Showing 1–12 of 33 results
-
$335.00
Antique Chinese puppets were often made in several parts, with the head being removable. This antique female carved wood head of a beauty has delicately painted features with a porcelain white face with animal hair braided down the back. Since there is an area without hair towards the back, it may have had a headdress. A hole on top probably accommodated strings. Mounted on a frosted acrylic base, it is in good condition with surface losses and a ding on the left side of the face consistent with age and use.
-
$395.00
This antique hand-carved Nuo Opera mask from Southern China of a smiling woman with a slender face, delicate features and hair in a topknot portrays a zhengshen, a friendly female deity (shen) with a kind and honest nature and a gentle disposition. She is a symbol of the power of good capable of defeating evil. Most Nuo masks are brightly painted, but the age and heavy use of this one has resulted in paint losses. Different colored bases under the reddish-brown indicate it was repainted long ago and reused more than once. The bright red lips have faded and areas around the eyes, mouth, nose and hair reveal what may be an original first layer of white gesso. Mask enthusiasts will appreciate the resulting paint and lacquer layers which tell the story of this Nuo mask’s colorful history, and, yes, the pun is intended. It is in verygood condition for its age and use and for its journey surviving China’s modernization.
-
$950.00
Chinese puppet theatre has thrived in China for centuries to educate and entertain with puppets that often had detachable heads. A most popular figure was the Queen Mother of the West the highest ranking female Taoist deity who women venerated as a powerful, independent deity embodying yin (female energy) and prayed to for health and long life. In the Ming and Qing dynasties she became a cult figure with local temples dedicated to her and artisans modifying her features and iconography making her more folk than regal. Her elaborate complex headdress includes a large outstretched tortoise atop a phoenix surrounded by an arch bordered with a scale like finish. It is mounted on a contemporary frosted acrylic base.
-
$575.00
This amusing antique Nuo Opera mask portrays Tudi Gong, the benevolent Earth god with a smiling animated face, long eyebrows, a hemp beard, large ears, and wearing a high decorative hat. Tudi is a zhengshen, a god who is kindly, honest with a gentle disposition, symbolizing the great power of good, through which evil can be defeated. Nuo was popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties and although they are still performed in rural areas, there are few remaining troupes.
-
$95.00
This antique hardwood local female deity from a provincial area in South India represents a Devi, a positive spirit and fertility deity. Hand crafted as a child’s toy, it was intentionally crudely carved without much detail or reality, created to entertain and instill pride in the local community’s heritage and religion. It has a shiny patina from natural hand oil from being handled a century or so.
-
$395.00
The third eye on this Topeng Bondres is ironic, as it depicts a very odd clown-like, personality. Very well-carved, he has uneven bloodshot eyes, an almost hairless head, angular bony eye-sockets and a recessed face with black age lines on each side of a puny nose. The protruding red lips, open mouth with two teeth and mustache are not balanced and describe a weirdo demanding attention. He is a strange and wacky Balinese jokester who evokes laughter and is exactly what the Balinese love: a abnormal slapstick clown with physical oddities. Personally collected in Bali in the 1970s, this piece is in excellent condition for its age and use with expected minor paint losses and scrapes.
-
$875.00
A traditional figure central and essential to Balinese culture and lore, Rangda is the widow demon-queen ruling an army of witches practicing black magic. Frightening and threatening, she has two upper fangs, two lower fangs now lost, scary teeth, jagged elements surrounding her head, large bulging eyes, open nostrils and is painted red symbolizing one easy to anger and threatening. In very good condition considering its age and use, it has expected paint losses, scratches and a fine patina. Personally collected in the 1970s, she is mounted on a museum-quality metal stand.
-
$395.00
This finely carved vintage mask is called a Jauk manis mask. It represents the more gentle traits of a giant with human traits, normal features and a smile, and its white color is usually symbolic of purity. It can also be colored reddish or orange symbolizing an individual easy to anger. Collected in the 1970s in Lombok, this mask is rare as Lombok at that time had few tourists and the Balinese community of carvers living there generally did not sell their masks. It has a fine aged patina, hairline cracks and frayed eyebrows consistent with its age and use.
-
$1,150.00
This large rare vintage Timor ancestor mask with huge eyes, a horsehair beard, an inverted curved U-shaped mouth and two small half-circle ears is an ancestral carving having the powerful resolve to protect living relatives. This is in excellent condition considering its age, storage and use, has a black patina and comes with a museum-quality metal stand. This mask is one of 3 of our masks featured in the original 2002 Spiderman movie pictured on the wall in the collection of Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin.
-
$675.00
This vintage Dyak hudoq mask from Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) had been influenced by Javanese masks. It is a single wood piece with small eyes, straight instead of a triangular or bulbous nose with open nostrils, the ears are a small and round and not a separate, large wing-like attached wood piece and the mouth is tiny and without scary teeth. Collected personally in Bali in the 1970s, it comes with a museum-quality metal stand, is in very good condition with a nice patina, surface scratches and pigment losses consistent with its age and use.
-
$435.00
This Middle Hills hardwood mask from Eastern Nepal may be a local deity, ancestor or shaman mask. Its deep eye-sockets and pierced eyes stare at the viewer over a triangular nose above a lipless mouth with small gnashed teeth in a potent expression. Its forehead recedes to a crown with decorative Xs, vertical lines and triangular motifs. Shaped as a V with a flat chin, it is carved with geometric shapes and has a strong presence. Having a layered patina ranging from brown to the black seen in other antique masks, folk masks like this are being reproduced in Nepal but those with age are very difficult to find.
-
$195.00
This delightful doll mounted on a frosted acrylic stand is dressed as a bearded official wearing a traditional ‘spread-wing” official’s hat. Originally mounted on a wood stick seen under his attire, he wears a dark blue and gold robe with a loose black, red and silver official’s belt and boots. Although dressed as a Chinese official, he is clearly an entertainer. He holds a set of paper clappers – Kuaiban – meaning “fast boards,” a two-millennia old Chinese castanets-like instrument made of bamboo or other wood slats tied together with rope which entertainers rattle, shake or clap together to produce a complementary sound or beat. This piece is in excellent condition with expected signs of wear and use in the clothing and minor paint losses.
The four dancer dolls we offer are a charming collection.
End of content
End of content
