DIA300xH140mm, China
This wooden box is made out of single piece of wood, with the void area taken out using a lathe. The wood would be fixed and mounted, with the spindle (a spinning mechanism powered by foot paddle in the old days), it is spinned around on axial. The wood is then hollowed out with a tool held against the spinning piece of wood.
H220xW140mm, China
This is a mask for the Chen He theatre of the Hu Nan district. In the Ming dynasty, immigrants from Jiang Xi settled in the then barren land along the river of Chen He. Mixing in the local dialect, the ground theatre and other religious element CHen He theatre was born, because of its history, there are a lot of different branches in the Chen He theatre. This is a mask for the character Luo Han (Arhat), a Buddhist pupil who has a very high stage of attainment.
W390xL70xH20mm, Japan
This is a Soroban. A calculation device. The Japanese version of the abacus. The number of rods are always of odd number, starting from 13, then 21, 23, 27 (this one) and going up all the way to 31. The more rods will allow for more digits in the calculation. The beads on the rods are separated in 2 rows by the reckoning bar; on each rod below the bar are 4 earth beads, above it there is 1 heaven bead. Each rod represent the same digit, with 1 heaven bead = 5 earth beads, so each rod can go up to 9 before moving to the next digit. The Soroban is still currently in use in Japan, it is reinforced by being taught at school and as part of the entrance requirement to public cooperation.
W530xH1020mm, China
This wooden lattice was part a building, these lattices featured in all traditional Chinese buildings, temples, courts, residential house, etc. They are the upper part of the door which is responsible for letting light into the house. Its a kind of a window, you could say. Buildings are measured by the unit of Jian, and for each jian there will be 4 lattice door. The whole door is of the proportion 1:3 or 1:4. The door is divided into 3 parts, the top is the lattice Ge Shan, the middle is Yao Chuan, the lower part is Zhang Shui Ban. The lattice is constructed by joinery and most often with a miter joint. Danial Sheets Dye’s Chinese Lattice Design has a lot of information regarding the Chinese lattice, it was first published in 1937!
W300xH450mm, China
The head, feet and hands of the glove puppet is made of wood and its body and arms in a fabric formed glove. For the right hand control puppet, with the whole hand in the glove, the thumb would go into the left arm of the puppet, the index finger in the head and the remaining 3 fingers in the right arm of the puppet. As the puppet is directly control by the hand, fine mechanism can be built into the head for the control of the eye, the mouth etc. As in all theatre, the characters of the glove puppet show can be classified into 7 category and each with its many subtypes; the Sheng (male role), the Dan (female role), the Jing (the painted face strong character), the Chou (clown), the Xian (saint), the Guai (monster).
The puppet here is of the saint category, Ling Guan, he is a Taoist saint who used to be bad temple god who would eat children for a meal. A powerful wizard tamed him with a flying fire charm and set his eyes on fire. Ling Guan was upset and filed a complaint to the Jade Emperor who compensated him with a golden whip and a third eye of wisdom, he was also allowed to follow wizard and take his revenge if he found the wizard doing a bad deed. 12 years he followed the wizard and the wizard only do good and no wrong, Ling Guan was moved, instead of hoping for his revenge he became a disciple of the wizard.
L800xW60mm, Hong Kong
This is the famous “White Bone Yin Yang Sword” which I believe belonged to my cousin. It was made at the time when fathers would still make toys for the kids then giving them psp, ipad or nds. The sword is based on the one in the movie “White Bone Yin Yang Sword” staring the teen idol Connie Chan Po Chu. I am sure many of you would have the Lightsaber, the Star War version of the handmade toy.
L550xW80mm, China
This is a chinese traditional scale used for measuring light weight items such as gold or herbs. The scale work by the concept of a lever; the item to be weight on one end and the weight on the other. The weight is slide along until the scale is balanced and from the markings of on the rod, the weight of the item can be told. The small red tassels are the points for pivots, changing the pivot points will give provide a different range for the scale. This is a portable scale with a custom made bamboo casing. The earliest found scale was dated around 700BC; the unit weight for the scale has been changing since, this scale is based on 16 tael to 1 catty, 1 tael = app 37.8g which is the current unit used for the hong kong wet market.
DIA260xH480mm, China
This lacquered water bucket is part of the bridal dowry of a Chinese wedding. The basic dowry list for bucket section would include a foot a water bucket, a foot washing basin and a chamber pot. The list for a well off family would go up to more than 20 items. All these items have in common is that they are all lacquered in red and structurally formed like a barrel, segments of circular planks tightened together by a piece of metal. The bucket artisan used to be a very popular trade, making every day use items, repairs and of course the dowry items, but as China became industrialized now there is only a handful of old artisan left.
W400xH250mm, China
The folding fan was introduced to China from Japan in the Song dynasty; they were a gift from monk Chonen to the Emperor. Emperor Zhu Di lead on the fan fashion, he ordered the court to produce a large number of hand fans, decorated with poems or verses and award the to the high officials. This became to the trend of the intellectuals, exchanging poems and calligraphy through the fans as a gesture of friendship. Even the Qing dynasty, the fashion of hand fan was well in its height. This is a fan from the 50s, a Bai Ju Yi poem about parenthood was added by my father recently.
Mountain Folkcraft 