Ocean of Kingfisher Feathers

The ocean beneath Kui Xing’s feet is crafted from metal, precious gemstones and pearls, but gets its ‘oceanic’ color from the intense turquoise-blue of the kingfisher feathers. They have been cut into tiny pieces and fixed to metal supports, a delicate technique that is also used in the making of hair and head ornaments for women at the imperial court and other female members of the elite. Kingfishers were native to China, where from ancient times onwards they played an important role in mythology.[Kost 2019] Yet, as the demand in kingfisher feathers grew, they were increasingly imported from outside of China, for example from Cambodia.[Wong 2015]

The whitecaps on the kingfisher feather waves are formed by tiny pearls. Like the coral on top, pearls are ocean objects. Deriving from the southern part of the Chinese empire and the area around contemporary Guangzhou, they were praised as tributes to the northern imperial court in historic treatises as The Exploitation of the Works of Nature (1637)