I can't decide what this object should be and I can't imagine what the artist who invented this, (and I am sure it is reinvented and not its original setting) had in mind. If he meant it to be a hairpin its way too large. If a floral spray , how come it has a rat resting in the centre ?
Ahha ! he must have designed it with the Year of the Rat in mind! So he sat little white Ratty among a nephrite foliage, with a tiny bunch of red glass beads to brighten the effect.
I picked up this whimsical spray or hairpin at a local flea and the nephrite pieces estimated to be 100-300 years old. It is made up of 10 nephrite pieces of pierced and carved jade in shapes of butterfly, flowerpot, floral, figural with the little rat as a centrepiece.
Happy Lunar New Year of the Rat !
