As defined by the International Museum of Folk Art, folk art encompasses a broad range of forms – dance, song, poetry, and foods as well as art. It is handmade; traditional, reflecting shared cultural aesthetics and social issues which may change over time; and is of, by and for the people inclusive of class, status, culture, ethnicity, gender, and religion. It may be for community use or for sale as income or empowerment; learned formally, informally, or self-taught. It can be decorative or utilitarian used for daily, ritual or ceremonial purposes.
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Antique finely-crafted, heavy and massive antique horseshoe-shaped currency bracelet, elaborately designed with intertwined twisted strands, 11 faceted ends incised with circle and diamond designs.
Elegant antique heddle-pulley carved from a single piece of Burmese teak topped by a hamsa, a goose-like bird and sacred Buddhist symbol of wisdom. Auspicious symbolic animal images are believed protect the weaver, assure quality weaving, and pleases the gods and spirits. Finely weathered from time and use.
Finely carved Kitchen God and his wife, mirror images on backless chairs with multi-sided pedestals reflecting reverent and responsibility to protect the home. Naturally darkened lacquer, soft patina. Male with consecration covering, female open with contents. Unique house warming/wedding gift.
Finely detailed and carved from dense wood, this Kitchen God and his Wife monitor the members of the home from their perch above the stove. On Chinese New Year Zao Shen reports to the Jade Emperor in Heaven and a positive report bringsblessings and good fortune, while and unfavorable one brings misfortune. Family members often smear honey on his mouth to sweeten the report. Near mirror images they wear layered gold officials’ robes with decorative sashes and symbolically hold a hu tablet. They are in excellent condition and add positive chi and enhance feng shui. Kitchen Gods especially pairs are now rare and very collectible and make unique wedding and house gifts.
This antique manilla is made by the Kota in the northeastern region of Gabon and Congo. A thin wide C-shaped bracelet with an elaborate five section design, each section has unique designs with long striations, grooved crosshatches, long triangles and angled designs. In very good condition with minor losses, pitting and scratches, its rough surface inside is consistent with its age and use and comes with a wood and metal stand.
This antique Nuo Opera mask is Tudi Gong, benevolent Earth god with smiling animated face, long eyebrows, hemp beard and high decorative hat. With an honest gentle disposition, he symbolizing the power of good to defeat evil. Nuo popular in Ming/ Qing dynasties, there are few remaining troupes.
Chinese Noa opera mask is likely a female zhengshen – a benevolent gods with kind and honest nature and gentle disposition -symbolizing the power of good to defeat evil. Age and heavy use
Pair of oil lamps for good fortune with diamond shaped double lozenge meaning many treasures, and plum blossoms, symboling the Five Happinesses – wealth, health, longevity, peaceful death and love of virtue.
Burmese teak heddle pulley surmounted by a graceful peacock that symbolizes wholeness, combining colors and fleeting nature of all things. Based on old animistic beliefs, heddles are decorated with auspicious animals providing the weaver protection, assuring good quality weaving and pleasing the gods.
This elegant heddle pulley carved from a single piece of Burmese teak is topped by a peacock, which in Buddhism represents the short-lived nature of all things. In Burmese animistic traditions, it auspicious animal images protect the weaver, assure quality weaving, and please the gods and spirits. Finely weathered from time and use.
Puppet theatre has traditionally assumed a major role in Chinese religious rituals and honoring major life and historical events. Local productions with beautifully carved puppets, music, drama and costumes instilled societal and cultural values as well as providing entertainment to audiences of all ages and educating provincial ones. This head has a typical tapering shaft…
This ancestor figure of a huntsman in the round is unique, standing on a domed pedestal, facing half right holding a flint lock, wearing a hunting coat, a two-level hat, traditional under- and outer-garment, and thick boots. As the noted scholar on Chinese wood carvings stated, a similar figure like this “unusual and extraordinary ancestral image of a huntsman with a flintlock gun, was the only ancestral image in his vast collection which “depicts the calling of the deceased.”
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