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Chinese artisans devoted as much time and effort to create small accessories like home altar tables as they do with larger pieces. This home altar table is handcrafted with mortise-and-tenon joints, using no nails or glue which made it more stable and longer lasting. The surface blend multiple layers of different colors of blacks and reds…
Mazu has many names and titles. In China she is Mazu (Matsu) meaning ‘Ancestor Mother’ or ‘Eternal Mother’ and on southern China she is affectionately called ‘Ā-mā’ meaning ‘grandmother’ or ‘mother.’ In Taiwan she is ‘Holy Heavenly Mother’ and the ‘Empress of the Heavens’ and ‘Tianhou,’ Daughter of the Dragon. She is the most worshiped female Taoist…
The well-crafted lacquer covered jewelry box is a fine Chinese vernacular furniture and accessories example from the late Qing Dynasty in the th – 19th century for China’s emerging merchant class who rejected strict formal Ming design. This newly emerged style was made from softer woods such as elm, often brightly colored in red lacquer…
While most families have had prints or paper-cuts of the Kitchen God (Zao Shen) with or without his wife above their stove, carved images were owned by wealthier families. The Kitchen God is syncretic as a Taoist, Popular Religion and Buddhist tutelary deity, protector of the home who was responsible for making sure there was…
While most families have had prints or paper-cuts of the Kitchen-God (Zao Shen) with or without his wife above their stove, carved images were owned by wealthier families. The Kitchen-God is syncretic as a Taoist, Popular Religion and Buddhist tutelary deity, beloved among house-gods as protector of the home. He observes the family’s behavior and…
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.
The Kota are a fairly small tribe in Gabon, Africa with strong ties to France. African metalwork bracelets became known as manillas and were locally made and used as currency, s medium of exchange for trade or barter, purchase land, livestock and other goods and services; pay for significant life events such as births, coming…
A kumkum container is as part of Hindu puja used for Hindu social and religious markings. Kumkum is dried and made into a paste combined with small amounts of slaked lime sometimes embellished with a few grains of rice that turns the turmeric reddish and is used to apply a tikka – a small dot…
During the Ming and Qing dynasties fu lion images were especially popular in smaller versions used in private homes on home altars, as free-standing decorative Buddhist statues, design elements on furniture and architecture and on utilitarian objects like candlestick holders and bed posts to bring blessings of fu and prosperity. In the Buddhist tradition, they…
Whimsical carvings of fu lions were the most popular mythical animals in Chinese homes, especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties, as free standing statues, designs on furniture, architectural elements and functional pieces in private homes or gardens or on a home altar to bring fu and the blessings to the home. This incredibly cute…
This elaborate 19th century elmwood vanity cabinet is an example of Chinese vernacular furniture catering to the newly prosperous Chinese merchant class whose colorful tastes countered those of conservative scholars and the literati imperial class. Covered with red lacquer, the color of blessings (fu), it has deeply carved and painted decorations highlighted with gold with…
Hindus use brass or mixed metalwork votive oil lamps (diya) for daily prayer rituals (puja). As light is the absence of darkness where evil forces dwell, lighting a lamp on a home altar signifies purity and goodness to convey good luck and power over evil. They are also used to honor arrival of a guest,…
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