(一對清代雕海棠朱金黑褐漆竹帽架) This is a pair of hand-carved bamboo hat rests with cut-out design of a begonia flower (海棠) shape. I have liked this pair of hat rests for a long time yet was unable to describe or understand why I like them. Is it the bamboo material that I like- the feel of the density and the texture shown at the bottom of these rests that are unique to the bamboo material itself or its lightness compared to wood and other heavier and possibly more precious material? Is it the somewhat romantic idea and the shape of the begonia flower which has long associated with Chinese woodwork and is also an image used in some of the ancient Chinese poetry? Or is it the “Zhu-Jin, 朱金” (red and gilt color) and the lacquer applied to these rests that evoke the uniqueness I recognize from its special geographical artistic technique and cultural preference?

I have looked at this pair of bamboo hat rests many times, fascinated with the cut-out design of its begonia flower shape. When I turned the rests upside down, laid them horizontally, or placed them in any other direction, they seemed to be talking to me about something special-something about the spatial relationship with its repeated shapes. Sometimes it is as if it were a boat, when laid horizontally, where I see a relationship between the inside of the boat (human's world) and the water. Other times it evokes the feeling of there being a smaller world inside its outer shape. And it does not stop when one turns it around as this shape of the inside world changes. So, it is as if there are more worlds, one after another, continuing to appear inside this small container... When I set the object in its vertical shape as the way it should be used, it feels like a solidly built house, an architecture where I see the lower level of the house with its open entrance, a window or a door. And when I turn it slightly to a different direction vertically, this opening becomes a window at a second floor, higher on its wall where someone might lean against and look out to the outside world.

Aesthetics is a personal intimate feeling towards something one resonates with internally, which can often bring a fine experience to one's being. An object is an outer world until one finds a path or a connection into this world. This pair of old Chinese bamboo hat rests have attested the time past and speaks to us its story in a simple form...

Dimensions: 10 5/8" x 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" Each

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