Eyes Open: Tribal Combs and Masks

Posted on August 11, 2012 by BarbaraAnne

When light or wind passes through, the open eyes of a mask can haunt you. Ancestral spirits look back. I wanted to show some tribal combs and masks, whose open designs allow this emotional exchange to happen.

From The Creative Museum‘s African collection come these examples:

These three 20th Century hairpins with masks are ivory. They were made by the Zande people who live in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Zande also inhabit portions of South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

In Angola, the Ganguela are a small minority ethnic group made up of several tribes, each with their own language and social identity. The Lwimbi tribe is one of these. They are known for beekeeping and making pointed masks with open designs.

The Boa people live in the Northern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their art features masks with prominent, round ears, which signify alertness in a warrior. The first comb has a representational head with red eyes and round ears. However, the second comb is more symbolic. Both the head and ears are round circles, and the ears are at arms length to give balance to the piece. I don’t think a Western modern artist could have done better.

The Baule tribe is one of the Akan peoples, who inhabit Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Their religion is centered around ancestor worship and nature gods.

These two masks are from the Gina Hellweger Collection. “This mask is an Ogoni Animal Mask from Nigeria. The Ogoni people live to the east of the Niger delta. They have retained a vital varied masquerading activity that is in part deeply rooted in their own tradition and in part adopted from neighboring ethnic groups, such as the Ibibio or Ijo tribes. Masks depciting wild animals are danced on the occasion of agrarian rituals.

“This mask is an old one from the Bambara people that live in central and southern Mali.”

Last, from the Bruce Frank Art Gallery comes this antique mask from Pora Pora in the East Sepik Provence of Papua New Guinea. This is the most haunting mask I have seen yet. It is made from terra cotta, has an elongated nose, and is pierced for attachment.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine these books, which can be found in our Resource Library.


Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment
Hair in African Art and Culture
Powerful Headdresses: Africa and Asia
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Child & Child Tiara and Comb

Posted on August 9, 2012 by BarbaraAnne

In 1848, English painter William Holman Hunt founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They rejected what they considered to be the mechanistic approach of Mannerist artists, who came after Michelangelo and Raphael, for a more elegant, intensely colored, and sophisticated style. Mr. Hunt was a regular client of Child & Child (1880-1916), a jewelry firm known for its bright, detailed enamel representations of the natural world.

The wings of this tiara are engraved to look like feathers and enamelled in translucent blue. Instead of a bird’s head and eyes, the designer substituted a large citrine to symbolize the sun. The piece has two ideas, firm lines, unique imagination, and pays homage to Europe’s fascination with Egyptian Revival.

Winged tiaras and combs were quite popular to wear at the opera. Mostly, they were made of diamonds and other precious jewels. However, Child & Child came up with these bright green enamel wings dotted by diamonds and blue sapphires. It could be worn as a brooch, but as with many British pieces, it also came with a tortoiseshell comb fitting.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine these books, which can be found in our Resource Library.


The Comb: Its History and Development
Tiara
Timeless Tiaras
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Italian Micro Mosaic Jewelry

Posted on August 8, 2012 by BarbaraAnne

Byzantine mosaic techniques can be traced to Late Antiquity, a period between the 2nd and 8th Centuries when the Greco-Roman world was transitioning into the Middle Ages. Later, Byzantine artists were imported to work in Italy during the Renaissance, where they taught Italian artists.

One of the most important materials in making mosaics was tesserae, small cubes of colored glass or clear glass backed by metal foils. Tesserae could also be made from enamel-like materials. The Italians became world renowned for micro-mosaic art, making religious scenes and small objects, such as snuff boxes and jewelry.

In this Italian diadem, c. 1820, two engraved gold serpents intertwine around a micro-mosaic plaque made of glass tesserae. Portraying a classical Greek theme, it sold at Sotheby’s for 4,375 GBP on July 16, 2009.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine


Micromosaics: The Gilbert Collection
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Tortoiseshell Hair Combs from Different Worlds

Posted on August 2, 2012 by BarbaraAnne

The Bruce Frank Primitive Art Gallery has a beautiful 19th-Century tortoiseshell- and buffalo-horn comb for sale. Price on request. If you don’t have a tribal comb, have no idea of how to buy one correctly, but would like a top-class piece, I have no problem putting my name on a recommendation to buy this one.

The gallery’s description: “This gorgeous comb from the lesser Sunda islands is carved from two different mediums, turtle shell and buffalo horn and is pinned together with old bronze or brass pegs. The top of the comb made from turtle shell is beautifully decorated with heart shaped faces and archaic open form iconography that has been influenced by the ancient Dong-Son culture. The bottom portion created from buffalo horn elegantly fans out with six intact tines. The natural variation of colors in these unique mediums over time have become enhanced through excessive handling. There is a slight loss to the right tip but in otherwise excellent condition for its age.”

Meanwhile at Sotheby’s, a tortoiseshell parure from 19th-Century England sold for $46,875 on Dec. 8, 2011. The whole set featured cameos of Greek figures and was probably made during the Greek Revival period in Victorian England, c. 1860-1880. Interest in Greek and Etruscan antiquities soared as archaeological discoveries were made, and an architectural trend quickly spread into jewelry. You can see a ribboned diadem on the central cameo figure of the comb, which was reminiscent of Alexander the Great’s generals.

And from The Creative Museum comes this beautiful tortoiseshell cameo comb:

Tortoiseshell combs made at the same time and influenced by ancient cultures rendered two completely different designs. Amazing.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine these books, which can be found in our Resource Library


Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment
Power and Gold: African, Asian & Oceanic Art
Victorian Jewelry: Unexplored Treasures
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Diadems in Ancient Greece and Egypt After Alexander the Great

Posted on July 30, 2012 by BarbaraAnne

In 356 BC, King Philip II of Macedon had a son, Alexander. Aristotle tutored the boy until he was 16. After his father was assassinated, Alexander inherited the throne.

By 334 BC, Alexander the Great had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world. His most notable victory came when he defeated Darius III and conquered the Persian Empire. This allowed Hellenistic culture to spread east and remain influential, even 1800 years later in the 15th Century Byzantine Empire. Though Alexander died before he could invade Arabia, Alexandria, Egypt, was still created in his name.

After his death at 33, Alexander the Great’s generals, called Diadochi, waged civil wars that broke apart his massive empire into several smaller ones. To express their newly won status as rulers, they wore white silk-embroidered ribbons ending in a Herakles knot, called “διάδημα,” or diadema. The word comes from the verb, diadeo, which means, “I bind round” or “I fasten.” These bands were quickly thereafter made from gold.

From ancient Bactria, this coin features Diodotus Soter wearing a white-ribbon diadem. He was a governor of Bactria (c. 250 BC) under Seleucid, one of Alexander’s generals. In ancient times, Bactria was a far-eastern part of the Persian Empire, not part of Afghanistan.

The treasures of Demetrias, the Ancient Greek city in Magnesia, near modern-day Volos, yielded this magnificent diadem with tendrils and a Herakles knot with Eros, c. 325-300 BC. It resides in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

Sotheby’s sold this mid-4th-Century-BC gold-band diadem, decorated with rosettes and beaded filigree. Smaller rosettes and lotuses can be seen above and below the main ornamentation. The diadem is listed in Greek Art, a Commemorative Catalogue of an Exhibition held in 1946 at the Royal Academy Burlington House London and sold for $218,500 on Dec. 8, 2011.

Last, from Alexandria, Egypt comes this noble-woman’s diadem with tendrils and a Herakles knot clasp. Date: c. 200 – 100 BC. It was made during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which was started by Ptolemy Soter, another one of Alexander’s generals. He declared himself Pharaoh to appeal to Egyptian natives.The Dynasty ended with the death of Cleopatra and the Roman Conquest in 30 BC .

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine these books, which have been added to our Resource Library.


Greek Gold: Jewellery of the Classical World
Cadence Gold – Cubitas Bellini Collection Hair Clip
Greeks on the Black Sea: Ancient Art from the Hermitage
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Headdresses of Ladakh

Posted on July 24, 2012 by BarbaraAnne

Between the Kunlun and Himalayan mountains, in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir lies the kingdom of Ladakh. Its capital, Leh, was an important stop on the trade route between Buddhist Tibet to the east and Muslim Kashmir to the west. It was also important to merchants traveling between India and China.

The region is famous for its mountain monasteries, which practice the Vajrayana sect of Mahayana Buddhism. This picture of the Lumyaru Monastery between Leh and Srinagar, Kashmir was taken by Kevin Kelly.

In the Thiskey monastery,

they have one of the most beautiful Maitreya Buddah statues in the world.

In the book, Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment, author Truus Daalder introduces us to two stunning headdresses from Ladakh.

The first is a “woman’s head ornament of flexible leather spokes and strands of coral and turquoise beads (chodpan)” from Ladakh, India, which was made in the early 20th Century. It is made of “coral, turquoise, amber, silver, and leather.”

The second is “old and unusual woman’s headdress in the shape of a perak,” a leather strap studded with stones such as lapis lazuli and turquoise. The perak also displays amulets of Ladakh deities to protect the woman from danger in the human world. They were only worn by the aristocracy and women of high economic status.

This is the perak from Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment. It has “turquoise, 7 silver amulet attachments, a textile base, cowries, amber and other beads.”

This perak resides in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Silver chains were only worn on special occasions. The stones on this headdress include turquoise, seed pearls, coral, and brass plaques representing the deities.

Here is an aristocratic woman wearing one.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine


Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment
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The Creative Museum: From Art Nouveau to Art Deco, part 1

Posted on July 21, 2012 by BarbaraAnne

Highlighting intricately carved and painted horn combs, The Creative Museum defines the link between Art Nouveau and the mysterious delicacy of women. Women became inextricably linked to flowers, wearing jewelry whose wavy lines expressed a wild and spontaneous nature.

Japanese influence impacted subject matter, as insects, stems and buds caught artists’ attention. Lalique was the first one to use horn and discover the material’s possibilities. Others followed. Hair comb art became the equal of its engineering, as flowers grew on trellises and dragonflies flew across ponds.

Here are just a few pieces from The Creative Museum’s Art Nouveau collection. To see the rest of them, put in historical narrative, I urge everyone to see the presentation.

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Diamond Hair Combs at Sotheby’s

Posted on July 17, 2012 by BarbaraAnne

It’s amazing what different artists can do with the same idea.

Boucheron made this curved diamond tiara c. 1910 in London. One could attach it to the blonde tortoiseshell comb fitting with a screwdriver. It sold for 15,600 GBP on December 15, 2005.

This diamond-and-pearl tiara hinged to a tortoiseshell comb is unsigned. In the center is large natural pearl, which can be taken out of the diamond openwork surrounding it. c. 1890. Sale price: 13,200 GBP on June 29, 2006.

Using diamonds to make this brooch look like lace, Cartier added comb and choker fittings together with a screwdriver. c. 1890. It sold for $181,000 on December 4, 2007.

Tiffany & Co. aced Art Deco design in this arrangement of diamonds, seed pearls, and platinum openwork, set on a tortoiseshell comb, c. 1910. It sold for $11,875 on December 9, 2008.

I’ll end with Art Nouveau master George Fouquet. He scrolled the top of this comb, making opal leaves, flowered with diamonds. A centerpiece of amethyst, diamonds, and gold completed his blonde tortoiseshell comb. c. 1900. Signed G.Fouquet, it sold for 7500 GBP on December 15, 2009.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine


Boucheron: The Secret Archives
Cartier and America
Tiffany & Co.
Posted in Art Deco, Art Nouveau, boucheron, Cartier, English Hair Comb, French Hair Comb | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Lalique Diadem at Christie’s

Posted on July 16, 2012 by BarbaraAnne

René Lalique integrated sculpture, Symbolist philosophy, Japanese ideas, and new materials to reign as the genius of Art Nouveau design. He was also a keen observer of daily life. How many children would place garlands Christmas trees?

In this diadem, tree branches of green enamel and small diamond flowers are decorated with a mabe pearl garland. It sold at Christie’s for $112,561 on June 17, 2008.

The Creative Museum is premiering a new exhibition, From Art Nouveau to Art Deco on July 21, 2012. “This exhibition provides an insight into the characteristics of Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. An in-depth study of the influence of these two movements on hair ornaments and styles yields meaningful findings.”

I hope everyone attends.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine these books, which can be found in our Resource Library.


The Paris Salons, 1895-1914: Jewellery, Vol. 2: The Designers L-Z
Imperishable Beauty
Sotheby’s Catalog: Fouquet Jewelry
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French Empire Comb on Ebay

Posted on July 16, 2012 by BarbaraAnne

Selling on ebay is a magnificent example of a French Empire comb from the Eugenie period, c. 1860. The brass gallery underneath the cameos is intricately inlaid. The 5 ox-blood coral cameos are superbly carved and surrounded by coral beads. The comb itself is shell. Excellent condition. Price: $7500 or best offer.

Another Eugenie comb sold at Sotheby’s for 3000 GBP on June 29, 2006. The ruby- and pearl-encrusted mount depicts a golden eagle fighting with a serpent. Napoleon I used the golden eagle as a symbol of his new French Empire.

Given that 2006 sale price, this dealer is betting that the market for Eugenie combs has gone up in 6 years. OK. But since the dealer knows what he’s selling, why list a Sotheby’s-level comb on E-bay in the first place?

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