How beautiful could the jade hairpin that was also favored by Empress Dowager Cixi be?

In ancient times, girls who reached the age of 15 were considered to have reached the age of jigui. They needed to tie their hair with a hairpin and comb their hair into a bun, which symbolized that the girls had grown up and were ready to get married.

When she gets married, she has to tie her hair into a bun like an adult to show her status as a woman!

The hairpin evolved from the hairpin and has always been loved by women. Even Empress Dowager Cixi , who held the lifeblood of the Qing Dynasty, was fascinated by it!

(Now in the collection of Shenyang Museum)

Furthermore, Cixi was also a famous "jade enthusiast" in history, so in major museums today, we can see many of Cixi’s favorite jade hairpins!

For example, the jade hairpin with a carved dragon pattern in the picture above was Cixi’s favorite back then. It was also very expensive, at least tens of millions!

This is not just talk, but is based on facts!

At a Christie's auction in 2008, a jadeite openwork dragon head hairpin with a similar style was exhibited, but with additional pearls and rubies as embellishments.

The final transaction price was as high as HK$45 million, which is really surprising!

(Gold and Jade Hairpin)

(Gold and Gem-Inlaid Peach-Bat Hairpin)

(Emerald hollow flower pot with fish intestine pattern and double-slit hairpin)

The Palace Museum also houses many exquisite jade hairpins from the Qing Dynasty.

From this we can see that our ancestors’ aesthetic taste was truly extraordinary!

Although the texture of these old jades is somewhat "poor", their delicate and beautiful styles are truly eye-catching!

Unfortunately, in modern times, the frequency of hairpins has clearly dropped to the bottom, becoming a rather niche piece of jewelry.

So when a jade friend expressed his desire to customize a jade hairpin some time ago, I couldn't help but feel a little excited for a while.

The jade friend chose a piece of material with a sweet base color, which has a strong sense of glue and a fine texture.

Currently, most of the common jade hairpins on the market use more complex techniques such as hollowing out to reflect the exquisite craftsmanship.

However, this method is not very applicable to the materials selected by jade lovers!

Because the base color of the material is relatively light, if you put a lot of effort into hollowing it out, the color will only become lighter!

You know, jade is “valuable because of its green color”!

A one point difference in color will double the price. Lowering the brightness of the color in pursuit of a unique shape is really not worth it!

Therefore, after communicating with fellow jade lovers, we finally decided on the creative theme of "Joy on the Eyebrows" !

The material is shaped like a "branch", with a few Ganoderma lucidum and Ruyi at the end, and two magpies standing next to the Ruyi.

There are two plum blossoms blooming near the branch, which not only fills the blank and avoids the "big head and light feet" situation, but also together with other elements form the good meaning of "joy on the eyebrows (plum) tips"!

Looking at the final product, you can find that the color rendering and overall consistency of the material are still well maintained. The simple processing method also makes it look quite full, with a hint of ancient charm.