Carnelian Asian Art and Furniture

Stunning large Chinese hand carved genuine jade sculpture (tested as nephrite jade) depicting dragons and koi fish. The original owner provided details that this sculpture was create...

Chinese light celadon jade libation cup from early Qing dynasty. Very fine carving and decoration.

Chinese white jade openwork plaque late Qing Dynasty depicting birds and flowers. Very fine and detailed work. Small loss on the back side of the pl...

A very beautiful, rare, and exotic Chinese dragon landline telephone, circa 1980s-1990s. Phone is a hard carved wood with all the details of a dragon (claws, tongue, horns, tail, etc.) Phone handle has a beautiful oval piece of polished emerald green jade or other similar stone along with carvings in Chinese. A 'red' light on top of dragon's pearl indicates phone is 'on'. Dragon's green eyes light up when phone rings...

A fine and beautiful carved agate snuff bottle, a deep carving interior.  

A Very Fine Quality Chinese Export Hand Carved Religous Pagoda of traditional architectural form and generous proportions, late Nineteenth Century. The overall structure beautifull...

Very Unusual Horn Sectional Hand Carved Chinese Walking Stick or Dress Cane of outstanding quality, last half of the Nineteenth Century. The ...

Ancient rare India wood hand carved polychrome wall panel with iron lock. Exciting and dramatic wood carving of a wall panel from India. It is probably from the 17th-18th century. Very heavy exotic wood is used to hand carve the frame with the double sliding door. It is secured with an iron lock. A carved guardian figure is placed on each side. The frame and doors are polychrome decorated. It is a piece of ancient India...

A Chinese early Qing Dynasty carved and lacquered wood figure of Guanyin, Southern China, 17th/18th century. Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and Mercy, is portrayed seated in dhyanasana, one hand raised in viktara mudra, the gesture of teaching and discourse. The great bodhisattva is dressed in heavy, loose robes tied at the chest, with a mantle draped over his shoulders. He looks serenely outwards from heavily lidded eyes. Guanyin's face carved beautifully with somewhat feminine features. A large five pointed crown sits upon his head. The larger leaves of the crown carved with indistinct images of the Buddha. The statue was originally fully lacquered in the deep red gilt lacquer typical of Southern Chinese Buddhist sculpture...

A mixture of finely powdered tobacco, herbs, and spices, snuff was introduced to China in the 17th century by Western diplomats. Initially reserved for ranking members of Qing-dynast...

Chinese guardian lions, or imperial guardian lions, are a traditional Chinese architectural ornament. Typically made of stone, they are also known as stone lions or shishi (石獅; shíshī). They are known in colloquial English as lion dogs or foo dogs / fu dogs. The concept, which originated and became popular in Chinese Buddhism, features a pair of highly stylized lions—often one male with a ball and one female with a cub—which were thought to protect the building from harmful spiritual influences and harmful people that might be a threat. Used in imperial Chinese palaces and tombs, the lions subsequently spread to other parts of Asia including Japan (see komainu), Korea, Philippines, Tibet, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, and Malaysia. There has been extensive interaction between Chinese mythology and Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Elements of pre-Han dynasty mythology such as those in Classic of Mountains and Seas were adapted into these belief systems as they developed (in the case of Taoism), or were assimilated into Chinese culture (in the case of Buddhism). Elements from the teachings and beliefs of these systems became incorporated into Chinese mythology. For example, the Taoist belief of a spiritual Paradise became incorporated into mythology as the place where immortals and deities used to dwell. Sometimes mythological and religious ideas have become widespread across China's many regions and diverse ethnic societies. In other cases, beliefs are more limited to certain social groups, for example, the veneration of white stones by the Qiang. One mythological theme that has a long history and many variations involves a shamanic world view, for example in the cases of Mongolian shamanism among the Mongols, Hmong shamanism among the Miao people, and the shamanic beliefs of the Qing dynasty from 1643 to 1912, derived from the Manchus. Politically, mythology was often used to legitimize the dynasties of China, with the founding house of a dynasty claiming a divine descent. Mythology and philosophy. Further information: Chinese philosophy True mythology is distinguished from philosophical treatises and theories. Elaborations on the Wu Xing are not really part of mythology, although belief in five elements could appear. The Hundred Schools of Thought is a phrase suggesting the diversity of philosophical thought that developed during the Warring States of China. Then, and subsequently, philosophical movements had a complicated relationship with mythology. However, as far as they influence or are influenced by mythology, divides the philosophical camps into two rough halves, a Liberal group and a Conservative group. The liberal group being associated with the idea of individuality and change, for example as seen in the mythology of divination in China, such as the mythology of the dragon horse that delivered the eight bagua diagrams to Fu Xi, and methods of individual empowerment as seen in the Yi Jing (Book of Changes). The Liberal tendency is towards individual freedom, Daoism, and Nature. The relationship of the Conservative philosophies to mythology is seen in the legendary Nine Tripod Cauldrons, mythology about the emperors and central bureaucratic governance, Confucianism, written histories, ceremonial observances, subordination of the individual to the social groups of family and state, and a fixation on stability and enduring institutions. The distinction between the Liberal and Conservative is very general, but important in Chinese thought. Contradictions can be found in the details, however these are often traditional, such as the embrace by Confucius of the philosophical aspects of the Yi Jing, and the back-and-forth about the Mandate of Heaven wherein one dynasty ends and another begins based according to accounts (some of heavily mythological) where the Way of Heaven results in change, but then a new ethical stable dynasty becomes established. Examples of this include the stories of Yi Yin, Tang of Shang and Jie of Xia or the similar fantastic stories around Duke of Zhou and King Zhou of Shang. Mythology exists in relationship with other aspects of society and culture, such as ritual. Various rituals are explained by mythology. For example, the ritual burning of mortuary banknotes (Hell Money), lighting fireworks, and so on. A good example of the relationship of Chinese mythology and ritual is the Yubu, also known as the Steps or Paces of Yu. During the course of his activities in controlling the Great Flood, Yu was supposed to have so fatigued himself that he lost all the hair from his legs and developed a serious limp. Daoist practitioners sometimes incorporate a curiously choreographed pedal locomotion into various rituals. Mythology and practice, one explains the other: in these rituals, the sacred time of Yu merges with the sacral practice of the present. Various ideas about the nature of the earth, the universe, and their relationship to each other have historically existed as either a background or a focus of mythologies. One typical view is of a square earth separated from a round sky by sky pillars (mountains, trees, or undefined). Above the sky is the realm of Heaven, often viewed of as a vast area, with many inhabitants. Often the heavenly inhabitants are thought to be of an "as above so below" nature, their lives and social arrangements being parallel to those on earth, with a hierarchical government run by a supreme emperor, many palaces and lesser dwellings, a vast bureaucracy of many functions, clerks, guards, and servants. Below was a vast under ground land, also known as Diyu, Yellow Springs, Hell, and other terms. As time progressed, the idea of an underground land in which the souls of the departed were punished for their misdeeds during life became explicit, related to developments in Daoism and Buddhism. The underground world also came to be conceived of as inhabited by a vast bureaucracy, with kings, judges, torturers, conductors of souls, minor bureaucrats, recording secretaries, similar to the structure of society in the Middle Kingdom (earthly China). Chinese temple Dogs...

A Shadow Agate 'Horse' Snuff Bottle Chinese, Qing Dynasty 19th Century, has stopper 6.35 cm, 2 1/2 in.