Shell-shaped Sliver Cloisonné Hairpin

This silver hairpin was manufactured through a series of techniques including bluing, chasing, forging, etc. Bluing is a skill usually used in enamel-making to dye the surface of silverworks into blue by applying enamel paint first and then heating. The exquisite motifs on the silver chains hanging from one end of the pin were crafted by chasing, which is a time-honored metalworking technique of decorating the front the surface of metals by indenting and raising the design to create a relief pattern. And the shape of this ornament was realized via hand forging, also an old approach to mould metals.