Antique Peranakan Brooch Pin, Hummingbird
Description
A lesser known branch of Peranakan jewelry art is the solid gold Peranakan brooch pin (compared to its well collected kerongsang cousin). They are usually shaped somewhat like tie pins, long and slim and with the old C-clasp. This Chinese-Peranakan hummingbird pin is 24k, superbly fine with finely chased carvings. We usually hesitate to use the word ‘oriental’ to describe Chinese art, but given the strange off kilter ie. slightly Westernized influence in this piece, it is perhaps appropriate to say this Peranakan brooch is indeed oriental jewelry. 22-24k, at least 80 years old and usually signed, such pieces are a undervalued (understudied) part of antique Chinese gold jewelry and do not surface often.
One similar style pin here.
(Antique Peranakan Brooch Pin, Hummingbird)