For a newlywed couple in 19th-century China, it’s the end of a joyous day of marriage rites and the beginning of their life together as they step into their bed chamber. She wears a striking gold and turquoise bridal coronet that’s embellished with semiprecious gems and a veil of pearls. As per Chinese tradition, the husband parts his wife’s veil only once the wedding celebrations are over and the newly wedded couple are alone in their bed chamber.
A tiara, 19th century, Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), China. Promised gift of Barbara and David Kipper. Art Institute of Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago
Age-old traditions and auspicious symbols mark the occasion. For instance, the bride’s coronet might include a pair of dragons chasing a flaming pearl, symbolizing a happy marriage. And once alone, the husband would hook his wife’s hair ornaments on a designated space in the middle of the latticework at the rear of the wedding bed to symbolize a fertile marriage.
From afar, the bride’s vibrant coronet appears to be made of turquoise stone, or enamel. But turquoise stone isn’t iridescent like the blue on her coronet. A closer look at the mysterious turquoise material reveals the ethereal shimmer of kingfisher feathers.
A common kingfisher, found across Europe and most of China, stretches its wings. The Chinese once prized the turquoise feathers of the kingfisher family, especially birds found in Vietnam and Cambodia. Aaltair/Shutterstock
Prized Kingfishers
Interestingly, the kingfisher’s feathers are not blue at all; they’re transparent. The bird gets its vivid turquoise hue due to how its feathers refract light.Since the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 220), Chinese artisans have used kingfisher feathers as decoration. The Chinese prized kingfishers from Vietnam and Cambodia.
A headdress, 19th century, Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), China. Promised gift of Barbara and David Kipper, Art Institute of Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago
Empresses and consorts first wore kingfisher headdresses. Then from the 19th century on, aristocrats and wealthy women started to wear them on special occasions such as weddings and birthdays.
In addition to headdresses, the vibrant flashes of kingfisher feathers were featured on fans, jewelry, hairpins, sashes, skirts, quilts, folding screens, and even carriages.
‘Dotting With Kingfishers’
One astonishing technique that Chinese artisans used, called tian-ts’ui (literally “dotting with kingfishers”), involved using kingfisher feather filaments as decorative inlays that when completed almost look like enamel.According to the Pitt Rivers Museum, to make a tian-ts’ui object, an artisan first soldered gallery wire onto a metal framework to create different motifs, such as flowers, dragons, phoenixes, or butterflies. He'd divide each motif into segments to be inlaid. He then cut the feather filaments to size and dipped each of them in thin glue made of animal hide or isinglass (made from the swim bladders of fish) and seaweed extract, before he painstakingly added the filaments to the piece.
A cap, 18th–19th century, Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), China. Promised gift of Barbara and David Kipper. Art Institute of Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago
In 1908, author Mary Parker Dunning watched an artisan make a tian-ts’ui pin. “The wonder worker, a patient, spectacled Chinaman, takes a single hair from out of the bird’s wing, draws it through a bit of glue and lays it on the silver foundation, Then another hair, which he lays beside the first. Then another and another and another, endlessly and headachingly and eye-tiringly, until he has laid the filaments from the feathers of the bird’s wings so closely together that they look like a piece of enamel,” she wrote in her 1968 book “Mrs. Marco Polo Remembers” (as quoted in an article on the Pitt Rivers Museum website.)
The artisan would then add precious materials to the piece, such as rubies, agate, jadeite, coral, amber, and pearls.
Due to their delicate nature, kingfisher feather objects rarely survived. Yet visitors to the Art Institute of Chicago can see more than 20 objects featuring the feathers—from hairpins to jewelry to ornate headdresses—in its exhibition “Kingfisher Headdresses From China.”
The Art Institute of Chicago’s exhibition “Kingfisher Headdresses From China” runs until May, 21, 2023. To find out more, visit ArtIC.edu
