A true labor of love and skill, this bizarre little chinoiserie gem is elaborately carved from thick, solid black walnut. The scales of the three dragons on the top are repeated on the borders, top and base. Another dragon curls around the support column in bold relief. Beautiful condition; American, circa 1875. Approximately 26-1/2 inches tall and 24 inches in diameter

Born in Latvia in 1909, Wally Brants studied art in the capital city of Riga at the Roman Suta Studios, exhibiting there until the outbreak of World War II. Toward the end of the war, he was transferred to Germany, leaving there for Australia...

Years of loving care went into the creation of this elaborate Victorian-Edwardian three-panel floor screen, alive with royalty and schoolboys, statesmen and famous beauties, horses, cats and dogs. Politics mingles with sentimentality and history in a panorama that seems to begin around 1880 and sweep into the early Twentieth Century. Decorated on both sides, each panel is approximately 66-3/4 inches tall and 26-5/8 inches wide, around 80 inches fully opened...

This stately pair of steeds of an unusually large size until recently graced the tomb of a Chinese dignitary of the Han Dynasty (202 B.C. to 220 A.D.) Despite their great age they are in wonderful original condition, their slip-painted details mostly intact...

Intricate arabesques cover the inside of this Nineteenth Century Turkish circumcision bowl in fine-quality silver. Eleven panels portray elaborately stylized animals and people, and a twelfth animal panel on the bottom of the bowl is surrounded by an Arabic inscription. The graceful rococo handle is capped by a parrot peering into the bowl...

Of high purity and masterful execution, this Nineteenth Century bowl from the workshop of noted Hong Kong silversmith Wang Hing is profusely decorated with flowering prunus branches on a ground of cracking ice, a fine vision of springtime. It is approximately 4-7/8 inches in diameter and 2-5/8 inches high.

This almost-identical pair (one is 21 inches by 27 inches full size, the other 21 inches by 26-1/2 inches) make an extraordinary pair. They have been fitted with beveled glass and can be hung horizontally or vertically. The fine, even bird's-eye maple veneer covers the fronts and sides and slight blemishes are commiserate with the frames' age. American or English, pre-Victorian.

I bought this fine nautical instrument decades ago in Amsterdam, so it could be Dutch, but is more likely French, from the ivory factories in and around Dieppe. Carved into the top is "A.D. 1740" and the finely fitted ivory and glass elements are supported by exterior and interior ormolu mounts. Approximately 4-5/8 inches tall and two inches in diameter, it is quite the best hour-glass I have handled. Its condition is excellent, with only a small crack in the ivory above one window...

This highly detailed painting of the Holy Family being visited by the Magi and others is rendered in oil on copper. Delicately applied gold details enliven the colorful costumes. Approximately 6-1/2 inches by 5-3/8 inches, Flanders, Seventeenth Century. Please note that the painting has recently been re-framed more appropriately.

Practical and decorative, this item would store the imposing pocket watch of a gentleman and become a very decorative ornament for the mantlepiece. Italian, late Seventeenth Century, of finely carved wood, it retains most of its original polychrome paint and gilding. Exclusive of the base added for stability and the branch of coral that graces its crest, the piece measures approximately 19-3/4 inches by 6-1/4 inches by 2-1/2 inches.

This snowy bowl always remind me of Christmas: the deer on the hill beneath the pine boughs seem to looking skyward for a star. The blue underglaze designs are intricate, but very soft and only confined to a central trellis-like medallion and a border on the bottom; it is relieved by bold red enamel rectangles and turquoise-surrounded roundels of phoenixes. The gilding is lavish yet restrained. Japan, circa 1860. Excellent condition...

This a beautifully designed bowl that features a central roundel of a ladies tending to the cocoons of silkworms after they have been treated for unwinding. Behind the scene are arranged two overlapping squares rather like piece of silk, one gold with cranes flying over the sea, the other a diaper pattern of deep green and red emamel, both bordered with enamel black. Peaceful hills with trees and buildings surround with enamels of green, pale aubergine and soft yellow...