Tian-tsui
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Tian-tsui (Chinese traditional: 點翠, Chinese simplified: 点翠, pinyin: diǎncuì, "dotting with kingfishers") is a style of Chinese art featuring
Kingfisher feathers are painstakingly cut and glued onto gilt silver. The effect is like cloisonné, but no enamel was able to rival the electric blue color. Blue is the traditional favorite color in China.
As with most iridescent, electrifying colors in animals such as
The most expensive, commissioned pieces used a species of kingfisher from Cambodia. So great was the export to sate Chinese demand, the trade of feathers may have been a major contributor to the wealth of the Khmer Empire, and used to help fund the construction of the magnificent temples near Siem Reap, Cambodia including Angkor Wat. The finest pieces of kingfisher art were reserved for royalty or high-ranking Chinese government official (called a "mandarin (bureaucrat)"). The usage of kingfisher feathers resulted in the mass slaughter of many kingfisher species.
Kingfisher art as a high art form came to an end during the Chinese Communist Revolution in the 1940s.
See also
- Phoenix crown
- Chinese hairpin
References
- Kingfisher Blue: Treasures of an Ancient Chinese Art by Beverley Jackson, Ten Speed Press, 2001.