Catalog (490)

Unique clear glass Sino Tibetan image of a Dakini, most likely cast from a mold. Basically even with the usual clay images it is problematic dating them as the molds may be old but the item recently made, this piece has traces of compacted soil, surface pitting and wear, as well as small Ming Dynasty Buddhist and Taoist clear glass charms having been documented, I feel a circa 100 year plus is a conservative dating. Having circumambulated the Jokhang on many occasions mainly to check out the B...

"Stairway to Heaven #2" by Lau Yan Tsun. Mixed media; acrylic paint, Chinese paper mounted on canvas. 1.1 meter x 1.1 meter. Artist's Brief: Lau Yan Tsun is a self-taught painter. His interest in fine arts emerged while studing visual Arts in Toronto, Canada during 1970's. Returning to Hong Kong in 1983, he worked in various types of visual media. He took up calligraphy in 1989 and this led him more exclusively into painting. Lau has tra...

Fine and rare two paneled silk embroidered “wedding blanket” from the small Maonan minority people of northern Guangxi Zhuang Province. This piece is 60 to 90 years old with a hand spun cotton foundation and hand spun silk. The frontal surface of the blanket is decorated with embroidered floral and phoenix symbols and key fret pattern highlighted by “floating weft” threads. The Maonan number just a little over 100,000 souls and are closely related to the Zhuang who are probab...

Old Chin skirt, circa 1950, from the Khumi subgroup in Burma. The design is called “amtosa” although deceptively simple is really extremely complex; please note in enlargements that the reverse side of this textile does not show any of the pattern on the front. This is made on a backstrap loom of very fine homespun cotton with a beaded open work border along the selvedge. Three small repaired holes. L: 1.8m/6ft and W: 40.5cm/16in.