Catalog (321)

From our World Handicrafts Collection (Ex-Asia), a charming hand-carved mirror frame from Cuzco Peru, sister city of the famed Macchu Piccu ruins. The wood used here is an indigenous Andean softwood that has been very skillfully carved in Spanish Baroque style, not uncommon since Peru was colonized by the Spanish in the 1500's and Spanish architectural influence still pervades their culture and crafts. The mirrored glass was installed later in the States. A lovely and unique gift item.

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From our World Handicrafts Collection (Ex-Asia), a large, fine, and wonderfully vibrant hand-made kilim from Uzbekistan or the Caucasus Region, with bird and geometric motifs executed in a rich multicolor palette of indigo, red, blue, mint green, brown, cream, and purple against a burnt orange ground. A very elegant, intricate, and sophisticated example. This piece can be used either as a standard floor rug, or hung vertically on a wall as a dramatic art statement.

Size and Condition: ...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a very fine and intricate Indonesian original painting by N. Mandra of Ubud (Bali), depicting an offering scene executed in subdued earth tones. The painting is acrylic on canvas and is very well done.

Size and Condition: Framed dimensions are 32 inches tall, 24 1/2 inches wide. Perfect condition, no damages.

From our Indian Subcontinent Collection, a large enameled silver box from Jaipur, Rajasthan (India), featuring a very attractively painted elephant in regal attire executed in royal blue against an irridescent turquoise background, with floral motifs in green, blue, and champagne color around the borders and on the sides, all executed upon high grade silver. This particular box is a larger example of another similar piece we offer, item # 937150.

There is a plethora of arts and crafts th...

From our Indian Subcontinent Collection, a very good pair of contemporary Indian miniature paintings of caparisoned elephants, executed in a palette that contrasts rich red with a lavish use of gilt, along with grey, white, and black. Often painted with single-haired sable brushes or their equivalent, some of the details here are so fine they are difficult to appreciate without a jeweler's loop. Even our 6x magnification camera lens does not fully capture all the detail, we can only see it all...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a superb original and signed acrylic painting on canvas depicting an Indonesian Barong Dance. Though this particular piece does not share the same museum provenance as our other Barong Dance offering (see item # 938720), we think it is at least of equal merit. Some may even think it is superior. In any case, both are superb examples.

The Barong Dance is one of those wonderful and almost magical expressions of Indonesian mythology, where themes of good...

From our Fine Arts and Americana Collection, an original oil on canvas by artist David Schluss entitled "Falling in Love." Though we need to confirm this with Schluss's publisher, we believe that "Falling in Love" was never made into any giclees, serigraphs, or prints of any kind, and thus it's quite possible that this original is the only image of this particular work in existence. We invite Schluss devotees worldwide to inform us if they have ever seen this image before. It's believed to hav...

From our World Handicrafts Collection (ex-Asia), a handsome painted wooden box from Veracruz, Mexico, depicting various flora and fauna including birds, butterflies, and parrots, rendered in green against a black background, all crafted upon a wooden body. A charming piece of authentic Mexican handicraft and a lovely gift item.

Size and condition: 15 3/4 inches wide, 8 inches tall, 7 1/2 inches deep. A few nicks.

From our World Handicrafts Collection (ex-Asia), a handsome leather-wrapped wooden chest from Cusco, Peru, with chocolate colored leather sheets that have been hand-worked with stylized Inca motifs, overlaid onto a wooden body and secured with brass studs. The inside is lined with a red velvet/ felt type material. A charming authentic handicraft from the indigenous population and a lovely gift item.

Size: 9 inches long, 6 1/2 inches tall, 6 1/4 inches deep.

From our World Handicrafts Collection (ex-Asia), a handsome inlaid wooden box from Oaxaca Mexico, very attractively executed with dark brown inlay upon a lighter straw colored base wood. The box is fairly light, not quite balsa wood weight but light nevertheless, and is fragrant on the inside where the exposed surface of the hewn wood has not been varnished. Regrettably, we have forgotten the name of this interesting wood. In any event, a lovely gift item.

Size 8 7/8 inches long, 3 1/2 ...

From our World Handicrafts Collection (ex-Asia), a lovely original still life painting in oil, cheerfully executed in bold primary colors depicting a kitchen cupboard full of various sundries. Quintessentially Mexican, this pretty painting comes from Oaxaca Mexico.

Size: Framed dimensions are 19 inches wide, 24 inches tall. Unframed image size is 10 3/4 inches wide, 15 ½ inches tall.

From our World Handicrafts Collection (ex-Asia), a very cheery and colorful original oil painting on canvas of a woman in traditional garb gathering flowers. From the lovely city of Oaxaca Mexico, this charming scene in vibrant colors captures well, that certain relaxed slice of life from one of the more idyllic and unhurried parts of the country.

Size: Framed dimensions are 25 3/4 inches wide, 30 inches tall. Unframed image size is 15 ½ inches wide, 19 ½ inches tall.

From our Fine Arts and Americana Collection, a fine pastel still life painting of a flower vase by Luis Bodes of Alhambra Spain. Executed in pretty blues, lime green, orange, grey and white, this is an elegant little painting that we had richly framed as we feel it befits the piece. Those who understand painting well, and in particular, those who appreciate the limitations of working in pastel, are familiar with the challenges in achieving a sophisticated aesthetic when working in this medium. ...

From our Fine Arts and Americana Collection, a large and very fine original oil painting on canvas in the Realism style, by renowned regional artist David Berger. Mr. Berger's work has appeared in many juried art fairs across the country, and is particularly well-known in the southeastern United States where he exhibits prolifically.

Those familiar with his work know that his nearly "hyper-realistic" renditions of silk lace are a signature feature for many of his still life pieces, where t...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a very striking contemporary Burmese writing box done in the "shwei-zawa" technique, with gold leaf floral designs known as "chupan" set against a shiny black lacquer ground, all done to very striking and dramatic effect. For those unfamiliar with this ancient Southeast Asian craft that began with the Thai in the seventeenth century, and is still practiced today mainly by the Burmese, Sylvia Fraser -Lu gives a simplified but useful explanation in Burmese Craft...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a very attractive 5 piece Pagan-style lacquer hsun-ok (offering vessel) from the famed U Aung Myint workshop in Myinkaba Village, Pagan Burma (Myanmar), from which the British Museum has commissioned pieces for display in London. See Isaacs and Burton, Visions from the Golden Land, Burma and the Art of Lacquer page 222-223. We had the honor, privilege, and education of watching artisans in this famous lacquer workshop creating modern masterpieces in the yun st...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, an extremely fine and very attractive dome-shaped, two-piece lacquerware box from the famed U Aung Myint workshop in Myinkaba Village, Pagan Burma (Myanmar), from which the British Museum has commissioned pieces for display in London. See Isaacs and Burton, Visions from the Golden Land, Burma and the Art of Lacquer page 222-223. We had the honor, privilege, and education of watching artisans in this famous lacquer workshop creating modern masterpieces in the y...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a stunning and large martaban-type lacquer jar from the famed U Aung Myint workshop in Myinkaba Village, Pagan Burma (Myanmar), from which the British Museum has commissioned pieces for display in London. See Isaacs and Burton, Visions from the Golden Land, Burma and the Art of Lacquer page 222-223. We had the honor, privilege, and education of watching artisans in this famous lacquer workshop creating modern masterpieces in the yun style, an extremely labor i...

From our Fine Arts and Americana Collection, a very good and sizeable original oil on canvas seascape from Peruvian artist Fernando Giron of Miraflores Peru. Executed in a warm earth tone palette of various browns, sea-green, pale yellow, pale orange, and white, depicting crashing waves upon a beach at sunset with gulls in the foreground, this is a very nicely painted and evocative piece.

Giron is apparently not well-known yet beyond the Miraflores / Lima art circle, but this could change...

From our Fine Arts and Americana Collection, a very good and sizeable pastel impressionist piece by Luis Bodes of Alhambra Spain, depicting two couples in a forest landscape. Executed in earthy tones of various greens, browns, rust, straw color, taupe and white, this piece has a natural tranquility to it we felt was universally appealing.

Those who understand painting well, and in particular, those who appreciate the limitations of working in pastel, are familiar with the challenges in ac...

From our Fine Arts and Americana Collection, a very fine original oil on canvas still life painting by Marcial Conza, one of the country’s rapidly rising stars in the Latin American / Contemporary Art Movement. Conza, originally from Arequipa Peru, has had his work exhibited nationally and internationally. Painting in the realism style – sometimes referred to as “New Realism” – he usually paints in only natural sunlight, and the way he captures the play of light on his subjects is a...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a contemporary but very beautiful Burmese shwei-zawa wall hanging from Pagan, Burma, executed in brilliant gold leaf against a shiny black lacquer ground. The scene depicted is most likely something from the Jataka Tales (the stories of the previous lives of the Buddha), though we are not positive which exact scene is being portrayed. Nevertheless, this is a very fine and strikingly attractive example, and for those who understand how shwei-zawa work is crea...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a fine original Burmese watercolor of a solitary young monk at prayer. From memory we think the scene depicts one of the many alcoves at the massive Ananda Temple complex in Pagan, though in all candor we cannot be entirely certain. In any event, it is a stirring and highly evocative portrayal which in its simplicity, captures a deep and genuine sense of reverence and serenity. Much of this comes from something as subtle yet masterful as the artist's depictio...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a lacquerware masterpiece from the famed U Aung Myint workshop in Myinkaba Village, Pagan Burma (Myanmar), from which the British Museum has commissioned pieces for display in London. See Isaacs and Burton, Visions from the Golden Land, Burma and the Art of Lacquer page 222-223. We had the honor, privilege, and education of watching artisans in this famous lacquer workshop creating modern masterpieces in the yun style, an extremely labor intensive craft where ...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, an inscribed lacquerware covered vessel from the famed U Aung Myint workshop in Myinkaba Village, Pagan Burma (Myanmar), from which the British Museum has commissioned pieces for display in London. See Isaacs and Burton, Visions from the Golden Land, Burma and the Art of Lacquer page 222-223. We had the honor, privilege, and education of watching artisans in this famous lacquer workshop creating modern masterpieces in the yun style, an extremely labor intensiv...

A very good pictorial reference book focusing specifically on Imari and Kakiemon wares featuring about 95 color photos and some good overview text. In our candid opinion, it's not enough of a reason to purchase an antique merely for the sake of a free book, but any client already seriously contemplating a purchase can enjoy this as a free extra.

Many collectors, especially beginners, do not make enough effort to acquire good reference books, and are tempted to spend on pieces before the...

An excellent pictorial reference book with an interesting specialty focusing exclusively on figures: The book covers figures from virtually all the Japanese ceramic disciplines including Imari, Kutani, Sastuma, Hirado, Banko, and Sumida, with a very nice and useful final section on Japanese marks. There are over 200 color photos all of which are quite excellent. In our candid opinion, it's not enough of a reason to purchase an antique merely for the sake of a free book, but any client already s...

An excellent pictorial reference book documenting the famed Anthony M. Solomon Collection of Chinese Tomb Sculptures. There are about 60 high quality, full color photos plus some very informative text by Virginia Bower. The pieces represented mostly cover the Han, Northern Wei, Northern Qi, and Tang Dynasties This is a very good book for anybody interested in tomb sculptures. In our candid opinion, it's not enough of a reason to purchase an antique merely for the sake of a free book, but any...

An excellent pictorial reference book specializing in Chinese tomb sculptures. There are about 70 high quality, full color photos with text both in Chinese and English. The pieces represented cover mostly the same periods as the Bower book on the Solomon Collection, namely the Han, Northern Wei, Northern Qi, and Tang Dynasties, but this book also goes a little further to cover the Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties as well. In our candid opinion, it's not enough of a reason to purchase an antique ...

An excellent pictorial reference specializing in blanc de chine (dehua) and a must-have book for anybody collecting within this field. The text by Robert Blumenthal is very good as well. We personally find that blanc de chine is probably the biggest area of fraud, abuse, and mistake by unscrupulous and /or unknowledgeable dealers, and as such it is probably the main area where novice collectors get burnt the most. From what we see, we estimate that a staggering 75% of so-called blanc de chine s...

A very interesting reference book that is more a specialist's reference on a compilation of certain individual topics than a general survey book on Burmese wares in general. There are 15 different essays here dealing with a broad range of topics such as Burmese Buddhist Sculpture in the British Museum; Court Dress of the Shan States; Burmese Votive Tablets; Problems and Issues Concerning the Preservation of Wooden Monasteries in Burma; Burmese Arts and Crafts in the Scherman Collection (German...

An excellent pictorial reference book specializing in Song Dynasty ceramics with very good informative text by Rose Kerr. This is an especially well-photographed book with about 120 color photos covering all areas of Song Dynasty ceramics including Ru and Jun wares, Xing and Ding wares, Yaozhou wares, Cizhou wares, Celadon wares, Qingbai wares, and Jizhou and Jian wares. In our candid opinion, it's not enough of a reason to purchase an antique merely for the sake of a free book, but any client...

From our World Handicrafts Collection (Ex-Asia), a very interesting Afghani hand-made tribal rug decorated with American military helicopter and B-52 bomber motifs. This piece was acquired about 16 months after the American military campaign in Afghanistan was launched in response to the 911 attacks, and in a fascinating example of art imitating life, the villager who crafted this rug chose to fashion it in this manner, reflecting the military aircraft he/she no doubt saw in the sky day after d...