W100xH100xD25mm, China
A figurine of a cute chubby girl holding her pekingese dog, she is no ordinary girl but A-Fu the giant child and what she is toying with is no pet dog but a fierce lion. She and her boy friend has been send to earth to protect us from beasts that has been threatening the villagers in ancient time. (It would seem that the human are a more a threat to the wild life today and they should turn around and offer them protection instead.)
Click here to see our other A Fu.
W440xH300mm, China
The pekingese dogs featured in yesterday’s post is also known as a “shi zi” dog, a lion dog.
Lion, shi zi, is not an animal originated from China, its legendary power and strength has captured the imagination of the people. Though worship for their bravery and power, they are often portrayed as a playful creature. Looking at the clip of the two lions playing, it seems that the Chinese image of the lion look closer to that of a pekingese dog than the lion itself. I wonder if shi zi dog (pekingese) would have been bred basing on this traditional image of the shi zi.
W440xH300mm, China
A wood block print of two lively pekingese playing in the fields.
Pekingese dogs were known to be the emperors’ pets, roaming about in the palace.
This print is paired with a print of 2 shi zi (lions) playing which will be on tomorrow’s post.
W200xD330xH260mm, Hong Kong (NOT FOR SALE)
For Spikey‘s birthday, we have a paper mache Spike!
You can see more of spike in his own blog
http://spiketang.wordpress.com/
L80xW40xH40mm, China
Now how can you resist these complete cute looking clay dog toys!
Amongst the unique pottery, you will also find Mountain Folkcraft’s collection at the Cobo Ceramic Workshop X’mas Sale.
COBO CERAMIC WORKSHOP
1/F Fortune Court, 33 Morrison Hill Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
5 – 9 Dec 2014 (Fri – Tue)
13:00-20:00
W100xD100xH70mm, Hong Kong (NOT FOR SALE)
For Spikey‘s birthday, a treat tray for my father for dishing out munchies.
He really does behave like this with his food…
Can’t believe that you are already 6 years old.
Happy Birthday Spikey!
You can follow Spike’s own on www.spiketang.wordpress.com
DIA100xH60mm, Hong Kong
This is a compass used by Tanka clan, a clan who lived on junk boats along the coast of Southern China and worked as fisherman. As it is a day to day object, their compass is more simple then the traditional geomancers’ compass. The compass for the Chinese is not only for telling the direction but related to space (direction extending to the universe) and time (past and future) as a whole
The Chinese Compass Points
Chinese navigators reduced the compass they inherited from the geomancers to its simplest form, using only 24 points, or even reducing them to 12 or 8. The dial itself is divided into segments of 15 degrees each, represented by 24 Chinese characters. These are the compass points, which scholars say were the basis for calculations by diviners and geomancers in ancient times. These compass points were stabilized in their present system by at least the early 8th century. These characters used on the compass dial are not the characters commonly used in China to represent directions. Their origin or etymology is, for the most part, lost in the mists of antiquity. But scholars have traced many of them back to over 4000 years ago when they appeared on “oracle bones” used to look into the future. 12 of the characters ; 子 zi, 丑 chou, 寅 yin, 卯 mou, 辰 chen, 巳 si, 午 wu, 未 wei, 申 shen, 酉 you, 戌 xu, 亥 hai, have been traditionally grouped together and referred to as the 12 branches. 8 of these character 甲 jia, 乙 yi, 丙 bing, 丁 ding, 庚 geng, 辛 xin, 壬 ren, 癸 gui, are part of the traditional grouping knon as the 10 stems. The remaining 4 乾 qian, 坤 kun , 艮 gen, 巽 xun derive from one of the earliest Chinese works on divination, the I Ching. In very ancient times, the 12 branches were applied to the months of the tropical year and the 10 stems were used to name the ten day week. Diviners used the stem/ branch combinations of the day, month and year of birth as basis for their calculations and conclusions. The 12 brances are also associated with the Chinese zodiac; the rat, ox, tiger, hares, dragon, serpent, horse, gost, monkey, cock, dog and bear. Each of htese creatures is supposed to exercise an astrological influence over a particular 2 hour period of the day, and one year out of every 12.
子 zi – North, rat, 23:00-01:00
癸 gui – N15°E
丑 chou – N15°E , ox, 01:00-03:00
艮 gen – NE
寅 yin – N60°E, tiger, 03:00-05:00
甲 jia – N75°E
卯 mou – East, hare, 05:00-07:00
乙 yi – S75°E
辰 chen – S60°E, dragon, 07:00-09:00
巽 xun – SE
巳 si – S30°E, snake, 09:00-11:00
丙 bing – S15°E
午 wu – South, horse, 11:00-13:00
丁 ding – S15°W
未 wei – S30°W, sheep, 13:00-15:00
坤 kun – SW
申 shen – S60°W, monkey, 15:00-17:00
庚 geng – S75°W
酉 you – West, cock, 17:00-19:00
辛 xin – N75°W
戌 xu – N60°W, dog, 19:00-21:00
乾 qian – NW
亥 hai – N30°W, pig, 21:00-23:00
H300x W190mm, China
Isnt this paper cutout perfect birthday decoration for the pet shih tzu?
Dog H20xL20mm, China
Children like creating sounds and Chinese children are no different, in fact sound making toy is a category by itself! What can more desirable than a portable cute looking figurine that can make beautiful sounds! Both of these whistles have a tail at the end as a mouth piece, the second hole for generating the sound is located at the bottom. These ceramic whistles are in the shape of a dog and a bird.
H150xW100xD80mm, China
This is a clay toy named Da A Fu; legend has it that once upon a time, the area of Hui Shan was inhabited by wild monsters. The villagers were very afraid of them. One day the the Sand Child god, named Da A Fu, was send from heaven to tame the monsters. With magical powers, just a grin from Da A Fu, the monsters would become very gentle. The villagers made clay figures of Da A Fu to commemorate him. The figures are also used as a protector of devils.
Mountain Folkcraft 