Showing 385–396 of 424 results
This vintage Ethiopian Cross from the Northern Ethiopian Highlands in Africa is a variant of a Coptic cross referred to as an Axum Cross where it was crafted. As the most popular form of cross, they are embellished with religious and apotropaic symbols. The top triangle with pierced cutouts represents the Trinity. Each of the…
No other region has produced the quantity, quality and diversity as the Christian cross images from the Ethiopian Highlands, a region renowned for having accepted Christianity early in its history as well as for its fine African art and metalwork. This Coptic cross features stylized birds that transform the simple cross into a tree representing…
This doll is a Chinese opera dancer whose costume decorated with 5-petal plum blossom on the sash symbolizing longevity and, with its 5 petals, a wish for the Five Blessings or Happinesses. Her elaborate hair is a focal point along with the flower he holds. In many cultures, dolls were children’s entertainment and didactic tools…
This doll is a Chinese nuo opera dancer whose costume decorated with 5-petal plum blossoms symbolizing longevity and, with its 5 petals, a wish for the Five Blessings or Happinesses. In many cultures, dolls were children’s entertainment and didactic tools to teach beliefs, philosophy, lore, and history specific to each culture. In China dolls were…
This very fine and very beautiful vintage woodcarving of Dewi Sri , Devi Sri or Sridevi in Java, the Balinese Hindu goddess of rice and prosperity, is in excellent condition considering it is a much used vintage piece. Personally collected in Bali in the 1970s, it reflects the offerings made to Dewi Sri placed in the rice fields to protect the rice harvest. She is depicted here as a young, attractive and fertile woman wearing a striking, highly detailed and decorative headdress similar to those worn in Balinese dances leaving her upper forehead bare and framing her oval face with high curved eyebrows, wide-open eyes and beautiful pursed lips. With its flat back it can be mounted on a wall.
Carved Burmese/Myanmar teak heddle pulleys were primarily used in strip-weaving, a process using small handlooms to weave long, narrow strips of cloth sewn together to create larger textiles such as blankets and ritual cloths. They are used in pairs and are tied together by a string that runs through a mechanism at the top of…
Originally used by the Hmong in Southern China these “spirit soul locks” are worn as necklaces by the Hmong, Akha and Miao Hill-Tribes in China Thailand, Burma, Laos and Vietnam in healing rituals as protective talismans. Shamans perform ritual shamanism ceremonies to call back the restless souls of the sick, depressed or otherwise unstable, cast…
Ibeji carvings from Nigeria are idealized folk art conforming to Yoruba artistic and cultural conventions without closely reflecting human likenesses. Symmetrical and restrained with oversized elongated heads where one’s spirit, intelligence and the seat of divine power lie, they often have detailed linear coiffures that can be a third or more of the figure’s body…
Javanese Wayang (puppet theater) Topeng (literally “pressed against the face” or mask) is a very refined dance form accompanied by gamelan music. In Bali Topeng tua is the charming dance of an old courtier’s fragile movements, his lack of control and his gathering energy for a short lively dance. He sits behind a cloth curtain,…
This ethnic and folk-art Bali legendary court minister (topeng patih) is performed in a special mask dance named Topeng Panjegan, as only one dancer interprets five different characters wearing full face masks preventing speech. Patih manis (Sweet Minister) is often the first solo dance after a gamelan orchestra introduction, and this patih keras (strong minister)…
This vintage wood and cloth doll representing male attendants from China carries a peach, among the most popular Chinese auspicious symbols representing longevity. He is presented as a Chinese- opera figure with his costume decorated with 5-petal plum blossoms also symbolizing longevity and its 5 petals evoking a wish for the Five-Blessings-or-Happinesses. In many cultures,…
All ethnic mask (topeng) dances in Bali are accompanied with music from a gamelan percussion orchestra as are dramas and other entertainments considered as offerings to honor, please and attract the favor of the gods and ancestral spirits. In the west dancers put on masks to pretend they are someone else. Balinese dancers become the…
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