Showing 37–48 of 103 results
This delicate antique Yixing teapot is unusually shaped with a loop handle, short spout, flaring rim, small flat cover and small loops below its rim that indicate it may have been used to suspend oil or soy sauce rather than serve tea. Its charm is enhanced by its free hand-painted colored enamels with circular panels containing fanciful and bright floral and leaf decorations.
This delicate antique Yixing teapot is unusually shaped with a loop handle, short spout, flaring rim, small flat cover and small loops below its rim that indicate it may have been used to suspend oil or soy sauce rather than serve tea. Its charm is enhanced by its free hand-painted colored enamels with circular panels containing fanciful and bright floral and leaf decorations.
This stunning antique garden stool has parallel ridges surrounding its body and is a fine and rare piece. Hand thrown with a thick high-fired stable body, it has six framed panels with historic and symbolic images against a white background focusing on the finely made and intricate designs surrounded by rich cobalt blue. Most garden stools were made in a drum or barrel shape, far fewer were hexagonal and fewer still had auspicious objects and poems framed within the panels. This fine piece was created for the garden of a rich family, as cobalt was highly prized and expensive used in sparing amounts unless bound for an an important client. This unique piece has not only outstanding rendered panels, but the objects represented there were included to provide a flow of blessings, good wishes, energy and good fortune to those using it.
This magnificent glazed stoneware garden stool was owned by a wealthy family that is reflected in its complex pierce-work and its use of cobalt blue, a prized mineral color normally used very sparingly. Its strong hexagonal walls are decorated with registers of varied heights running vertically up the sides and divided by horizontal cobalt blue lines surrounding the stool. The designs depicted here – narcissus flowers, double lozenges and the octagonal shapes below are all Chinese auspicious symbols, homophones, and visual puns laden with meaning and wishes for continual good fortune, prosperity and wealth and the protective casting out of demons for the family to reach their goals and wishes for a good life. This pairs well with garden stool 16779.
Fashioned in a traditional drum/barrel shape, this unusual and ornately decorated antique garden stool is covered with auspicious symbols, and the positive energy from them is believed to be absorbed by the lucky individual who sits on them. Highlighted with pierced decorations and circular reliefs the upper borders of the body of this beautiful stoneware stool is covered with four bands of apple green, white, brown and cobalt blue – an expensive and infrequently used pigment. The bottom portion is covered in a mustard yellow glaze with pierced and relief images of double coins, tao tieh and florals.
This five-sided Shiwan stoneware pillow with slanted top, open bottom, vibrant glazed surface, and etched coin and diamond design was used for smoking opium as the cool shell cradled the users’ heads and necks and offset the warmth of smoking and the hollow inside stored valuables. We have another which can be paired with it. If a candle is placed inside it emits an amazing shadowy form of a coin, which appealed to those in an opium state.
This finely designed 14/15th century globular stoneware box resting on a short foot has an olive-brown glazed lotus bud handle surrounded by radiating radiating olive-brown and lightly glazed petals above a band of geometric shapes. The body is lyrically ornamented with an intricate scroll of white, light glazed and incised colored branches and florals on an olive-brown glaze background. Its fine appearance is a result of the unusual lovely olive-brown surface with a glaze applied sparsely in some areas and thicker in others to offset the vegetal scrolls.
This terracotta head was crafted during the Majapahit Empire in Java and was either part of a bas-relief frieze or made as a freestanding figurine. Most figures found are small decapitated heads with no bodies, and it is very rare to find a complete figure with a naturalistic facial expression. As with many heads, this one displays Javanese facial features, hairstyles and ear ornamentation typical of the period. It has a naturalistic facial expression and wears large round coiled earrings, possibly suggesting it represented someone of the upper classes. It is in very good condition given its age and use and is mounted on a metal stand. This item pairs with Majapahit Miniature Terracotta 1138.
This terracotta head was crafted during the Majapahit Empire in Java and was either part of a Hindu bas-relief frieze or made as a freestanding figurine. Most figures found are small decapitated heads with no bodies, and it is very rare to find a complete figure with a naturalistic facial expression. As with many heads, this one displays Javanese facial features, hairstyles and ear ornamentation typical of the period. It has a naturalistic facial expression and wears large round coiled earrings, possibly suggesting it represented someone of the upper classes. It is in very good condition given its age and use and is mounted on a metal stand. This items pairs with Majapahit Terracotta Head 1137.
A group of 12 zodiac figures as mingqi sometimes accompanied the wealthy deceased in their tomb. This Ming dynasty earthenware figurine stands on a low circular base and wears an official’s hat and long flowing robes. It is difficult to identify the specific animal held here but it may be a rabbit, small dog or baby pig. The detailed figure is hollow and partially mould-made and unlike glazed mingqi, was covered with a white slip and painted using black and white pigments which are mostly extant.
Often ancestral figures were portrayed sitting in horseshoe chairs to reflect the high status of the figure they were portraying. As many earthenware mingqi, this well-modeled chair has a liberally applied thick green glaze resulting in expected drips around the stretchers. The seat is decorated with a yellow glaze imitating caning and the decorative carved design on the splat also has a yellow glaze and a carved decorative “clocklike” circular design. The bottom of the seat and legs are not glazed, as is usual. It is in very good condition with expected minor chips and minor glaze pitting and deterioration consistent with its age and long burial. It pairs perfectly with item 3330 and together would add to a fine collection of Chinese ceramics.
This charming miniature Ming dynasty ceramic horseshoe pottery chair is an accurate model of an impressive Ming chair that would have been made of a beautifully grained hardwood and constructed with a continuous horseshoe shaped top rail and a caned seat. The curved splat of a wood chair might have either carved or pierced motifs or medallions and straight or curved stretchers joining the legs in pairs at the same height on each side. Often ancestral carved figures were portrayed sitting in horseshoe chairs to reflect the high status of the figure they were portraying. This ceramic mingqi has a thick green glaze throughout which was liberally applied normal usual drips around the stretchers. The seat is decorated with a yellow glaze in imitation of caning as is the decorative carved design on the splat, but the bottoms of both the seat and legs are unglazed. The rail ends splay to the right and left for hand comfort and decorative effect are traditionally found in Ming Dynasty hardwood horseshoe-shaped chairs. It is in very good condition with minor chips and paint losses and fading due to its being buried underground in a tomb for centuries. It would be a fine addition to a collection of antique ceramics.
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