DIA95xH110mm, China
Bamboo is a plant that can be found in most part of China, not only is it a source for food, it is also used from scaffolding for architecture, to delicate weaved containers and nowadays for flooring and even clothing.
This bamboo box, I found is one of those back to the basic ideas. Making use of the culm (the main shaft) and the nodes (the horizontal structure), a container is naturally form, the fibrous culm gives the box its texture.
W50xL150xH40mm, China
This is a pottery figurine of a bamboo shoot.
Bamboo shoot, the sprout of the bamboo plant, is a great delicacy. It is harvested when it has barely seen from the soil, when its texture is still fruit like before turning woody. If it is left a night too long the bamboo shoot will be too hard to be consumed. It is not comparable to another other vegetables and the tin version is nothing close to the real thing.
DIA160mm, China
On the plate is painted 3 generation of scholars, the well learnt elderly man, the established and the scholar to be. Behind them are a selection of scholarly objects and collectibles; scrolls of painting and calligraphy, stationary, books and root sculptures. On the side of the plate is the phrase “knowledge with no cliff”, meaning knowledge is so board that it is like an ocean without an edge.
This phrase is well learnt by most young students, as an encouragement for acquiring knowledge. The phrase came from the late Ming well known writer Zhang Di who was born in a wealthy intellectual family. Well learnt, he indulges in decadent love of beauty; pretty maid, handsome serving boys, fashion, gourmet, elegant horse, glamour, crowds, painting, antiques, etc, etc. The life style and the political situation made him a poor man at later years, he found himself failure in all counts. This however, made his writing all the more powerful.
Textile Width 380mm, China
Hand weaving used to be a traditional household craft for the minority tribes in China, the females would spend their passtime weaving fabric for the use of the family. During these times, not only would the mother would be passing the technique to her girls, it is also a social gathering for the family.
However, with the industrial development of China, it is much easier to buy ready made clothes instead of starting from making a piece of yarn. For the younger generation, the prospect is also brighter to work in a factory in a city than farming in the village. Time has changed, social gathering happens in front of the telly or with the mobile.
This hand woven fabric from our collection is sadly becoming past of history.
W130xH100mm, China
Wishing you a happy 2014!
DIA300xH450mm, China
A traditional Chinese hamper for delivering delicious goodies. Unlike the gift hamper that one receive nowadays, the hamper is not a part of the gift and would need to be return to the owner. Not only is it return but it is also expected to contain a red packet, a return gift in monetary form, “砸籃” (weighting the basket). In the traditional Cantonese gift etiquette, when receiving a food item as a gift, one would give a red packet to the giver, this is known as “砸” (za), the term that originate from the gift basket.
DIA300xH330mm, China
Stock up enough alcohol for the holiday ahead?
This traditional Chinese wine jar would probably be large enough to last till 2014!
Instead of using a large cork, the jar would have been sealed with a strong paper which is secured by a string. Clay would be applied over the paper making it air tight. This is where the saying of breaking off the clay seal for describing the act of drinking comes from.
Please don’t drink and drive.
W45xL70xH25mm, China
A snuff bottle in the form of a sleepy blue frog.
Now a song for the festive season.
DIA120xH80mm, China
A plate for offering, like the bronze bowl featured earlier this week.
The random dotted pattern on the plate was not intention but marks left by plate stacked one over the other, over the glazed and all. The potter would have to knocked on the plates to release them as they would have been stuck together by the melted glaze. A crude way of doing pottery but yet giving a special feeling to the object.
L80xW40xH110mm, China
A mythical character in the epic “Feng Shen Yan Yi” which described all the saintly figures, his name is Zhun Ti Dao Ren. Zhun Ti was said to have come from the West, the land of Buddhism, bringing with him the wisdom and teaching of the Buddha.
The carriage of Zhun Ti Dao Ren is the famous Wisdom Peacock, Mahamayuri, the son of the Phoenix.
Mountain Folkcraft 