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.
W360xD190XH360mm, China
This fine lacquered cabinet was a household shrine for worshiping the ancestors in the Chaozhou area. Ancestral tablets would be kept inside of the cabinets, with the higher ranking ancestor on the upper stage and the others on the lower level. The decoration of the exterior of the doors are blessing figures of warriors and top scholars (zhuang yuan) while in the interior are scholarly plants, all a blessing for the descendants of the family.
The ancestral tablets are made of word with the name of the ancestor. The legend goes like this; a long time ago there lived a poor widow and her son. The son was a brute, abusive to the mother verbally and sometimes even physically, but the mother took care of him all the same. One day, while the son was collecting logs in the mountain he saw a mother bird busy looking for food to feed her young, so tired is the bird that she collapsed in the nest after feeding the nestling. Seeing this the young man realized he had been wrong of how he had treated his mother and felt terrible. Right about the same time, his mother arrived with his lunch, the young man hurried to greet his mother. Not knowing his intention, the mother told she would get another beating, she put down the food and started to run down the hill. The son yelled behind her and the mother hurried, tripped, hit a tree and died. Unable to tell his mother how sorry he had been, he took a piece of the tree, wrote on it his mother’s name and worship it on her birthday. The character of the son changed and became a very successful man and the idea of ancestral tablets were adopted by others.
W60xL90xH130mm, 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.
W130xH70xD30, China
The carp fish is a blessing symbol for the Chinese, there are many legends regarding the carp fish and here is one of them:
Once upon a time there is an orphan named Ji Qing, without a family he made his living as a boat tracker on the Chuan Jiang River. Life was hard but he lived his days joyfully, being a good swimmer he is able to retrieve any objects his passenger accidentally dropped into the ocean. Diving deep into the water he had a special bond with the carp fish, even if he is hungry he will not harm them, his friend made fun of him and called him silly Qing. One day when he was tidying up the tow string, he saw a beautiful golden carp but at the same time a water snake was about to make it his dinner. Ji Qing threw the string on the water snake and saved the golden carp, he took the injured carp to his hut and nursed it for days. One evening exhausted from a day’s water he rushed home to see the carp but it was no where to be found. Oddly on the table was 4 gold bars and there carved the words, “I have jumped to the sky and swam to the reef but failed to be a dragon (it is believe that if a carp can jump over the mountain it will turn into a dragon), here I am to give wealth to Ji Qing.
Would this be the golden carp?
L130xW50xH150mm, China
This is not a figurine on a merry go round but in fact a warrior at war. The themes of golden lacquered wood carving are usually based on stories in Chinese operas. This figurine is most probably from a decorative wall hangers depicting the fighting scene.
L180xD70xH70mm, China
There are many themes for the gold plated lacquered wood carving (so many verbs, but there there are so many layers layers to the work); floral and symbolic carving is one of them. The two symmetrical flowers are peony, representing wealth and glamour. The center piece is xiu qiu (embroidery ball) which is a blessing symbol for love. Many year ago when public dating are forbidden, the girl would select the groom by throwing the xiu qiu. On the 15th of lunar January / August, the suitors would gather under the ladies’ quarter, the girl would throw the xiu qiu and whoever catches it will be the groom. This carving is likely to be part of the decoration from the bridal sedan. (see more about xiu qiu)
Mountain Folkcraft 