Golden Wood Carving – Child from the Saints

10/14/2014 //
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W170xD60xH130mm, China

“Child from the Saints” is a popular blessing subject in the Ming and Qing period, symbolizing blessing and fertility.  The legend dated back to the late Han dynasty, when the Wei Emperor to be was a poor farmer.  One spring, when he was working in the field, he saw a immaculate carriage landed from the sky, inside of the carriage was a beautiful lady.  He put away his tools and went to greet the visitor, the lady told him she is send by the Jade Emperor to be his wife, the two got married on the day, the lady saint said she has to go back to heaven and would meet him again a year later at the same place.  A year later, Wei arrived early to the field awaiting for his date, the magic carriage appeared, inside it was the lady saint together with a baby.  She handed him the baby and said he was his son and he will be the Emperor.

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Categories figurine, lacquer, wood

Clay Rooster

10/13/2014 //
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W50xL140xH100mm, China

An old clay toy, of a cute rooster.

Dont belittle the rooster, it was the earliest form of time keeping, announcing to the world the start of a new day.  With its ability to bring the sun out and to make the night retreat (a bit of a reverse logic), the Chinese thus believe that the rooster is able to keep the devil away.

Click for our other clay rooster toy and other clay toys.

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Categories clay, figurine, toy

Ground Opera Mask

10/10/2014 //
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W210xD85xH300mm, China

Ground Opera is performed in at the end of the Chinese New Year, on the day of Yuan Xiao.  The story performed in the Ground Opera are solely about warfare and battles, romance and other dramas script are nonexistent.  This is due to the fact that the origin of the performance is basing on the welfare, though the performers are ordinary farmers, their ancestors were military settlement dated back to the Ming dynasty.  They still have the warrior’s spirit running in them.  It is believed that the spirits of these fighters will returned during the performance, helping to cast away any evils and to bless the village for the coming year.  Rituals are performed before and after the shows.

Also unlike other Chinese operas, the character of the Ground Theatre is not defined by the category of Sheng, Dan, Jing, Chou.  The main characters in the show are all warriors, broadly divided into male and female (by the eyebrow), old and young (by the beard), temperament (by facial colour), hero and villain (by the facial marking).  From this we can determined that this mask would belong to the role of a loyal villian warrior fighter.

 

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Categories mask, wood

Wood Block Print – Adoption of the Tiger Hunter

10/09/2014 //
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W300xH250mm, China

The story of this wood block print comes from the Ming dynasty novel 殘唐五代史演義, a fiction set in the late Tang and 5 Dynasty 10 Kingdoms Period (around AD 900).  Though having less literary merits as the Romance of the 3 Kingdoms, the story of the novel has been adapted into opera and craft works.

The scene from the story goes like this; one night the Jin Emperor dreamt that a tiger has entered into his tent, he saw it as an omen of the arrival of a great fighter.  The next day, he met a young fighter who was powerful as well as courageous, able to lift up a tiger with his bare arms.  The emperor made him as one of his 13 adopted sons (Tai Bao) and name him Li Cun Xiao.

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Categories painting / prints, paper

Bird Feed Bowl

10/08/2014 //
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DIA45xH45mm, China

A small bowl for feeding the bird inside the cage.  One for water and another for to contain food such as millet, corn, fruits, etc, but for special treats, this would be used.

The wood attachment that bears the guai zi dragon pattern, a pattern that is used in furniture and architecture a like, is for fixing the container to the rods of the cage.

Click to see our bird cage accessories.

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Categories container, pottery, wood

Shadow Puppet – Scholar

10/07/2014 //
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W100xH320mm, China

Before the arrival of the internet, tv, moving pictures, the shadow puppets are the closest to an animated reality.  It has been said that concept of shadow puppet came some 2000 years ago in the Han dynasty.  The Han emperor was extremely depressed after the death of the Empress and was unable to the ruling of the country.  Advisor Li who has been devoted to the Emperor was deeply concerned, one afternoon in the street he saw a kid playing with a doll, it was the movement of the shadow that had captivated him.  Li used cotton to made the features of the Empress, supported the arms and legs on rod, with a candle behind, a screen was placed in front of the mannequin.  The Emperor came into the tent one evening and saw his beloved Empress once again.

This shadow puppet is a Xiao Sheng character, playing roles that are young handsome, well learnt scholar and usually matched by a beautiful diva Dan role.

Click here to see more of our shadow puppets.

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Categories figurine, leather / feather, puppet

Hand X-Stitch Trimmings

10/06/2014 //
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stitch clothW90xL600mm, China

 A piece of hand embroidery from the minority tribes of the Yunnan province.  A simple geometrical composed with x-stitch embroidery, this piece consist of 3 trimmings for sleeves or pockets, adding some fine details to the costume.

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Categories embroidery, fabric

Lacquer Tray

10/03/2014 //
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DIA330xH70mm, China

A lacquer tray of a lion playing with a xiu qiu (a fabric ball), a symbol of blessing from this mythical powerful creature.

The tray is constructed by 8 sections and a flat octagonal size board in the center, held with a wire.  The base of the 8 sections have fine carving painted in gold.

Click here to see our other lacquer trays.

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Categories container, lacquer, wood

Puppet Head – Deng Ai

09/30/2014 //
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W45xH90mm, China

This puppet head is the General Deng Ai of the 3 Kingdom period (197-264 AD).  The story “Tan Shan Gu” has been made into opera and puppet theater.  At the time, China was divided into 3 kingdoms, General Deng was defending the Wei kingdom against the attack of the General Jiang Wei of the Shu kingdom.

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Categories figurine, puppet, wood

Gweilo

09/25/2014 //
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Something for the weekend, a book I am currently reading and found that I can hardly put it down.  The book was published a few years back, I remember seeing it in the bookshop but the title didnt appeal to me.  “Gweilo” is a slang used by the locals to refer to foreigners, “ghost guy” would be a direct translation.  In the Qing dynasty when Chinese was closed off, any people who looks different from the orientals, large colour eyes,  tall nose, blonde hair would spark the thought that one is from a different world, hence “ghost”.  As we are approaching a more politically correct times, I was a little resentful of the word.

An autobiography of an English boy who came to Hong Kong with his parents in the 1950s.  His adventure and observations was beautifully and vividly written, the 50s was before I was born but a world that I could imagine and indulge in.  Hong Kong is fast changing city, the Hong Kong I am familiar with is almost a different city than the one he described.  I began searching for images of that era and came across this site where the Gweilo fans researched and came up with images of the places he described.  Though not as vivid as Martin’s description and from that of my imagination, they somehow filled in gaps and completed the jigsaw puzzle.

http://gwulo.com/martin-booth-golden-boy-gweilo

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