A standing wooden mask with tubular eyes from the Dan tribe. This style of mask was worn on top of the dancers head whose head and body would be covered with a long tailed cape of raffia. Additional height and impact would have been achieved when the dancer wore stilts. The mask measures 15 tall by 9 wide and 6 Ύ deep. The head has five raffia balls at the neck with embedded cowry shells. There are two drop earrings of beads on the ears. The mask is probably early to mid 20th century and sho ...click for details
Another lovely example of a Southern Song Hares Fur tea bowl purchased a number of years ago from Zacke Antiques of Austria. The piece has a luxurious dark black glaze with rust streaks going down the sides of the interior and exterior. At the top rim the glaze is a light cocoa colored band and the streaks radiate downward from there. The glaze on the outside thins as the cup is tilted resulting in thick drips before reaching the unglazed base of the cup. The interior is similarly glazed exce ...click for details
An interesting Japanese stoneware bowl with an overglaze picture of what appears to be either Buddha in a relaxed position or possibly a Buddhist priest. The design is done in a chocolate brown glaze over a cream colored slightly crackled base glaze. The bottom of the bowl has the same cream color with the single exception of a fine brown line that encircles the bowl. The foot is unglazed and shows impressions of the finger prints of the pottery not signed. We date the bowl to the middle to la ...click for details
A very fine vase glazed in a medium green glaze - almost a dark turquoise in color. The vase has a molded design in low relief of cord strung around the circumference of the vase almost as if it had a loosely woven bamboo band but made in the pottery. The vase measures 5 high by 1 diameter at the top and 3 diameter at the foot. There is an old dealers label on the bottom that identifies it as being from the Kangxi, however there are no marks and we cannot validate that dating. We can stat ...click for details
A very pretty porcelain Japanese vase with over the decoration of small bunches of flowers some in baskets all interspersed with a swirling meandering blue stream. The top rim is silver color. Measures 8 tall and is 5 diameter at the waist. There is a red enamel signature on the base that translates as Eiho .We date the piece to the mid 20th century. Excellent condition.
A handsome Japanese Tea caddy known as a cha-ire. This chaire is glazed in a beautiful in dark brown/black glaze that resembles the tenmoku glaze without the spots or striped. The base is unglazed and has an impressed mark in the center however we have been unable to get it translated. The lid is made of an ivory colored pottery. The chaire measures 3 ½ high and is 2 3/8 diameter. It is in excellent condition with no chips or restorations. We date the piece to the late Meiji period, circa 1 ...click for details
A Mingei (folk art) wooden figure (okimono) of a seated priest or scholar seated on a rock.
Ittobori is a uniquely Japanese carving technique. The name literally means "one chisel cut". You can see by the angles made by the chisel that they are not smoothed out. The carving is excellent and has fine old patina. The scholar is is on a rock base which is carved separately from the figure itself. We cannot identify the wood other that to note that it is carved from two separate blocks ...click for details
This lovely black and brown temoku vase by Wright was wheel-thrown in two pieces and joined together, the resulting seam easily felt on the interior of the vase. This process of joining two pieces of a pot is known as luting. The word "luting" implies the use of a moldable substance to seal a space or to cement two components together. The temoku glaze is a classic combination of deep black and brown with deep red brush strokes breaking through. The vase measures 71/8 high and is 6 ...click for details
An early Edo period Japanese porcelain Kakiemon covered bowl. The bowl is decorated in overglaze enamels in the classic soft blue and greens with rust red colored flowers. On the lid there are three reddish gold fish encircling green underwater plants. We believe the base of the piece to be of 16th century origin with a much later replacement lid. The covered bowl measures 5 Ό diameter and is 2 to the top of the lids finial. Excellent condition two small rim chips on the lid. The foot rim is ...click for details
This is a beautiful and quite early Japanese cloisonne charger decorated with karakusa vines interspersed with a profusion of stylized flowers and butterflies in four central overlapping reserves one of which is in the shape of a sand dollar. The ground is a soft medium blue and shows the pitting that marks the early Japanese cloisonne before they learned to use the wide-open spaces and highly polished surfaces. The back of the footed charger is the same lovely medium blue enclosed in scores o ...click for details
