Antique Wooden Shrine With Elaborate Carvings

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This unique antique object is a piece of architecture in miniature - a house with a flat roof and ornated … Read more This unique antique object is a piece of architecture in miniature - a house with a flat roof and ornated with elaborate carvings that carried auspicious meanings. Exquisitely carved parapets surround the roof with bannisters notched with markings that resemble bamboo and topped with small Foo Dog finials. Carved into the verticulated panels are flowers such as dogwoods, lotuses, and magnolias, all auspicious flowers that represent purity and beauty. The frieze is represented by four drawers carved with mythical animals and auspicious birds - Qilins for good luck, and magpies as harbinger of happiness. A pair of doors flanks a large opening, The doors are decorated with carvings of theatrical figures. On one door are actors wearing long pheasant tail headdresses consulting with actors in Chinese civil officials. On the other door are actors in a scene from an opera, easily recognized by its popular appeal to the masses. The open area is decorated with a pair of confronting dragons facing a flaming pearl and supported by two Daoist figures. Underneath is a drawer front with long tailed phoenix birds . The dragon is a symbol of power and emblem of the emperor and the phoenix symbolizes beauty and emblem of the empress. The structure has a lattice design apron and ends with cabriole legs.

Was it a shrine to store ancestor tablets, or did it hold Buddhist statuary for worship? It is hard to determine. But it is a thing of beauty that exhibits Chinese carving at its best. See less