil multiheaded serpent Kaliya, who was poisoning the Yamuna River. In the 13th Century, the disciple Sidhendra Yogi had a vision. It was a dance drama where Krishna’s favorite consort, Satyabhama, expresses her desire for total devotion to her Lord through conjugal union. Yogi found the dancers in Kuchipudi, a small village in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, India.

The Jada is a decoration for a floor-length braid, which symbolizes the black cobra Kiliya. Antique Jada Nagas were made of cloth cord with a choti at the bottom — the serpent’s head. Modern pieces can be all gold.

Here are three examples of antique Jada Nagas:

From the Creative Museum

These two are on display in The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

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For more scholarly research, I recommend the book “Dance Dialects of India,” by Ragini Devi.