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Monks traveling from village to village use colorful folding wooden study/prayer table called Chogtse. They fold, carry and use them to travel and display sutras, scrolls, books and other study materials to teach villagers Tibetan (aka Vajrayana, Esoteric, Tantric) Buddhism ethics, principles and history. Made for easy portability and storage dowel, the wood bamboo shaped…
This 5-piece apple green glazed stoneware home altar set includes a central large censor flanked by rising pairs of candlestick holders and vases. These folk art ceramics were made at the Shiwan kilns in a small town near Foshan City in Guangdong Province where renowned, popular and well modeled pieces with vivid expression and colorful…
Fruit plates have been used as offerings in all Chinese religions to communicate with and venerate ancestors and deities in temples or home altars, bring reciprocal blessings to the bearers, strengthen family ties and demonstrate filial piety. Offerings of fruit, vegetables, sweets, tea and flowers and lighting candles and incense were ceremonially presented on home…
Offerings of sweets, fruits, florals, tea and currency are traditionally placed on a home altar in Chinese homes and temples, often in front of ancestor figures or tablets as a form of ancestor worship in homage to their spirits. They were also placed before Buddhist and Taoist images in reverence and gratitude to the deities….
A hsun ok is a spiritual vessel used in Theravada Buddhism by families to carry food and other offerings to monks in monasteries or temples and, in the past, to members of the royal family. These spiritual acts are to gain merit: good deeds that improve one’s life and inner self and attract other positive…
Banquet scenes and feasts have been part of Chinese art and culture for millennia. They include celebrations of important rituals and social events, both public and private. These can be religious or social rituals, funerary practices performed by families filling their obligations of filial piety, family fêtes, scenes of scholarly gatherings, casual feasts for couples and…
This human figure is an honored Dayak effigy called a hampatong, the name used for both ancestor and protective human and mythical animal figures made from Borneo ‘iron wood’. The Dayak people are indigenous to Borneo (Kalimantan), Indonesia, the world’s 3rd largest island with 4.6 million members comprised of over 200 ethnic subgroups. Residing in…
This rare and beautiful cadence drum was used in a Chinese temple to help monks and chanters think about the meaning of the texts they recite. Carved fish scales and two fish heads embrace a pearl carved on the handle to symbolize unanimity and accord. The fish pair is similar to the popular pair of…
This rare vintage carving was likely made for home shrine or small rice field temple dedicated to Dewi Sri, the Balinese Goddess of Rice. Likely part of a larger decorative scheme, she is presented as a beautiful young woman wearing an elaborate headdress and a rich garment with arm and wristbands and an intricate neck…
The Yoruba in Nigeria believe in a “cult of the head” in which the head is considered a person’s soul and essence and where good judgment, spiritual intuition and destiny are contained. Not simply a head, ori is a Yoruba metaphysical concept referring to human consciousness, mental clarity and ethical worth. The ile ori is…
Yoruba Ibeji carvings are idealized tribal art conforming to Yoruba cultural conventions and do not closely reflect human likenesses. Symmetrical and restrained with oversized, elongated heads where one’s spirit, intelligence and the seat of divine power lie, they have detailed linear coiffures that can be a third or more of the figure’s body size. Having…
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