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Lot 102

A Pair of Chinese Agate and Gold 'Pipa' Earrings, Erhuan, Ming Dynasty
明 金鑲瑪瑙琵琶耳環一對
Sale 2046 - Asian Works of Art
Mar 21, 2025 10:00AM ET
Live / New York
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Estimate
$3,000 - 5,000
Price Realized
$3,520
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium

Lot Description

A Pair of Chinese Agate and Gold 'Pipa' Earrings, Erhuan, Ming Dynasty
明 金鑲瑪瑙琵琶耳環一對
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

Each with a gold wire forming the trapezoid shape pendant with the two longer sides having a 'twisted rope' design, framing and connected to a rounded agate bead at the center, the 'twisted rope' decoration repeated on the short shaft extending to the hook-form pin.
Note:
Discussions on this type of earrings and various similar examples excavated from Lanzhou, Gansu; Jingmen, Hubei; Nanjing, Jiangsu and Nanchang, Jiangxi, see YANG, Zhishui. Zhongguo Gudai Jinyin Shoushi, Beijing: Palace Museum Press, 2014, p 596-599; LI Ya. Erpan Liuguang, Zhongguo Lidai Erhuan. Beijing: Zhongguo Fangzhipin Chubanshe, 2015, p 160-161, chart 9-7.

擰絲耳飾最早在西漢時期隨匈奴進入中國西北和東北地區,被扶余、高句麗、鮮卑等土著民族所接受,漢晉之後極少見到。參見吉林省博物館藏吉林省長春市榆樹市大老坡河深漢墓出土的八件穿紅色瑪瑙珠耳環。直至明初,南京地區一度流行一種紐絲結構、造型奇巧而輕便的金穿珠寶耳環,名喚琵琶環,出土多見,如甘肅省蘭州市上西園明墓、湖北省荊門市鐘祥市梁莊王墓、江蘇省南京市太平門外板倉徐鷹緒墓·、江蘇省南京市中華門外郎家山宋晟夫人墓、江蘇省南京市江寧區殷巷沐晟墓、江西省南城明益端王朱佑檳墓等。

參見揚之水著《中國古代金銀首飾》,2014年故宮出版社,第596-599頁;李芽著《耳畔流光:中國歷代耳飾》,中國紡織出版社2015年出版,第160-161頁,表9-7。

Height 2 5/8 in., 6.6 cm.

Property from the RenLu Collection, Los Angeles, California.

This lot is located in New York.

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