#BRI-01 Ming Dynasty Hand-Carved Brick Tile of A Chilin
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A Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) architectural fragment of a brick tile with a Chilin mythical animal in the relief style carved form with traces of organic color pigment possibly made from the Lapis Lazuli stone. Brick carving is a genre of its own, mostly used for architectural purposes. Chilin is an ancient mythical animal, said to have the scaled body like horse or deer with a dragon head that can travel a thousand miles a day. It is an auspicious symbol often used today to congratulate a young male's achievement in career.
#CLA-01 Qing Dynasty Massive Size Water Storage Jar with Auspicious Carp
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This huge Qing Dynasty handmade water storage clay jar interests me for its beautiful design. A more common Chinese water storage jar would be created with a proportionally much wider bottom for the purpose of stability. However, the owner of this jar in ancient time who had this pot created with such a beautiful shape, contrary to what would have been ordinary, obviously was concerned with aesthetics more than anything as we all know how difficult and costly it is to fire a very large pot. It often involves many tries. This pot at its size was created in a perfect and well balanced shape and is very stable. This jar is decorated with flowers from the four seasons, representing the aspect of Chinese culture co-existing with and indulging in nature. It also is decorated with various carp and catfish design representing plentiful-ness or abundance. The gradually inwardly thickened and textured rim in petal shape is a wonderful touch to the hands as it feels very differently from the more generically molded pottery. Inside the jar, one can see how glaze was applied in a swirling moving pattern. Dimensions: 35.25” Height by 46.38” Diameter
#RFT-01 Pair of Large Size Ming Dynasty San-Cai Glazed Roof Tile Dragon Heads
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This is a pair of larger size Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 ) roof-tiles with dragon head out of five or six different pairs of similar subject from Shen's Special Collection in roof-tile. Chinese colors have long been created with minerals and vegetation. “San- Cai glaze” (Three- Colors glaze ) , like the glaze on this pair of roof-tiles in the photo, has long been used for pottery and figures since ancient time in China. It peaked and made its name during the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 907-960) for objects such as Tang horses. Roof- tile pieces with dragon motif were originally used on the roofs of ancient imperial palaces and temples for the myth and the purposes of being able to bring more rain as well as for decoration and for the purposes of showing the status of these buildings.
#RFT-02 Four-Sectional Tri-Color Glazed Dragon and Phoenix Rooftile
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This incredibly beautiful massive size single four-sectional Dragon and Phoenix roof-tile was created and fired in separate sections with Tri-Color style glaze. Its elaborately handmade clay design is among the best. This roof-tile came from the rooftop of a prominent 17-18th century building. In ancient time, according to legend, a city was destroyed by thunders. Buildings were burned down by fire. Afterwards, dragon tiles were created and installed on the rooftop of the building with a lightning rod to partially induce the thunder off the building. Dragons were believed to have supernatural powers, such as the ability to bring water and rain. For old Chinese buildings with dragon roof-tiles, layered roofs were created to house different styles and scales of dragons serving different meanings according to different designs. They were often created in pairs. Dimensions:
#RFT-11 Ming Dynasty Carved San-Cai Glazed Tile of A White Crane with Lotus
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(明代白鶴蓮花三彩磚)This is one out of several in a series of old wall tiles with white crane and lotus plant design. The crane is created in an interesting position as if hovering over or more correctly embracing the large lotus plant with the lotus pod and flower bud shown. The twist of the neck of the bird, looking towards the left, adds a nice touch and flavor to the flattened out body and wings for the design. This elegant tile and others in the series possibly came from Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) or earlier. The size of each tile is roughly about one and a half feet long with variation of the gestures from the crane. Crane is considered an elegant and auspicious bird of peace and longevity in Chinese culture. It is also a favorite subject for many writers and painters since ancient China. Among the work,黃鶴樓, the Pavilion of the Yellow Crane, written by the fame Tang Dynasty poet 崔顥(Cuei Hao)704-754, is among famous Chinese lyrical style literature work that expresses one's internal feeling and idealistic spiritual pursuit through the writing or description of the outer beauty of the nature.
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