Archives for the day of: 12/20/2011

Lacquered Dish

12/20/2011 //
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DIA200(up to 400)xH70mm, China

This is a lacquered dish for offering fruits (fresh and dried) for ceremony.  The dish is made in segments and hold together by a piece of wire, with the curvatures on all directions, this is a difficult task to do.  This particular dish is decorated with a gold painted floral painting, some of the dishes are decorated with figures of well known stories.  Unfortunately, these stories are often emperor based, these are forbidden during the cultural revolution, in order to save the lacquered ware, the head of these painted figures would be scrapped out hence the content of the stories removed.

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Categories container, lacquer, wood

Water Pipe

12/20/2011 //
0

H250xW90xD30mm, China

Tobacco has been introduced to China in the Ming dynasty; imported from the Philippines, Japan and locally from Fu Jian.  Water pipe has been a  popular pass time in the Qing dynasty.  Empress Dowager Ci Xi is a lover of the water pipe and a has a large collection.  This is a peasant’s water pipe, made with bamboo as a material; the bamboo are natural in its smooth finish and in the shape, true to nature without any alteration.  The fancy type will be made of copper-nickel, copper, bronze, pewter with the mouth piece with jade or agate.  The Chinese believed that water is a good filter for the impurity and toxin of the tobacco.  However, the water is not changed often, after a while the water are filled with tar and becomes gluey (and possibly toxic), peasants will apply a few drop to ticks which would let go of their bite, the ticks will drop off instantly.

TOBACCO SERIOUSLY DAMAGES HEALTH

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Categories bamboo, tools
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