Oil Painting by Jeon Joon Yeop. 29 x 21 inches, 73 x 53 cm. Jeon Joon Yeop (born 1953) is a well-known artist in South Korea, with numerous art reviews. He was the top-selling artist in last year’s Korea International Art Fair, Korea’s biggest art fair. Instead of finding comfort in his successes, Jeon accepts popularity as a challenge to further explore how to speak the ancient language of Korean landscape painting with a modern vocabulary of techniques, such as pouring, scratching, spreadi...

A museum quality work by 19th century great Oda Kaisen featuring vines burgeoning with ripe fruit under the epitaph “Painted on a muggy date (possibly “by moonlight” as the term keigetsu refers) in 1840”. Ink on silk in brass colored Satin patterned with tendrils of mist and featuring white piping in the Mincho style and ivory rollers typical of literati painting of the 19th century. It is 18-3/4 x 72-3/4 inches (47.5 x 184.5 cm) and is in excellent condition.
Oda Kaisen (1785-1...

Rare Japanese gyosho bako (peddler's chest traveling backpack) made with 100% Kiri wood (paulownia). With raised lacquer Ichi mon on its hinged front door with red lacquer backside. The door opens to a shallow front compartment with red lacquer frame interior. The top of the chest has a hinged lid with hand-forged iron plating and lock, opening to a deep inner compartment. The bottom area of the peddler's box holds a long sliding drawer with iron ring pulls on either side and red lacquer sides. ...

Copper kapala with vajra top handle cover lid, its skull base with design of outlines and seams on outer body. Resting on copper triangular stand with three detachable skulls and foliate design in bas relief on body.

Provenance: Lama Les of the Orgyen Dorje Den Tibetan Buddhist Temple.

20th century

Dimensions: 7" x 5 1/2" x 9 1/2" H

An unusual Japanese choba tansu (merchant's chest) constructed of Kiri (paulownia) wood with natural finish. This unusual piece contains a top compartment behind sliding panels as well as another below it, the lower compartment containing two shelves and a set of 3 small drawers with decorative locking plates, opened by kan (ring) pulls. The middle inner drawer contains a secret hidden compartment. All in original condition.

Edo Period (1603 - 1868)

Dimensions : 33" x 18...

Chinese agate two piece carving of a lotus leaf and a koi fish. All hand-carved from agate stone, the piece and its base have motifs of leaping fish, waves and lotuses.
19th century

2 1/4" x 1 3/8" x 3/4" H (fish carving) 1 1/2" x 1 1/8" x 3/4" H (base)

A contemplative and artistic rendering of a lotus leaf bowl with deteriorated edges. The lotus is a symbol of purity, beauty and a metaphor in teaching Buddhism. The lotus bowl has a small frog sitting on the leaf's edge with outstretched leg. The underside of the leaf bowl has 3 characters of the artist's signature.

Meiji Period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 9" x 8 1/2" x 1 3/4" H

Antique Tibetan cabinet with 2 large compartments. The entire front of the cabinet is decorated in kyungbur technique (designs and pictures painted in raised lines of a gesso and resin mixture) on a deep red ground. Two large compartments are covered by 8 large panels decorated with phoenixes in medallions of scrolling vines and flowers. The middle four panels open to the compartments. The bottom of the chest has 3 additional stationary panels decorated similarly with flowers. The top was o...

Japanese inro with a large standing bull, frontally positioned with head lowered and looking ahead at the viewer. From the ring in his nose is a rope leading off to the side. The reverse image is a scene, entirely in gold lacquer, of rolling hills and pine saplings in the foreground. The inro opens to reveal a compartment lacquered red on the inside with a small removable inset tray.

Meiji Period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 2 3/8" high x 3" wide

A Japanese Mokugyo wooden temple bell, carved from kusunoki (camphor) wood in the form of a lifelike human skull. Used to accompany chants (sutras) in Taoist and Buddhist ceremonies. The base of the skull is signed "Bononshi", with matching tomobako.

Dimensions: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" x 4 1/2" H

A long Buddhist religious painting, the top corners with remnants of the fixtures once used for hanging from the ceiling so both paintings are visible. One side of the cloth is painted with hanging human and animal skulls and skins intertwined. Skeletal faces of the Citipati hang amongst the human heads, their skeletal form serving as a reminder of the impermanence of life and eternal change. Below the hanging heads and skins are lingzhi clouds carrying the bodhisattvas with their heavenly at...

Antique Tibetan thangka painting of Green Tara, one of the manifestations of the bodhisattva of protection. The central figure of Green Tara is flanked by bodhisattvas while the Amitabha Buddha is seated directly above her head. Below Tara are a fierce deity with mortal attendants carrying offerings. Thangka translates to “that which can be rolled up”, as traveling monks could easily carry them from place to place to use as a teaching tool.

18th century

Dimensions...

Japanese bronze incenser in the form of Hotei, one of the Seven Lucky Gods of Fortune. Hotei is clothed with open robes, holding a gunbai fan, seated on top of his large sack. Hotei's name literally means "Cloth Sack", for he can be attributed by the large cloth sack he carries with him during his travels. He is also known as the Laughing Buddha due to his carefree happy nature despite being a wanderer with few material possessions.

Meiji period (1868-1912)

Dimensions:...

A beautiful stand mounted Japanese architectural (corbal) carving of ocean waves. One of this detail and design would have been built into the architecture of a temple. The carving is highly stylized with large openwork areas. The Keyaki (zelkova) woodgrain is visible on the reverse of the carving. Mounted on black iron plates.

Mid Edo Period (1603 - 1868)

Dimensions: 32" L x 3 1/2" D x 17 1/4" H, 13" H carving only

Rare Japanese Yonazawa Keyaki (zelkova) burl front tansu with original golden honey lacquer finish. The round lock plates on each drawer feature the emblem of the Taira clan, whose mon is the swallowtail butterfly or ageha.

The Taira were one of the four important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period (794–1185) – the others were the Fujiwara clan, the Tachibana clan and the Minamoto clan.

Meiji period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: ...

Japanese porcelain Kakiemon dish, of a lotus form with lobed petals and scalloped edges, with an enamel image of a blue dragon in the center of the well, its body coiled and playing with a ball of fire. The dish stands on a wide, short foot outlined in red enamel.

Meiji Period (1868 - 1912)

Dimensions: 9 1/2" w x 2 1/8" h

A beautiful antique Annamese Vietnamese jar with a clear ivory glaze. On the shoulder are 4 applied rosettes between 2 raised lines. Vertical lines extend from the rosettes to the unglazed base. The jar has a short neck and rolled rim. Some imperfections. Annamese refers to Vietnamese porcelain, since Annam was the name of the southernmost province of China after the Tang dynasty. The name is the Vietnamese form of the Chinese name "the Pacified South". In modern time, Annam was a French protect...

An antique Japanese lacquer Inro with images of persimmons on a gold flecked background. The Inro has five compartments, a boxwood netsuke carved in the shape of a persimmon and a metal ojime incised with floral and geometric designs. The inside compartments are covered with dense nashiji lacquer (fine gold flecks). Exceptional.

Date: early Meiji (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 3.75" X 2.5" wide