A digital archive showcasing the extensive collection of jewellery and adornment images shared on the former Ethnic Jewels Ning site over the years. These images have significantly enriched discussions on cultural adornment and its global dispersion.
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One of the things that attracted me to these was that the fruit or flower that emerges from the seed can be viewed inside the seed. These are made from good silver with real carnelian beads.
I couldn't say if they are hair ornaments or not, but they are Qing Dynasty Chinese pieces, reworked. Above the carnelian beads are symbols, of what look like ink block (one sees lots of scholarly symbols in Qing work). Below you have what look like peaches, another heavily-used symbol in Qing silverwork. China exported vast amounts of old imperial silver in the 1970's and 1980's, mostly to the US. Much of it was reworked into jewelry in China, but some of it was also reworked in the US to make it more palatable and wearable for Western tastes.
These are beautiful. An excellent use of paper route money!
Thanks Hillary....so the lady who sold them to me was correct about their age! She thought they were 18th or 19th century. I would have liked to see the original piece of ornament these came from.