章孝标《答友人惠牙簪》“Responding to a friend who gifted an ivory hairpin” by Zhang Xiaobiao (791-873)

牙簪不可忘，

來處隔炎荒。

截得半環月，

磨成四寸霜。

曉辭梳齒膩，

秋入髮根涼。

好是紗巾下，

纖纖錐出囊。

This ivory hairpin I shall not forget,

Its origin lies beyond the fiery wastes.[1]

A half ring cut out of the moon,

Four inches polished like frost.

At dawn it shuns the grease on the comb’s teeth;

In autumn it brings a cool touch to the hair’s roots.

Best it is beneath a gauze wrap,

A slender point sticking from its pouch.

* From Peng Dingqiu 彭定求 (1645-1719) et al. ed., Quan Tang shi 全唐詩 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960), 506.5753.

[1] At the time, ivory often came from the southernmost parts of the Tang empire which were generally deemed less civilised regions.

Ivory hairpin decorated with openwork dragons, 1723-1735

Image credit: National Palace Museum, Taipei

鏤空象牙龍紋簪。國立故宮博物院，台北，CC BY 4.0 @ www.npm.gov.tw

Ivory hairpin with "three friends of winter"(pine, bamboo, and plum) motif, Qing Dynasty

Image credit: National Palace Museum, Taipei

松竹梅三友象牙簪。國立故宮博物院，台北，CC BY 4.0 @ www.npm.gov.tw