Inside a Tian-Tsui Trunkshow

Posted by Nalin Singapuri on

Tian-tsui is a lost technique. It's magnificent blue Chinese silver jewelry - the color is derived from a kingfisher feather overlay. Feathers were meticulously cut and glued onto the metal to give it an iridescent blue sheen. 

Shashi imported a lot of jewelry before he started designing - he sold it wholesale at trade shows but some of it remains in his warehouse. Our collection of tian-tsui (and most of our Chinese antiques) was originally imported from Beijing - much of it purchased from the Beijing jewelry company - a very large exporter of antique jewelry in those days.

A mere six or seven small boxes of these pieces remains in our hands, but thats quite a few pieces still and we are told by large buyers that our collections is among the largest and most expansive in the world. We have tian-tsui hairpins or coarse, but also tiaras, earrings, mirrored and bejeweled brooches, pins, combs and more.

You can find a bit of our tian-tsui online here.

Here are some sample of our collection that we recently put together for a buyer. Some of these are still for sale and some are no longer available. Please reach out to us if you want one of these pieces.

tian-tsui pinstian tsui earrings

tian-tsui mirrors

 Which piece is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.

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Comment

  • Oh, those earrings! Aren’t they just fabulous? Ladies of the time must have been quite decked out. I love those little chicken things. This photo sent me off to do some research. Love them.

    Pamela on

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