Bronze miniature double comb

A miniature bronze comb, constructed with a central handle, the top of which is split into two sections into which moveable teeth have been inserted horizontally, positioned between rounded ends.  The handle is of rectangular section and cast with openwork panels.  It terminates in a tiny hand that grips a small ring.  The bronze has a green patina with areas of brilliant blue to the handle.

•  Although well known in the Tang dynasty, small combs are usually made in the form of a silver or gold arched handle holding a single row of teeth; an example of such a comb in silver is in the Kempe collection, Sweden.1  Given the elaborate decoration of most examples of such combs it is possible, however, that they were used as hair ornaments, whereas the present comb appears to have been designed with a more functional purpose in mind.  A virtually identical comb was exhibited in New York in 2000.2

1. Engel, E. Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Ulricehamns Konst- o. Östasiatiska Museum, 1999, no. 143, p. 191
2. Croës, G. Light for the Afterlife, exhibition catalogue, 2000, pp. 102-3