L300xW120xH400mm, China
Deer is a symbol of blessing in China; deer in Chinese sounds like “lu” which means fortune and the salary for a emperor’s officials. This is a bamboo weaved deer container, zoom in closer and you will appreciate how the fine bamboo threads are.
DIA60xH60mm, China
Here is another stationary for the Chinese calligraphy – a water drip for grinding and dilution of the ink. It has a small water inlet and an outlet, the inlet acts also as suction control for the water flow.
DIA250xH150mm, China
For these cold nights, here is a Chinese version of the hot water bottle known as the “hot water mistress”. It is made with a good conductor (such as copper nickle, pewter or porcelian) and once hot water is filled in through the small screw up opening, it will be enclosed with a thick cloth bag and put in to warm the bed.
DIA200xH300mm, China
This is a ceramic jar for keeping delicious food (a bit like a tuck box). Before refrigerator became popular, food were kept in jars, pickles, all the special goodies for Chinese New Year, apart from the children this also attracted the ants. In those days, this uniquely designed jar were a standard container in every Guang Dong household, it has a name “piss ant off”. Here is the reason why; once the lid is closed off, water is poured into the trench to prevent the ants from climbing into the jar.
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.
W100xD40xH110mm, China
This whiskey flask shaped cage is for keeping crickets. Chinese have been keeping crickets since the Tang dynasty, however, very few of them as been kept as pet but rather as fighters. Cricket has a life span of around 100 days, cricket match traditionally take place in autumn, it is said that the word “autumn” 秋 represented 2 crickets. Cricket fight is banned in Hong Kong, so good to say that those raised here are only as pets for admiration. This cage has 3 compartments, 2 small ones on the upper deck and 1 at the lower deck. As each male cricket need to be isolated to avoid conflicts, 3 can be raised in this single cage. As in all the Chinese bamboo cage design, if you look closely at a gate, one of the bars is shorter, this acts as a safety lock so that the gate cannot open accidental.
For a more natural cricket cage, see the entry gourd cricket cage.
H110xW90xDIA70mm, China
Drinking game started in China as a form of a disciplined for the banquets, a discipline to enhance the atmosphere for drinking. The first recorded game is one of archery, the loser drinks (kind of dangerous if you ask me).
Here is a popular game: Rod Tiger
in the order cycle of Rod > Tiger > Chicken > Worm > Rod
the 2 players say at the same time starting with Rod-Rod then 1 of the 4 words, e.g. Chicken, so it will be “Rod-Rod Chicken”, the player of the immediate higher ranking wins, the loser drinks.
W110xL80xH50mm, China
This box is entirely made out of bamboo, even using the natural cross section of the bamboo to create this pattern.
W150xL200xH150mm, China
This is a hand built pottery; a woven basket in the form of a traditional Chinese bamboo creel.
W230xD110xH180mm, China
This is a bamboo case with all the parts; hinges, bolds, handles are made out of bamboo. This brings back a lot of memories for me, as a child of a folkcraft shop owners this is the version of the Bond’s gadget briefcase I had. Inside stored all my little treasures.
Mountain Folkcraft 