Headdress Ornament

A symmetrical hairpin ornament of gilt metal wire openwork framing bright blue kingfisher feathers in scrolls, leaves and lobed petals. A central oval red-brown glass bead is flanked by two smaller red beads, and a plain shaft extends downward from the base.

Look closer: A fine gilt wire border traces every scroll and petal, and the plain shaft continues below the ornament.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1800s–1900s

Medium

Copper-silver alloy, gilding, kingfisher feathers, glass beads

Source

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Size

3072 × 2048 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Howard L. Ginaven