Catalog: New Century (31)

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...

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 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...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a lovely handmade silk on cotton vintage table runner from Laos, using tan colored silk woven into geometric designs with magenta and blue/green colored accents. The runner is shown only half size as we have folded it to fit within the confines of our display boards, but it is actually quite long and very well-suited for long dinner tables or sideboards. It can also be displayed either framed or unframed as a wall hanging...

From our World Handicrafts Collection (Ex-Asia), an interesting hand-made wool prayer rug, probably Persian but it could possibly come from the Caucasus region as well. The rug features a main central medallion in rust colored ground, two minaret motifs towards the top, and geometrical motifs on the borders. The workmanship seems to be a combination of natural mineral pigments and synthetic dyes.

Size and Condition: 60 inches long, 39 inches wide...

From our Indian Subcontinent Collection, a truly delightful little enameled silver box from Jaipur, Rajasthan (India), featuring a very attractively painted elephant in regal attire, executed in turquoise blue against a purplish blue background, with floral motifs in green and gold around the borders and on the sides, all executed upon high grade silver...

A contemporary but very attractive Tibetan ewer, crafted of thin, hand-worked sheets of white metal that appear to be some type of nickel/aluminum amalgam, decorated with deep repousse and chasing techniques forming the decorative bands along the shoulder, neck, lid, and upper base of vessel, with well-formed makara shaped spout and handle, all atop a splayed footed base...

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...

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 Indian Subcontinent Collection, a very fine contemporary Indian miniature painting, executed in a colorful but subdued palette of red, green, purple, and blue, with a lavish use of gilt highlights and detailing.

Ordinarily we prefer only the antique miniatures, but we thought this one was so well-done that we made an exception...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a large and very attractive Indonesian tribal mask, crafted from a dark hardwood we think is either teak or some other rosewood variant, inlaid with mother of pearl or shell. They craft a lot of masks in different versions in Bali, but the more frequently encountered version you see there is a much smaller but heavily painted multicolor style, that we tend to find a bit gaudy...

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...

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...

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 Indian Subcontinent Collection, a superbly carved sandalwood buddha from the city of Jasailmer in the Rajasthan region of India. This buddha sits in padmasana (interlocking lotus position) upon a double lotus base while displaying vitarka mudra with the right hand, and holding what is probably a kalasa pot in the left hand.

When we travel to collect pieces, we shop with a very discerning eye...

From our Indian Subcontinent Collection, a superbly carved sandalwood Ganesh from the city of Jasailmer in the Rajasthan region of India. Ganesh, the Hindu God of Wisdom, is revered by the entire religion regardless of sect, and is depicted here atop a tiered double lotus throne, in one of his typical incarnations with his easily recognizable elephant head, regal headdress, and accompanied by a snake and his rat transports...

From our World Handicrafts Collection (ex-Asia), an extremely fine silver filigree boat from Cusco Peru, modeled after a Spanish Armada ship. The filigree here is exceptionally fine and intricate. The amount of painstaking and meticulous work that goes into crafting filigree of this scope and detail is really quite astounding, and rivals much of the best Indian filigree work we have seen...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a vibrant and highly decorative Indonesian batik in the form of a village scene with figures, from Yogyjakarta (Indonesia), executed in rich turquoise, black, brown, straw color, and other earth tones, and signed by the artist.

Batik is one of many methodologies of fabric decoration employed in Indonesia's long and rich textile tradition...