Antique Japanese Edo Era (C.1840) Nit Comb Makae Raised Gold Lacquer & Coral

This is an antique late Edo Era (c. 1840) Japanese hairpiece kushi (nit comb). A Japanese comb is about much more than just styling your hair. Some 400 years ago, Japan took the simple comb and transformed it into an elegant beauty accessory that became a work of art. Japanese kushi (combs) became expressions of a woman's character, social class, religion, and people could even tell what neighborhood someone lived in by looking at their hair ornaments. According to an ancient Japanese proverb, "A woman's hair is her life" (Kami wa onna no inochi), and from the early 1600's until the beginning of the modern era, decorative combs have been an important part of Japanese fashion.

This special nit comb is made of a durable boxwood with several coats of gold lacquer with final art work in makae (raised gold lacquer) in the form of ducks and aquatic plants. There are five implanted beads of pink coral. Itmeasures 3 1/4"long by 1 1/2" tall (8.5 x 4 cm). The thickness is approximately 1/4" (0.8 cm). Showing minor signs of past use and at nearly 200 years old it still remains in very fine condition. A highly collectable piece of functional art from Japans distant past.