Archives for posts with tag: chinese
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Golden Wood Carving – Fan Li Hua

08/22/2013 //
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golden wood carvingW60xL90xH130mm, China

This is a figurine of the character Fan Li Hua, one of the four famous Chinese female warriors (Hua Mu Lan, Mu Gui Ying and Qiu Jin).

Fan Li Hua is the beautiful daughter of a border general, well treated in military tactic and martial art, married to General Xue Ding Shan, she was also a general herself and pacified the western counties in the Tang dynasty.  The story of Fan Li Hua has been made into opera, “Fan Jiang Guan”.  The story began with Emperor and General Xue’s father trapped by the enemy in the town, Suo Yang Cheng.  The mother of General Xue has send a message for Fan to help with situation, at the same time, the twin sister of Xue has arrived with the army supply.  At this point, Xue’s sister has a strategic dispute with Fan Li Hua (who by then is already a General).  The spoiled sister-in-law started a fight, though no match against Fan wanted the upper hand.  Fan uses her wit and managed to calm the household as well as rescuing the Emperor.

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Categories figurine, lacquer, wood

Du Dou Embroidery

08/20/2013 //
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embroidery

DIA250mm, China

This embroidery was taken from a du dou, a traditional Chinese under garment.  Du dou for men and children are mostly decorated with embroidery, normally by the mother or the lover.  This embroidery is one from the mother to the child, the pattern of the embroidery is filled with object of blessing.

In the middle is a TIGER, representing bravery.
Surrounding the tiger are 6 treasures (from 12 o’clock);

GOURD – charm against evils,
BOOKS – wisdom
FAN – inject life into the dead (one of the treasures of the 8 Immortals)
XIU QIU – love
SCISSOR – charm against evils
RHINOCEROS HORN – victory
PAINTINGS – scholarly

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Categories costume, embroidery, fabric

Peach Guo Mould

08/19/2013 //
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cookie mouldW120xL230xD20mm, China

This is a wooden mould for making the famous red peach guo.  Guo is Chaozhou dumpling that is made for festivals as well as for everyday snacks.  The peach shaped guo reserved for festive days like the Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice, they are also made for the new born baby by the grandma on its hundred days’ celebration.

The peach shape symbolizes longevity, it is again emphasized by the word “壽” in the middle of the mould.

Here is the master mould carver working on a turtle shape guo mould.

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Categories tools, wood

Congee Pot

08/16/2013 //
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DIA190xH160mm, China

 This beautiful painted pot is a container for rice porridge (congee), a nourishing dish for the elderly.  Though this is an object that would only be found in wealthy families, it seems that elaborated  decoration and the specific usage might have another reason other than the utilitarian one.  The Chinese name for the congee pot is 粥罐 “zhou guan” which has the same pronunciation as 做官 “zuo guan” (being a court official, which is the desire of all commoners).  For this reason, these shape of pots 罐 are view more highly than that of vases and though has an everyday function are highly decorative.  Congee also is a easily digested meal which promotes longevity.  In this sense the congee pot is seen as an item of blessing and thus had a special place in a household.

Now if you are interested in making congee to go with the pot, here is how they make it in the best congee place in Hong Kong.

And this is how you can make it at home in 5 mins!

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Categories container, pottery

Lacquer Bamboo Basket

08/15/2013 //
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bamboo lacquer basket OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

DIA260xH320mm, China

A lacquered bamboo weaved basket which forms part of the dowry of the young bride and an essential household object.  These form of baskets are used for storing food before the arrival of the refrigerator.  Precious food item like fresh vegetables, fruits, eggs, would be placed inside the basket and hung under the beam of the kitchen.  The basket provide good airing and being suspended will stopped vermin from reaching the food.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Categories bamboo, container, lacquer

Roly-Poly Monkey

08/13/2013 //
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monkey

W150xD50xH110, China

A roly-poly monkey toy.

The story goes like this; in the Sung dyansty, there was an additional of a baby boy to a wealthy household.  Precious and spoiled, he cried every night till dawn.  Worried that something was wrong, the family consulted all the well known doctors in town but cries continued.  One day, the father came home with a clay toy shaped with a rounded bottom and a small top.  The child pushes, it wobbles and bounces back, it amuses the child and the crying stopped.  The father believed that it was a blessing from god and had the figure of Guan Yin painted onto it, hoping it will protect his family from toppling.  Unfortunately, one day the child broke the clay toy in half, a bad omen the father thought but the clay cannot be put together again.  Cleverly, he used the broken toy as a mold and created a paper mache version and it became a popular folk toy in China.

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Categories figurine, paper, toy

Lotus Leaf Vessel

08/12/2013 //
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lotus leaf vessel

DIA320xH240mm, Hong Kong

Remember the antique lotus leaf lid that was featured in last winter’s blog?  I started a pottery project of making a vessel to match the lid, after several versions this is the final version which I am most happy with.  It is ideal for serving soup and of course lotus leaf rice.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAlotus lid

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Categories container, JT pottery, pottery, wood

Court Lantern

08/09/2013 //
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court lantern DSC_0203

DIA800xH800mm, China

It is believed that the first court lantern was made for Emperor Liu Xiu, 23 A.D., after successfully unifying the country he held a large banquet in the palace, decorated with ribbons and lanterns.  Until the Sui dynasty, the court lantern is restricted for the use in the palace.  On the coronation of Emperor Wen, 590 A.D., the city Lou Yang held a bit celebration with nightly banquets, operas and court lanterns hanging throughout.  Since then, on the day of  Yuan Xiao every family will hang up court lanterns on the main beam of the living room.

This is the wooden frame of the lantern, a decorative silk or glass panels.  The frame can be folded up nicely for storage till the next Yuan Xiao festival.

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Categories lighting, wood

Oil Lamp

08/08/2013 //
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oil lampW90xD60xH200mm, China

 A figurine of a boy dressed in a du dou, a long life locklet and lifting a bowl on top of him.  The bowl is the oil container for the oil lamp while the boy being the stand.  The name of the lamp, “Boy Raising A Lamp” (童子舉燈) signified however, the lamp is referring only to the container itself.  This is a popular theme for Chinese oil lamp, of different material and for pottery different kilns.  This figurine is an example of the Ci Zhou kiln.  The name 童子舉燈 “Tong Zi Ju Deng” is taken as a blessing for the child of the family, the first three words 童子舉 is a name for a official tang dynasty exam for the gifted child of under 10 years of age, while the word 燈 “deng” is a homonym to the word 登”deng” meaning ascend, achieved.

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Categories figurine, lighting, pottery

Felt Hat

08/07/2013 //
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felt hat

RIM DIA220mm, China

This felt hat is part of the Beijing Opera costume, it is one that is worn by the Chou (clown) character.  Within the clown category, it is separated into the fighters and the intellectuals (I guess for clowns, this would mean the non-fighters).  This hat is used by a type of  intellectual clowns known as the Towel Clown (Jin Zi Chou) in the role of an old and amusing man.  The most famous of the Towel Clown is Chong Gung Dou, the old guard who helped the loyal prostitute Su San to escape.

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Categories costume, fabric
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