Archives for category: figurine
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Glover Puppet

02/08/2012 //
0

W300xH450mm, China

The head, feet and hands of the glove puppet is made of wood and its body and arms in a fabric formed glove.  For the right hand control puppet, with the whole hand in the glove, the thumb would go into the left arm of the puppet, the index finger in the head and the remaining 3 fingers in the right arm of the puppet.  As the puppet is directly control by the hand, fine mechanism can be built into the head for the control of the eye, the mouth etc.  As in all theatre, the characters of the glove puppet show can be classified into 7 category and each with its many subtypes;  the Sheng (male role), the Dan (female role), the Jing (the painted face strong character), the Chou (clown), the Xian (saint), the Guai (monster).

The puppet here is of the saint category,  Ling Guan, he is a Taoist saint who used to be bad temple god who would eat children for a meal.  A powerful wizard tamed him with a flying fire charm and set his eyes on fire.  Ling Guan was upset and filed a complaint to the Jade Emperor who compensated him with a golden whip and a third eye of wisdom, he was also allowed to follow wizard and take his revenge if he found the wizard doing a bad deed.  12 years he followed the wizard and the wizard only do good and no wrong, Ling Guan was moved, instead of hoping for his revenge he became a disciple of the wizard.

Tags , , , ,
Categories fabric, figurine, puppet, wood

Cat Roof Tile

01/30/2012 //
0

W80xD120xH150mm, China

These are roof ridge tiles called the cat shingles, in the Yun Nan area each house would have one placed on the center of the roof ridge with its back toward the courtyard and facing the outside.  Although they are called cats, they are actually resemble tiger (you can see this by the 王 sign on their forehead, this is a symbol for all the Chinese tiger figurines).  It is believed these tiger figurines are capable of  protecting the household by eating up all the demons and bad feng shiu.  On the day when the cat tile is set on the roof, a special ceremony will take place (on a even number day in lunar feb or aug) which involve feeding the tile cat dates and nuts, a sprinkle of  chicken blood, chants, incense, burning of paper, followed by member of the family petting the cat and finally the awakened cat will be placed on the ridge.  On the 1st and 15th of every lunar month, incense will be offered to the cat.

Tags , , , , , , ,
Categories figurine, furniture / architecture, pottery

Gourd Cricket Cage

01/29/2012 //
0

DIA100xH220mm, China

This cute little man is in fact a gourd!  It doesnt have the normal “8” shape (see entry Small Gourd) as it was been formed with the string bounded technique.  When the gourd is still green and tender, a string is fastened to it tightly, the string is use as a guide and restriction for its growth, by the time when it is ripe and fully grown a certain shape is formed.  This reminded me some of Araki Nobuyoshi’s work, perhaps both has a feeling of manipulation and distortion.  The drawing on the gourd is done by a technique known as heat engraving; a metal needle is inserted into a large joss stick (finger thick), the joss stick is then lighted up, using the heat the score skin of on the air dried fruit, creating a mark.  The heat can be lowered by clipping away portion of the burning joss stick.  There are different needles for different lines and shade; mainly, the pointed set for lines, horse shoe shape set for shading and knife shape for smoother lines.  Now the function of this little man, its a toy cricket cage for children to keep their pets.  The man will be at a headstand position with the lid on top, the shape of the gourd will give a resonance for the song of the crickets.

For the bamboo cage, see entry cricket cage

Tags , , , , , ,
Categories cage, container, figurine, toy

Money God

01/27/2012 //
0

DIA60xH80mm, China

Today is the 5th day of the Chinese New Year and the day for welcoming the Money God, the Money God has his four assistants will visit and bless randomly a handful of people.  On the day of the 5th, you might notice that shops and households trying to draw their attention with fire crackers or food in front of their statue (or nowadays the free posters that come with the weekly magazine).

It is a toy for the drinking game since the Tang dynasty, after wobbling, the person he is looking at will have to drink up!  This money god roly poly toy is made of paper with clay as a weight.

Tags , , , , , , , ,
Categories clay, figurine, paper, toy

Tiger Shoes

01/25/2012 //
0

L130xH50xW50mm, China

Traditionally, this is one of the Chinese New Year gift a child will receive from their parents as a blessing for the year.  The story behind the tiger shoes goes like this; once upon a time in Yang Zhou, there is a kind heart boatman called Daai  Yang, one day came an elderly traveller who appreciated Daai Yang’s attitude and gave him a painting.  In the painting, there is a beautiful young lady stitching up a pair of tiger shoes.  Daai Yang really like the painting and hanged it up immediately when he got home.  That night, the lady in the painting came to Daai Yang, after a year of courting she bear a boy, for him.  The head of the village heard about this miracle and snatched the painting from Daai Yang, hoping that the lady will do the same for him.  The village head waited night after night but nothing happened.  Daai Yang and the son was very sad but helpless against the villain village head.  One day he met the old traveller again, she told Daai Yang to make a pair of tiger shoes for Xiao Hu and they will meet the wife again.  When the son worn the shoes Daai Yang made for him, the shoes grew wings and delivered him to the village head, the shoes then turned into a pair of tigers and chased the villain away.  The mother came down from the painting and the family lived happily ever after.  Since then tiger shoes took on a name of being able to protect the child.  RRrrrrrroarrrrR!

Tags , ,
Categories costume, fabric, figurine

Year of the Dragon

01/24/2012 //
0

W140xL180xH160mm, China

Everyone must have seen the dragon dance during Chinese New Year, ever wonder how the dragon head is constructed? Here is a miniature version of the bamboo structure that goes under the paper or cloth constructed skin (which belongs to a dragon kite). Bamboo stripes are bend and tied together at junction points with a paper knot. For the actual performance piece the structure will be will be stronger and bolder. The body is made with piece of red cloth with resembled the scale of the dragon, with rods every 1.8m apart for the dancers to control the body. The length between the head and the tail can go up to 4m. Another dancer will raise a sphere for the dragon to chase.

In a traditional dragon dance, in a ceremony the body of the dragon will be invited out from the Dragon King Temple, the head and the tail will be attached and only then will the eyes be drawn on the dragon. Dragon is a creature both respected and feared by the Chinese, being the leader of the 4 spiritual creatures, it is believed to be able to control the sea and the weather, make it calm and peaceful or cause the wave to become furious. After the performances of the dragon dance, the head and the tail will be dismantled and burnt, only the body will returned to the temple to be kept for next year’s dragon dance.

Tags , , , , ,
Categories bamboo, figurine, paper, toy

Deer

01/03/2012 //
2

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.

Tags , , ,
Categories bamboo, container, figurine

Happy Birthday Spikey!

12/28/2011 //
2

L400xW250xH250mm, Hong Kong (NOT FOR SALE)

For our dog Spike’s birthday we have on the blog a pottery I made (hand built + hollow out).  Some of you might have seen the little fellow in the shop running about.  For those who are spike or sealyham terrier fans, here is his blog:
http://spiketang.wordpress.com/

Tags , , , ,
Categories figurine, JT pottery, pottery

God of Wealth

12/25/2011 //
0

W100xD80xH200mm, China

This is a gold plated figure of the God of Wealth General Zhao Gong Ming worshiped by the Taoist.  The figure is well known to be in armour, one hand holding a piece of gold, the other a silver whip and riding on a black tiger.  Legend had it that originally there were 1o suns, they blasted the earth, Hou Yi was asked to shoot down all of them but one.  The 9 suns became demons, 8 of them revenged and brought about sickness but one of them Zhao became human.  He was trained and attained the power to fight plague, as a reward for his hard work he was made god and in charge of the wealth of the world. You might also known him as one of the door god icon.

Tags , , , , , ,
Categories figurine, lacquer, wood

Golden Wood Carving

12/22/2011 //
0

W120xH650mm, China

Gold and lacquered wood carving is a craft specialized in the Chao Zhou area; lacquer are applied on the wood carving before gold leaf is gilded on.  The carving are used to decorate items from furniture to architecture.  One of the theme for the wood carving are popular legends and scenes from opera.  This particular wood carving tells the story of Hua Mu Lan (made even more popular by Disney in the movie Mulan).  In the Northern dynasty, there were a lot nomad attacks in the north, one male from each family are required to be drafted to war.  The girl Mulan’s family has an elderly father and a very young brother, Mulan decided to take upon the duty, disguised herself as a male and went to join the army.  After a 12 years battle, the war was won and Mulan triumphantly returned, only then did her army mates realized she was in fact a female.

Tags , , ,
Categories figurine, lacquer, wood
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »