When we watch some costume dramas, we can often see a kind of lingering and compassionous plot - the male protagonist gives a comb to the female protagonist, or the female protagonist takes off the hairbrush on his head and gives it to the male protagonist as a promise to each other. Combs have a very important place in ancient Chinese women's clothing. Its long history has continued to this day, which can be said to be a very romantic touch in traditional Chinese costumes.
@Lome Sheng
Freelance writer
Special attention is paid to traditional Chinese costume culture
With the history of Western fashion
Love Ming Dynasty and Republic of China costumes
as well as Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles
Recently, we turned to Oscar de la Renta's 2013 wedding dress collection, in which the designer used the Peineta (a large comb) from traditional Spanish clothing as a headdress. Peineta is usually used with Mantilla (veil), which used to be mainly made of tortoiseshell, but now uses environmentally friendly materials. Spanish women wear it on more grand occasions, such as weddings, bullfighting or HOLY WEEK. This large comb originated in the early 19th century, when it was popular for women to insert combs around their heads to match exaggerated hairstyles such as the Apollo knot. Later, this comb was preserved in Spain alone and carried forward, becoming a maverick headdress in the traditional costume of Spanish women. Coincidentally, the fashion of inserting a comb into a bun has also swept China in history.
Oscar de la Renta's 2013 wedding dress collection
Peineta in 1930
Chinese women once also liked to decorate combs on their heads, and according to the ancients, "hairpins" were the most basic things on their heads.
Hairpins and pins can be used to fix the bun,
縂 refers to the rope belt that ties the hair,
Chestnuts are used to comb hair,
Comb, first called chestnut. What we call "combs" should strictly speaking be collectively called "chestnuts". The dense one is the grate, and the loose one is the comb. The word "comb" is "sparse", which refers to the chestnut with loose teeth, and the denser one is called "grate".
The left is grate, and the right is combing The Han Tomb No. 53 of FenghuangShan in Jiangling County, Hubei Province, was excavated
At first, the main function of the comb was to comb hair, but gradually evolved into a kind of headdress. This fashion reached its peak in the five generations after the Tang Dynasty. Women sometimes wear many combs of different shapes on their heads.
The women in the Tang Dynasty's "Trick Paintings" copied by Emperor Huizong of Song are exactly like this: they wear various combs on their heads, ranging from gold and silver to tortoiseshell. One of the "Palace Words" of Wudai Hening reads: "The jade cicada and the golden sparrow are inserted in three layers, and the green sideburns are towering in the green bun." The spring breeze blows to the ground at the dance place, and when you return, don't give a comb. The poem depicts a richly dressed maiko whose performance was so popular that he was given a full set of combs by dignitaries.
The comb on the head of the Song Huizong copied the Tang Dynasty's "Trick Painting"
Tang Dynasty comb imagined in "Du Qiu NiangTu" of the Yuan Dynasty Zhou Lang (Collection of the Palace Museum)
Tang Dynasty Lotus pattern gold comb pair (Changsha Museum collection)
Ming Dynasty gold inlaid jade comb
The popular "crown comb" for women in the Song Dynasty is to use the crown and comb together. This evolved at the time into a new type of comb, the "curtain comb"—decorated with tassels on the back of the comb. These combs are large and small, with the larger usually inserted on the back of the middle of the head, while some small combs are inserted symmetrically on both sides of the sideburns. Curtain combs were still in use until the early Ming Dynasty.
Southern Song Dynasty woman, wearing a comb with a beaded curtain on her head, part of the left "Song Scroll" (shanghai museum collection) part of the right "banana yin batting picture page" (collection of the Palace Museum)
But the insertion of the comb involves a very real problem, which is how the comb should be fixed to the head. Peineta is actually a bit like a hairpin, with long, deep comb teeth that can be fixed as long as there is a bun underneath. In many of the existing combs in China, a large part of the comb teeth have fallen off, and some models are obviously impossible to fix on the head only by inserting. A kind of "insert comb" unearthed in the Song Dynasty, with a long hairpin foot in front of the comb, probably solves this problem. Some of the combs of ethnic minority women such as modern Miao have a long chain on both sides, and two hairpins at the top, which are tied on the front side to fix the head comb.
A plug-in comb with hairpin feet unearthed in the Song Dynasty
Contemporary Hmong silver comb
Therefore, the full crown of women in the Ming Dynasty (a kind of hairpin inserted in the back of the bun) may also be a continuation of this comb with hairpin feet. Perhaps it is this kind of thinking that makes the comb that was once very popular on women's heads gradually disappear after the Ming Dynasty.
Ming Dynasty Crown Inserted behind the Head (Capital Museum Collection)
Today, the custom of inserting combs is still preserved in some parts of China. For example, the Hui'an women in Fujian will insert one or two combs in the middle of the head, and the Miao and other ethnic minorities in the southwest mentioned above. Fortunately, thanks to the continuation of the culture of these southern regions, we have been able to continue to see this elegant landscape of the old days that has left most people.
Fujian Hui'an children's heads emerald green comb (Photo by cnsphoto)
Fujian Hui'an woman with emerald green comb on her head (Photo by Frankay@ Summer Wind and Autumn Clouds)
Hmong combs
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