Creative Museum: Crown of Immortality

By the Creative Museum:

The Crown of Immortality is a literary and religious metaphor, which developed visual representations, initially as a laurel wreath, and later as a symbolic circle of stars (often a crown, tiara, halo or aureola). The Crown appears in a number of Baroque iconographic and allegoric works of art, and indicates immortality for the wearer. Sterling silver 925.

La couronne d’immortalité est une métaphore religieuse qui se décline en différentes représentations, notamment la couronne de laurier ou la couronne étoilée. Elle apparaît sur grand nombre de statues de vierges ou de saintes baroques dans les pays de culture hispanique. Argent 925.

Elizabeth Taylor: Tiara Queen

It doesn’t matter that she had La Peregrina, the Taylor-Burton diamond, and the Vera Krupp diamond, Elizabeth Taylor had the royal presence to wear tiaras when all you noticed was her. Alexandre de Paris himself wove strands of pearls through her hair. A queen has died. Bowing my head in reverence, I offer a prayer for her journey into the next world: Sviatoslav Richter playing Ravel’s Pavane pour une Infante Defunte, or in English Pavane for a Dead Princess.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuFwt66Vr6U&w=480&h=390]

Wood combs in European cultures

Par le Creative Museum (The English translation can be found in the first comment.)

Pour les cultures occidentales, le peigne en bois a souvent été le parent pauvre de l’ornement de coiffure. La plupart du temps, on utilisait le bois pour fabriquer des peignes de toilette, mais on l’oubliait dès qu’il s’agissait de créer un bijou pour les cheveux. On lui préférait alors des matériaux plus nobles comme l’écaille, l’argent, la corne ou même le plastique, enrichi de pierres du Rhin.

On peut trouver cependant des réalisations artisanales qui nous offrent des modèles en bois pleins de charme et il serait vraiment dommage de les ignorer. Les créateurs d’aujourd’hui pourraient bien en faire un matériau privilégié car il offre des possibilités décoratives non négligeables. On peut le sculpter ou garder ses lignes pures, le polir, le peindre, le laquer ou encore l’embellir avec d’autres matières.

Voici quelques exemples qui sont en eux-mêmes un éloge du bois.

American wood comb with silver and pink stones decoration

Buffalo figure carved out of clear wood.

Old black lacquered wood comb with typical East European painting

To see more European wooden combs, you may click here.

Lalique Icy Leaves

c.1904 – 1905. The comb is horn, the brim is gold, the leaves are tortoiseshell, and the diamonds make them look like ice.

There was an excellent doctoral thesis done on Lalique by Fallon Lee Miller of Eastern Michigan University in 2003. Beautifully referenced for scholarly research. I recommend taking the time to read it.

Edwardian Hair Pins

In the late 19th Century, blonde tortoiseshell hair pins with jewels wrapped around them were especially popular. Sotheby’s is selling a set of three with the twisted-rope design. They are decorated with garnet carbuncles, separated by rose diamonds. Price estimate: 4,000 GBP, and we’ll know the price realized on St. Patrick’s Day. The value of a set is almost always higher than that of an individual piece.

For those of us who do not have an extra $8000 hanging around to buy three Edwardian hair pins, Ruby lane is selling a small one with diamonds for $750.

Longlocks Hair Sticks: My Favorites

My friend Susan makes couture hair jewelry with inimitable style. She has shown me other hair stick makers, whom she likes. Those sticks were made by a wood turner and were beautiful, but they were for a different woman. Those of us who could not live without Susan’s art have colored flowers inside our souls. I just wanted to feature some of my favorite Longlocks Hair Sticks, and take comfort in the fact that there are modern jewelry artists who live up to the standards of craftsmanship antique collectors treasure.

Kanzashi as Deadly Weapons

Brass- or gold-plated metal kanzashi began to be made in the latter part of the Edo era, when hair styles became more complicated. Hair ornaments revealed a woman’s class, marital status, age, and if she had any children.

A woman could also use her kanzashi as a deadly weapon. Female ninja, or kunoichi, practiced ninjutsu, the martial art of guerrilla warfare. They used their kanzashi to rake the eyes of their victims while escaping. Or, they dipped them in poison to assassinate people. Fending off male attackers was another convenient function.

This gold-plated skull kanzashi subtly illustrates beauty’s deadly side. It currently resides in the Daruma Museum

Creative Museum: Ivory Comb from Dieppe, France

by the Creative Museum:

From the Fourteenth Century, Dieppe sailors docked their boats on the coast of Guinea to collect ivory. Instead of selling their precious raw material to Paris workshops, they learned to carve great works of art themselves and kept the profit.

The bindweed flowers carved onto this ivory diadem are hinged to a tortoiseshell comb. It was probably made in Dieppe, France, c. 1850 – 1870.

Sterling Silver Ashanti Comb

A friend pointed this out to me from E-Bay France. It is a masterpiece, and the way-too-expensive 850-euro price tag reflects it. There were only three copies made in the Nefertiti Gallery, located in the Dakar Region of Senegal. One is owned by the President; the second was offered to the wife of a European head of state; and the third, which is for sale, belongs to the gallery owner. Each comb was hand made by the Nefertiti Gallery’s jewelers.

Tokugawa Shogunate Tortoiseshell Wedding Set

I have never seen a real tortoiseshell Japanese wedding set for sale. This one is not only the real thing, it comes in its original box, which has a family crest of three ivy leaves. This symbol was used on samurai flags and became popular after the 8th shogun of the Tokugawa family, who ruled the Edo era. Their trade policies isolated Japan and its art from the world. Earlier Tokugawa family crests used maple leaves. I am sure the price on this is high, but if you can afford it, I’d call this a buy. In this post I am including another hair comb with the maple-leaf logo of the Shogunate, which also sold on Trocadero.

To compare the logo on the box to the family crest on a hair comb: