That Quintessentially Chinese Organic Gem called Feathers

For thousands of years, even before the concept of Chinese existed, there was the art of embellishing with gem-like organic material — feathers. Specifically speaking, kingfisher feathers.

Traditional communities of Mesoamerica (such as Maya and Aztec) and China are known to adorn themselves with brilliant feathers in their natural form as headdresses. Chinese dance pieces from 2,500 years ago have been documented as having feather-insert headdress and holding brilliantly coloured feathers in hand to perform. Chinese women from thousands of years ago were also known to decorate their face with insect wings and feathers (most likely the kingfisher’s).

The Chinese society then was made up of many kingdoms, and in the kingdom of Chu (modern day Hubei and Hunan area in central China) they were making feather embellishment on objects with great intricacy. This tradition further extended towards what we know as the feather inlay craft today.

A MISUNDERSTOOD IDIOM

One of the most misunderstood Chinese idiom stories of all times throughout the centuries is one concerning an box decorated with kingfisher feathers:

A gem seller of the Chu kingdom tried to sell his precious gems by packaging them with a beautifully embellished box scented with the most fragrant spices, decorated with jade and kingfisher feathers of orangey red (Fei) and greenish blue colours (Cui). [Jadeite lovers note: this is the origin of the name for Jadeite FeiCui—from the blue-earred kingfisher. I will have another series on Jade coming up soon, so will talk more then!]

He went to the kingdom of Zheng and did his spiel there. Just as he envisioned, he quickly found a buyer from the kingdom of Zheng who was willing to pay a fortune for what he was trying to sell.

After the payment, the buyer took out the gems within the box and returned them to the seller thinking that the gems were accidentally left in the box.

And so, the buyer merrily went away with nothing but the box.

For centuries the misunderstanding had been that this was an idiom cautioning us against foregoing the essence (the gem in the box) for the superficial (the box). Or in short, totally missing the point.

The original story actually was the other way round! The philosopher Han Fei Zi had wanted to criticise the act of over embellishing the essence with fancifully distracting superficial. Just like how people who were good with words package and present their useless concepts with fanciful words.

Ironic that a story that cautioned against misrepresentation has itself been misrepresented by an elaborate story that mocks someone for buying a box without the gem it was selling. In reality, the box sounds like it is indeed more precious than its content!

QUINTESSENTIALLY ‘CHINESE’

Many cultures around the world have used bird feathers as decorative accessories to denote status, wealth, and even royalty. Nowhere did this unusual art form reach greater popularity than in China, beginning a thousand years ago and continuing to this day. Using the kingfisher-with its uniquely iridescent range of ultramarine to bright turquoise-blue feathers-as their bird of choice, Chinese artisans created extraordinary objects, rendering the many-hued feathers with exquisite technique. 

Beverly Jackson, Kingfisher Blue: Treasures of an Ancient Chinese Art

The kingfisher feather had been closely associated with sublime beauty throughout Chinese history. The beauty of women and their elegantly drawn brows, and that of mountain peaks, were all described using the word ‘cui’ which took reference from the blueish green colour of the kingfisher feather. Essentially, you could have a ‘kingfisher blue’ mystical mountain peak, and a ‘kingfisher blue’ beautifully drawn brow both of which had very little in common except that it was meant to express the idea of exceptional beauty. In case you are wondering, it is also likely that the women of the time really did paint their brows in blue/green perhaps in pursuit of this iconic Chinese colour and look of beauty.

It was as if by adding this word, it automatically lends a rose-tinted filter/lens to everything that you describe.

I’ve written about the technique and the controversy around this craft a while ago in Diancui, the traditional Chinese jewelry craft that ruffles feathers while preparing for Yaji workshop (yes, we did a workshop teaching people how to make your own accessories using this craft!). As with all crafts, the devil’s always in the detail. Skilled craftsmen could alter the colour of the kingfisher feather after setting them on the jewellery using an agate knife! Fun fact, the agate knife is also often used in traditional Chinese silversmithing to polish silver accessories and restore its shine! Yes, like the Chinese kitchen knife, one tool can be used for many purposes.

From princesses to empresses, from ancient China to medieval and up till modern history, the kingfisher inlay jewellery remain hugely popular amongst the connoisseurs. In recent years, there is a revival of the craft thanks to popular period dramas like Legend of Zhen Huan, Yanxi Palace and Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace. Both shows used authentic antique kingfisher feather accessories on its protagonists with the former making a conscientious attempt to bring attention to the many quintessentially Chinese crafts. You can read more about it HERE.

MODERNISED ORGANIC GEM JEWELLERY

I’ve just completed a short course on Gem and Jewellery Trade Secrets and I was pleasantly surprised that feathers were mentioned as an organic gem. Of course, kingfisher feathers were not mentioned since it’s one of the best-kept secrets of the Chinese.

I learnt that the iridescence of pearls are known as the Orient of the pearl. It is for this reason, with pun intended, that I have decided to call my latest series of jewellery/accessories The Orient Series. These are accessories/jewellery that used the feather inlay technique of the Chinese, with an update to the raw material (you can get them in my shop now!).

Feather inlay jewellery made from peacock feather (left), and kingfisher feathers (centre & right). Peacock feather is a new piece, centre and right are antique pieces.

The Qing dynasty women were so crazy about it that the kingfishers were almost hunted to extinction and an imperial edict had to be issued to ban people from killing kingfishers. Obviously laws are only meant for the general public and you can still see many kingfisher accessories in the collection of the Chinese imperial family at the Palace Museum of China. The plebeians would then resort to cloisonné (enamel) as a substitute to colour their accessories and it propelled cloisonné to greater heights within the Chinese culture. They are convincingly real from afar, and I have seen people confusing the two, but one is an organic gem/material while the other is glass-like, so it should be easy to identify up close.

Naturally, it is unrealistic to use kingfisher feathers today for due to conservation concerns, but there is a really good alternative — peacock feathers!

Similar to the Kingfisher feathers, the peacock feathers from the body (not the tail) have similar iridescence. The main difference are the hue (peacock is more blueish and kingfisher has a bit more green/cyan), the tone (peacock is a darker tone and kingfisher is lighter) and the uniformity of the colours (peacock has a bit of a mixture of different colours, but kingfisher is generally rather uniform).

BY HANFUGIRL COLLECTION

All of the items by Hanfugirl are handmade with thousands of years of history to tell. The feather inlay technique is exceptionally hard as we are working with very tiny pieces of feathers that can easily fall apart if one uses too much strength. While there are many artificial gems which are indistinguishable from the natural ones, you can be sure that these feathers are not going to be artificially made. And that you definitely require a skilled artisan to have it inlay with great precision and patience into the tiny groves of the jewellery/accessories.

As nature never repeats itself, however, slightly. Every piece is uniquely yours.