Gold brooch in the shape of a butterfly, inlaid with purple kingfisher feather. The concave side has a clasp. The convex side is decorated with repousse designs of phoenix feathers on the wings with two phoenix heads soldered in the middle. The butterfly has a stylised repousse 'shou' character, representing longevity, as the lower body, while the upper body and scrolling antennae are soldered above.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
