| Object Number | 20445A |
| Current Location | Collections Storage |
| Culture | Manchu | Chinese |
| Provenience | Mongolia | Qiqihar |
| Date Made | 16th Century - 1897 |
| Section | Asian |
| Materials | Silver |
| Inscription Language | Chinese Language |
| Description | One of a pair of hair ornaments made of silver, with bangles and Chinese characters (吉 "good luck" and 有 "to have"). The top has a ruyi scepter and flowers with a wan (卍), an auspicious character, attached. This forms a rebus of "may you have everything you wish" as wan has the meaning of everything or all things and ruyi (如意) means "as you wish". Below this is a chime stone (磬 qing) with a ribbon motif. Qing also means to congratulate (庆 qing). The bottom of the bangles are fish to symbolize a wish for abundance based on the character for fish 鱼 (yu) being pronounced the same as abundance 余 (yu). This would have been worn by Manchu women in Mongolia. |
| Credit Line | Gift of George L. Farnum and John Edward Farnum, 1898 |
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