Description

Opera headdress representing an official's hat with imitation kingfisher feather consisting of bright blue silk. The main part of the headdress (a) consists of two pieces of silver painted wire mesh joined together with bird and cloud designs in blue silk and metallic edging: the front piece is domed with a loop at the top centre; the back piece is also domed but protrudes slightly at the top and has a band of silver painted paper with a raised geometric design at the back and has three sockets, two at the sides and one at the back, that hold the four attachments. Two straps extend down from the sides of the headdress. There are two elongated ovoid-shaped extensions (b and c), each with a circular Chinese design element at the centre and scalloped designs at the ends in bright blue silk, wire mesh, metallic edging, and a short rod that fits into the socket at the back of the headdress. Two side extensions (d and e) fit into the slots in the sides of the main part, and each is composed of an elongated dragon's (?) body from which protrudes a dragon's (?) head with two bright blue pompoms extending out from the head, each on a wire spring.