Hair Ornament

Description Perhaps designed to decorate the complex hairstyle of a geisha, this dangling piece would lend a sparkling bit of movement to the rigid hairstyle of a young woman as she danced or sang traditional folksongs. Geisha and their younger apprentices, maiko, continue to dress each evening in elaborate silk kimono, stark white face paint, and grandly jeweled hairdos or wigs in order to entertain high-paying restaurant customers in Kyoto and other metropolitan Japanese cities.

Exhibitions

• Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry from the Walters Art Museum. Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota; The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2006-2009.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions none

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters