Return to Yunnan Part I

Autumn Woods near Lijiang, Yunnan Province

I was born on an autumn evening in the city of Kunming, Yunnan Province in Southwest China. Within a year WWII ended, my father, my sister and I in my mother’s arms boarded a transport plane and left Kunming. I never returned until another fine autumn evening more than half a century later. The city held no memory, except for a phrase from a children’s ditty that my mother and sister used to sing to me. It said something about a temple on East Street and a temple on West Lane.  To my surprise and disappointment, the temples still exist but impossible for me to reach.  The streets and lanes in the older section of town were too narrow for the tour bus and therefore not on the itinerary.

My tour began with a visit to Da Guan Lou Park – a beautiful garden with traditional architecture.  Any adjective to describe gardens in Yunnan is superfluous.  Yunnan Province is the mother garden of the world. In the period between late 19 to early 20 century, botanists from all over the world over came to  identify and collect specimens.  Many common flowers such as the Easter lily were propagated from the Yunnan originals.

A Pavilion at Da Guan Lou Park

A lake full of lotus plants

A solitary lotus flower standing

 Accustomed to small ponds of lotus in botanical gardens, this huge lake of green leaves as far as the eye could see was breath taking! But we were too late to see the lotus flowers in bloom. Many of the leaves already turned brown, but I was thrilled to find a solitary pink flower still standing.

Chrysanthemums of all varieties were on display

The next morning we boarded a plane for Lijiang, home of the Naxi, one of the ethnic minority people in China.  The Old Town, now a UNESCO Heritage site, was on the confluence of the horse and tea trade for over 800 years.  Most of the buildings around Old Town dated to the Ming Dynasty CE 1368 - 1644. 

Small horses are more tolerant of the cold temperature

 Architecture around the Old Town was restored after an earthquake.  Michael and I were enthralled with the colorful and peaceful surroundings.  The buildings were constructed with timber and rocks, and small waterways brought running water from the nearby rivers. We came to Lijiang for a personal reason.  My father the horticulturist, was a friend of Dr. Joseph Rock (1884-1962,) the famous botanist who studied ethnic minority languages, including the Naxi.  He was a local legend and his former home is now a shrine.       

Tower in the town square    

Restored buildings were interesting and pleasing to the eye, but I was glad to see a few of the more traditional houses built with bricks.

We left the city and headed for a higher altitude.  The tour brought us to a station where we boarded a ski lift for a ride to the forests above.  The trees - autumn colors in a mist, made for a good painting study.  And moss -  growing in mounds were everywhere! I was in heaven. My fascination with moss began by watching my grandfather trying to grow moss in his miniature grotto.  He knew he could not make moss grow, but that did not deter him. If he could only be with us, he would surely collect specimens out of the moss laden fallen logs.

A moss lover's dreamscape

A glimpse of snow covered mountains   

Snow capped mountain range - Jade Dragon Snow Mountain near Lijiang, Yunnan Province 2006

 After what seemed to be a long hike, we arrived at a scenic area where we could view the snow capped mountain range of the Yuelongxue Shan - the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.  It was a sight to behold!

(to be continued)

Endearing Yixing Teapots

Teapot painted with Famille Rose Enamels circa 1800's

Lately I have much success selling teapots.  Although the bulk of our inventory is in antique furniture, we still have a small collection of Chinese ceramics that includes Yixing teapots.  Most people may not associate the name Yixing to the fanciful pottery teapots they see all over China, and in tea shops and Museum gift shops in the United States.  These teapots, handmade by potters in Yixing, Jiangsu Province in Southeast China, were and still remain for three hundred years, the best vessel for brewing tea. 

Yixing, a name synonymous with tea and tea ware, is located west of Taihu in Jiangsu province.  Until the Song dynasty (960-1279), this area was known as Yangxian.  Yixing is one of the great pottery centers of China.  Moreover, it is noted for its scenic beauty and association with many people and events. The proximity to three important cities - Nanjing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou made Yixing an ideal location for a pottery center.  The surrounding hills have rich deposits of clay and plenty of fuel for firing. The nearby lake and the network of rivers and canals are convenient for transporting and distributing the finished products. The color of the fired pottery objects in rich purple brown gave the wares the popular name of Zisha – purple sand. 

Today Zisha teapots come in a wide range of colors and designs.  Some are just brilliant; they take on the most creative shapes and designs.  The plain teapots in globular or simple geometric forms are the best for inscribers to engrave paintings and calligraphy.  The teapots I have been selling were made around the turn of the century.  Collectors specially like teapots with famous potters and inscribers.  Others look for interesting shapes, and some collectors buy teapots that were imported for sale at the Chinese pavilions at International World’s Fairs beginning in 1876 in Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco and so forth.

I randomly picked a few ………………..Enjoy! 

 All three teapots above were made at the turn of the 20 century, the first in the shape of a hat, the second was a fine shape to show off calligraphy and the third was in the shape of an archaic bronze vessel with a dragon spout.

 Teapot above is a typical piece that were offered for 
sale in the Chinese Pavilions in the World's Fairs.
This one in the form of a tree trunk and decorated with branches and flowers of the plum tree - or prunus, circa 1900's.

Teapot to the left is a sweet contemporary piece with an overhead handle.  It is also decorated in the theme of the plum blossoms.

 This red pottery teapot was exported to Europe and refitted with a silver spout.  A similar teapot was recovered in an 18 century shipwreck.

 A fun piece - a collection of fruit and nuts, from the 1980's: walnut, chestnut, gingko, caltrop, peanut, sunflower seed etc.

Directly above is a miniature teapot in a beautiful purple sand color clay.  The one on the top right has an unusual form with two brewing chambers. To the right is a beautifully burnished pot with a buffalo finial on the cover.  All three teapots were made in the 1900's to 1930's.

An interesting contemporary teapot in the form of a wooden well bucket.

Finally we have a large teapot with a handle that was made by a metal smith in Thailand.  The Thai imported teapots like this one and burnished it until it achieved a glass like sheen.

If you have Yixing teapots and would like to learn more about them, please leave comments. Now I am ready for a cup of tea.

The Alcove Bed from Zhejiang, 19 Century

A Fancy Alcove Bed or A Child’s Playhouse

 

Recently my company Three Friends Studio made a major move from the Chicago Merchandise Mart to River Place, just a few miles down from the Chicago River.  In addition, materials stored at the suburban warehouse also made their way to the new place in the city.  The idea is to have the entire collection together.  Despite the careful planning of professionals facilitating the process, the moves were carried out under time constrains, and not at all easy.

One of the greatest fear of moving antiques and furniture with multiple parts was the misplacement or loss of parts.  Sometimes it is not so much the financial loss that I find egregious, but that I fail as the guardian of that object, whose artistic value is ruined because of my negligence. 

Originally I had hoped that everything would fit into a space of 5,900 square feet, just a bit smaller than half of an Olympic size swimming pool.  At the last minute, it was necessary to lease another 4,400 square feet space two floors down.  To my regret, the collection of furniture and antiques is again divided, but I take comfort that they are still under the same roof. 

The layers of friezes that made up the entablature.

The Chinese bed is the most elaborate among the wide variety of furniture types, and the hardest to move.   My husband Michael and I like Chinese beds for their architectonic elements.  They are constructed like miniature houses, the best examples to show off the art of Chinese furniture making.  It is so easy to admire the multiple parts that made up a bed, and forget that no nails were ever used.   Michael likes beds because he is really an engineer at heart, he likes things with multiple parts that can be assembled and taken apart.  I like beds for a totally different reason.  As an art historian who has dabbled in Chinese literature, beds are symbolic and they reflect the user’s taste and wealth.  We have to move four beds that have multiple parts.  I did the best I could by putting identifications on each one, at least on the parts that I could reach in the overcrowded warehouse.  The one piece of furniture that weighed heavily on my mind was an alcove bed, the one that is made of over 70 pieces.  This bed is raised from the ground by a tall two part platform and it boasts of its own sitting area outside of the sleeping quarters, larger enough for two chairs and a small table.  I fear I was quite paranoid when the bed was moved.  Previously it was already taken apart, panels together, posts tied in bundles, and small parts in a plastic crate.  People often perceive me of having an even temperament.  But this time I surprised the movers by being quite bossy when they moved this bed.  I made sure all the carved lintels, poles and panels were blanket wrapped, and the lintels that have protrusions were securely tied to the side of the truck.

Despite my best efforts, the alcove bed could not be moved as a unit, due to its odd shape parts, the movers explained.  So I watched the multiple parts being loaded onto different vehicles as they made their way to River Place.  Now River Place is not the Merchandise Mart.  It only has one freight elevator. So the pieces of furniture and boxes were scattered in the holding area of the dock (thank goodness for that.)  The parts of the alcove bed were scattered onto carts and four wheel movers, and small lintels and framing were placed in a large paper crate called a speed pad on top of a four wheel dolly.  I was literally having a heart attack!  Fortunately it was a Saturday and no one except my crew and the building security were about.  Keeping the bed together was an impossible task!  I had to stop this obsession.  I left it to divine intervention that the parts would eventually find their way back together.

Fast forward a month and two weeks, when serious re-organization took place.  There was finally floor space available to reconstruct the alcove bed.  My identifications did work; my assistant Arnuffo and I were able to gather most of the parts that were scattered in the two warehouses, separated by two floors.  The construction began.  Michael has bad eyesight and Arnuffo does not read Chinese, so there was a problem just lining up the parts whose positions were clearly marked in Chinese characters – right front, middle, back, and so forth.  We began by putting two platforms together, on which there were joints that held joists in place, and in turn held up the panels of the bed.  After arguing which was left or right, we started assembling the bed pieces.  Then we ran out of framing.  Arnuffo went searching in the other warehouse, looking for anything that had the same rich mahogany lacquer finish.  After several attempts, he did find them, though not wrapped in blankets, and not identified.  They did belong, and fit in where they ought to go.  Arnuffo ingenuity of figuring how the parts work was amazing, since assembling this bed was a whole new experience.  When something was missing, he would search around and usually find what was needed.  I felt so useless!  After two hours, the bed was assembled, but it was not complete, it needed finials and a few more decorative panels to finish it off.  

It took many trips to ensemble all the layers.  The 4 characters signify "May Rank and Prosperity last Five Generations"

Decorative frieze above the entry to the sleeping area

We started from the back. The little labels are identifications.

So the bed stood incomplete for a week.   It took a mighty rainstorm to finish the task, though not literally. The necessary accessories were found.  It was the same rainstorm that shut down the music festival Lollapalooza in Grant Park. While closing the windows to avoid a minor flood caused by the pouring rain, I noticed there was an unmarked plastic crate sitting on a table by the window.  It was not accessible before since there were quite a few pieces blocking the way.  There were the carved finials and decorative panels, neatly nestled inside the crate.  I took a deep breath, and did not complain about wiping down rain soaked furniture and mopping up puddles of rain water.

Arnuffo came and placed the accessories on the alcove bed.  The assembly was done, and it looks almost as grand as it once did in a grand mansion in China.  I found miniature chairs and kang tables, and placed them inside the bed and the alcove.  The bed fulfilled all my childhood make-believe play house.  It is my hopes it will find soon find a home as a bed or a wonderful place to play.   

Thank you all for visiting the blog in my long absence.  Since this writing, we have assembled yet another bed, and have two more to go.  Wish me luck that the parts are all there!

               

For my playhouse, I added two miniature chairs, two kang tables, a rug and three masks.