7th Mar, 2025 11:00
A Museum Treasury of Buddhist and Himalayan Art: The Peter Kienzle-Hardt Collection Part I
20
A TURQUOISE AND SILVER MOUNTED RITUAL HEADDRESS, PERAK
This lot is a museum deaccession and is therefore offered without reserve
€700
€1,400
A buyer’s premium of 30.00% (including VAT) applies to the hammer price of this lot if your bid is successful.
Ladakh or Tibet, 19th- early 20th century. The padded cloth applied overall with polished turquoise and coral beads of various sizes, alternating with silver panels, small conch shells, and small glass and silver beads, all fitted to a straight metal repoussé mount decorated with petals and centered by a loop suspending a crescent and circle-shaped ornament with bells. The headdress further suspending four beaded tassels threaded with various semi-precious stones, glass and metal beads, and a mother-of-pearl disk.
Provenance: The Kienzle Family Collection, Stuttgart, Germany. Acquired between 1950 and 1985 by siblings Else (1912-2006), Reinhold (1917-2008), and Dr. Horst Kienzle (1924-2019), during their extensive travels in Asia. Subsequently inherited by Dr. Horst Kienzle and bequeathed to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, Germany. Released through museum deaccession in 2024. The Kienzle siblings were avid travelers and passionate collectors of Asian and Islamic art. During their travels, the Kienzle’s sought out and explored temples, monasteries, and markets, always trying to find the best pieces wherever they went, investing large sums of money and forging lasting relationships to ensure they could acquire them. Their fervor and success in this pursuit is not only demonstrated by their collection but further recorded in correspondences between Horst Kienzle and several noted dignitaries, businesses and individuals in Nepal and Ladakh. Their collection had gained renown by the 1970s, but the Kienzle’s stopped acquiring new pieces around 1985. Almost thirty years later, the collection was moved to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, opened by Peter Hardt in 2014. Before his death in 2019, Horst Kienzle bequeathed his entire property to Peter Hardt and legally adopted him as his son, who has been using the name Peter Kienzle-Hardt ever since.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear, some of the gemstones possibly replaced, small cracks to one metal component, the fabric with loose threads, few small losses and little soiling.
Weight: 1 kg
Dimensions: Length 54.8 cm
In Ladakh tradition, when a daughter came of age to be married, the mother would bestow her with her own headdress and would then begin the long, costly process of beginning a new headdress for herself, adding turquoise, coral and precious metals to their new headdress over time. In general, the headdresses are dynamic objects, with turquoise being added or removed for sale depending on the needs of the family. In the early 20th century, when turquoise was still rare, the number of rows in a headdress also denoted the status of the wearer.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related headdress from western Tibet, Ngari Rongchung, dated ca. 1960-1970, 76 cm long, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number IS.19-1999.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 17 September 1998, lot 94
Price: USD 5,750 or approx. EUR 10,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A ritual headdress, perak, Tibet, Ladakh, 19th century
Expert remark: Compare the related decoration. Note the form and size (30.4 cm).
Ladakh or Tibet, 19th- early 20th century. The padded cloth applied overall with polished turquoise and coral beads of various sizes, alternating with silver panels, small conch shells, and small glass and silver beads, all fitted to a straight metal repoussé mount decorated with petals and centered by a loop suspending a crescent and circle-shaped ornament with bells. The headdress further suspending four beaded tassels threaded with various semi-precious stones, glass and metal beads, and a mother-of-pearl disk.
Provenance: The Kienzle Family Collection, Stuttgart, Germany. Acquired between 1950 and 1985 by siblings Else (1912-2006), Reinhold (1917-2008), and Dr. Horst Kienzle (1924-2019), during their extensive travels in Asia. Subsequently inherited by Dr. Horst Kienzle and bequeathed to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, Germany. Released through museum deaccession in 2024. The Kienzle siblings were avid travelers and passionate collectors of Asian and Islamic art. During their travels, the Kienzle’s sought out and explored temples, monasteries, and markets, always trying to find the best pieces wherever they went, investing large sums of money and forging lasting relationships to ensure they could acquire them. Their fervor and success in this pursuit is not only demonstrated by their collection but further recorded in correspondences between Horst Kienzle and several noted dignitaries, businesses and individuals in Nepal and Ladakh. Their collection had gained renown by the 1970s, but the Kienzle’s stopped acquiring new pieces around 1985. Almost thirty years later, the collection was moved to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, opened by Peter Hardt in 2014. Before his death in 2019, Horst Kienzle bequeathed his entire property to Peter Hardt and legally adopted him as his son, who has been using the name Peter Kienzle-Hardt ever since.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear, some of the gemstones possibly replaced, small cracks to one metal component, the fabric with loose threads, few small losses and little soiling.
Weight: 1 kg
Dimensions: Length 54.8 cm
In Ladakh tradition, when a daughter came of age to be married, the mother would bestow her with her own headdress and would then begin the long, costly process of beginning a new headdress for herself, adding turquoise, coral and precious metals to their new headdress over time. In general, the headdresses are dynamic objects, with turquoise being added or removed for sale depending on the needs of the family. In the early 20th century, when turquoise was still rare, the number of rows in a headdress also denoted the status of the wearer.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related headdress from western Tibet, Ngari Rongchung, dated ca. 1960-1970, 76 cm long, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number IS.19-1999.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 17 September 1998, lot 94
Price: USD 5,750 or approx. EUR 10,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A ritual headdress, perak, Tibet, Ladakh, 19th century
Expert remark: Compare the related decoration. Note the form and size (30.4 cm).
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Auction: A Museum Treasury of Buddhist and Himalayan Art: The Peter Kienzle-Hardt Collection Part I, 7th Mar, 2025
This treasury of art, assembled over decades by the Kienzle siblings and perserved by their sole heir Peter Kienzle-Hardt, reflects not only their fascination with Asian culture but also their respect for the heritage of the regions they explored. Learn more.
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