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American

Hair ornament, 1920

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

American

Title

Hair ornament

Year

1920

Medium

Celluloid in the style of tortoise shell; molded

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • celluloid

Dimensions

Height: 16.5 cm (6 1/2 inches)

Type

  • Fashion,
  • Costume Accessories

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Eugene L. Klein

Object Number

58.168.55

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Queen of the Insects

December 11, 2009 - May 9, 2010

Hairpins and exquisite headdresses adorned female figures in many portraits and narrative prints making their way from China and Japan to the West in the late 19th century. The glamour of the women portrayed in these scenes was not lost on Western viewers, who adopted both their imported goods and interpretations. English painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti employed kingfisher hair ornaments on models in both The Beloved ( 1865 – 66) and The Blue Bower ( 1865). The vogue for similarly crafted items, complete with small springs to mimic the trembling effect of butterfly wings, was well documented in period advertisements and extant collection objects. Look closely at the kingfisher headdress (44.048.1) on the other side of the case, and then at the jet-style hairpin, and you will see that they share similar spring mechanisms.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Hair ornament with the accession number of 58.168.55. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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