Gold Comb Featuring Flying Apsaras with Musical Instruments

Unearthed in a construction site on Sanyuan road in Yangzhou city in 1983, this hoof-shaped hair ornament was crafted by chasing openwork patterns on a thin gold plate. With comb teeth on the lower half, its upper half features symmetrical flying apsaras with musical instruments on a foundation of curly-vine motifs. Beneath each of the two fairies lies a ruyi-shaped cloud. What surround the flying apsaras and cloud patterns are multiple layers of decorative elements, which are respectively from the innermost to the outermost, lotus petals, pearls laid between two lines, openwork fish scales, and openwork plum blossoms with occasionally-appearing butterflies.