Material: Enamel
Style: China
Size:  Length 9 cm
Order Number: MHSACFNG1

Finger guards are hollow metal sheaths which protect the long fingernails of aristocratic women. They are the most famous symbol of the Qing dynasty. They were usually made of luxurious materials such as jade, silver, gold or tortoiseshell, then inlaid with precious gems to show off the wealth of the wearer.

They are called 指甲套 zhijiatao (literally: fingernail covering) or 護指 huzhi (finger protection) in Chinese. They became popular in the Qing dynasty (1644 – 1911 AD) and proclaimed social status. They showed the wearer did not have to do manual labour.

Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) (above) wore fingernail guards on a regular basis. She loved sitting for elaborately staged photographs and many of these show her wearing long fingernail guards but only two or three on each hand.

Women usually had longer nails than men, which may be the reason we tend to see fingernail guards being worn by women in pictures and paintings.

They predate the Qing dynasty.

In 1979 a gold pair were found in a tomb from the Warring States Period (475 – 221 BC).

A pair of gold fingernail guards from the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) is on display in the Jilin Provincial Museum.

Ten matching cast silver guards were found in a Xian tomb from the Sui dynasty (581 – 618 AD).

Nails could only be cut on auspicious days. A member of the nobility kept his fingernail clippings so that he could be buried with them. When warlord Sun Dianying and his army pillaged the tomb of the Dowager Empress Cixi in 1928 they found a bag of her fingernails.

Everything of the body should be kept intact, because it signifies respect towards one’s parents, who give us our bodies, by not damaging one’s own body. A fingernail guard helps do this.

They range from 3 to 15 centimetres and usually come in pairs, worn over the ring finger and little finger. They can be worn on one hand only or on both hands.

The pin was added later to make it into an attractive brooch.

Early 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

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Material: Silver?
Style: China
Size:  Length 21 cm, Width 2 cm
Order Number: MHSACHH1

A woman’s hairpin in the Qing dynasty (1636–1912) displayed her status and was a large part of her dowry. Parents gave hairpins to their daughter for her dowry.

Noblewomen wore much of their wealth in their hair. Hairpins were of all sizes. Distinct ethnic hairstyles required distinct hairpins. They displayed symbols for happiness, fertility, wealth and marital bliss.

The hairpin seems to have a man’s face at the top, with an elaborate headdress. There are symbols of animals on both sides.

Early – mid 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

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Material: Jade
Style: China
Size:  Height 5 cm, Pin: Length 16 cm
Order Number: MHSACJH

Archeological discoveries at Zhoukoudian in China, where one of the first specimens of Homo erectus (Homo erectus pekinensis), dubbed Peking Man was found in 1921), dated to between 500,000 and 230,000 years ago, have revealed perforated beads being used as personal ornaments by Paleolithic hunter gatherers, and by the Neolithic period around 5000 BC jade-carving was known in what is now Zhejiang Province.

Jade is believed to have auspicious qualities, associated with luck and health and a link between heaven and earth. It is the per-eminent material for the Chinese.

Women wore jade rings, earrings, bracelets, pendants and sewed jade pieces to their skirts. Jade pieces are shaped by grinding, not carving. Real jade cannot be scratched with steel, has an oily appearance and causes a drop of water to bead, not spread, on the surface.

In Imperial China first prize for athletes was jade, second prize was gold.

Early 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Chinese Jade Hairpin appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Jade
Style: China
Size:  Diameter 6.5 cm
Order Number: MHSACJP

By the Neolithic period around 5000 BC jade-carving was known in what is now Zhejiang Province.

Jade is believed to have auspicious qualities, associated with luck and health and a link between heaven and earth. It is the per-eminent material for the Chinese.

Women wore jade rings, earrings, bracelets, pendants and sewed jade pieces to their skirts. Jade pieces are shaped by grinding, not carving. Real jade cannot be scratched with steel, has an oily appearance and causes a drop of water to bead, not spread, on the surface.

In Imperial China first prize for athletes was jade, second prize was gold.

Early 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Chinese Jade Pendant appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Wood
Style: Java, Indonesia (Savo 1)
Size: Length 262 cm, Height 250 cm, Depth 143 cm
Order Number: MHSAIF1

Chinese Wedding beds can be simple or elaborately carved. They are sometimes called canopy beds. They are like a small enclosed room on a raised platform. They are ideal daybeds. We use them in several of our rooms at Murni’s Houses & Spa.

The style of these antique beds varies greatly, with the most ornate having extensive detailed carvings, according to the region they were made, as well as the status of the owner.

Loro Blonyo figures are traditionally placed by such a bed along with cosmetic containers, jewelry boxes and decorative mirrors.

There is a similar one in Arts and Crafts of Indonesia, Anne Richter, Thames and Hudson 1993, page 67.

60-70 years old.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Chinese Wedding Bed 1 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Wood
Style: Java, Indonesia (Savo 2)
Size: Length 223 cm, Height 205 cm, Depth 131 cm
Order Number: MHSAIF2

Chinese Wedding beds can be simple or elaborately carved. They are sometimes called canopy beds. They are like a small enclosed room on a raised platform. They are ideal daybeds. We use them in several of our rooms at Murni’s Houses & Spa.

The style of these antique beds varies greatly, with the most ornate having extensive detailed carvings, due to the region they were made, as well as the status of the owner.

Loro Blonyo figures are traditionally placed by such a bed along with cosmetic containers, jewelry boxes and decorative mirrors.

There is a similar one in Arts and Crafts of Indonesia, Anne Richter, Thames and Hudson 1993, page 67.

60-70 years old.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Chinese Wedding Bed 2 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Wood
Style: Java, Indonesia
Size: Length 242 cm, Height 221 cm, Depth 142 cm
Order Number: MHSAIF3

Chinese Wedding beds can be simple or elaborately carved. They are sometimes called canopy beds. They are like a small enclosed room on a raised platform. They are ideal daybeds. We use them in several of our rooms at Murni’s Houses & Spa.

The style of these antique beds varies greatly, with the most ornate having extensive detailed carvings, due to the region they were made, as well as the status of the owner.

Loro Blonyo figures are traditionally placed by such a bed along with cosmetic containers, jewelry boxes and decorative mirrors.

There is a similar one in Arts and Crafts of Indonesia, Anne Richter, Thames and Hudson 1993, page 67.

60-70 years old.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Chinese Wedding Bed 3 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Wood
Style: Java, Indonesia
Size: Length 265 cm, Height 224 cm, Depth 159 cm
Order Number: MHSAIF4

Chinese Wedding beds can be simple or elaborately carved. They are sometimes called canopy beds. They are like a small enclosed room on a raised platform. They are ideal daybeds. We use them in several of our rooms at Murni’s Houses & Spa.

The style of these antique beds varies greatly, with the most ornate having extensive detailed carvings, due to the region they were made, as well as the status of the owner.

Loro Blonyo figures are traditionally placed by such a bed along with cosmetic containers, jewelry boxes and decorative mirrors.

There is a similar one in Arts and Crafts of Indonesia, Anne Richter, Thames and Hudson 1993, page 67.

60-70 years old.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Chinese Wedding Bed 4 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Wood
Style: Java, Indonesia
Size: Length 254 cm, Height 238 cm, Depth 156 cm
Order Number: MHSAIF5

Chinese Wedding beds can be simple or elaborately carved. They are sometimes called canopy beds. They are like a small enclosed room on a raised platform. They are ideal daybeds. We use them in several of our rooms at Murni’s Houses & Spa.

The style of these antique beds varies greatly, with the most ornate having extensive detailed carvings, due to the region they were made, as well as the status of the owner.

Loro Blonyo figures are traditionally placed by such a bed along with cosmetic containers, jewelry boxes and decorative mirrors.

There is a similar one in Arts and Crafts of Indonesia, Anne Richter, Thames and Hudson 1993, page 67.

60-70 years old.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Chinese Wedding Bed 5 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Bronze
Style: Bali
Size: Length 2.5 cm, Width 1 mm; hole in the center is 5 mm across and square
Order Number: CS14

From my book Secrets of Bali, Fresh Light on the Morning of the World:

Kepeng: Chinese Coins

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

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Material: Bamboo, lacquer
Style: Peranakan, Sumatra, Indonesia
Size: Height 15 cm (to top), 18 cm (to top of the handle), Diameter 9 cm
Order Number: MHSCON6

Layered food container.

Peranakan Chinese are a sub-ethnic group comprising the first waves of Chinese setters in Indonesia, who married local people.  

Please ask the price (or make an offer).

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