Chinese carved pedestal table

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Chinese carved rosewood & natural gray mottled marble top round table. 1920's.    

        

       

        

 

 

 

Rosewood is hard, tough, strong, and dense. True rosewoods come from trees of the genus Dalbergia, but other woods are often called rosewood. Rosewood takes a high polish and is used for luxury furniture-making, flooring, musical instruments, and turnery.        

 

 

 

 

Genuine rosewoods belong to the genus Dalbergia. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated in the Western world is the wood of Dalbergia nigra. It is best known as "Brazilian rosewood", but also as "Bahia rosewood". This wood has a strong, sweet smell, which persists for many years, explaining the name rosewood.           

 

 

 

 

As rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, they are suitable for guitars (the fretboards on electric and acoustic guitars often being made of rosewood), marimbas and recorders. There is a site that specializes in Panama rosewood sets for guitars (link below).        

 

 

 

In general, world stocks are poor through overexploitation. Rosewood is now protected worldwide. At a summit of the international wildlife trade in South Africa, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) moved to protect the world's most trafficked wild product by placing all 300 species of the rosewood tree under trade restrictions. At CITES meetings in 2013, 2016, and 2019, additional rosewood species were listed for protection, triggering market booms in China.               

 

 

       

       

        

       

       

        

       

        

Viewfinder links:    

       

Turkish Delights              

     

Net links:            

        

Panama Rosewood Sets        

Wood Data Base ~ Distinguishing Brazilian, East Indian & Other Rosewoods       

Woodworker's Source ~ Rosewood From Around the Globe       

       

        

       

       

        

Styrous® ~ Friday, November 8, 2024        

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Turkish Delights 05: 30's lamp w/pleated fabric shade

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Turkish Delights       

        

       

        

        

       

       

        

       

       

        

Styrous® ~ Thursday, September 26, 2024        

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Turkish Delights 04: Chinese carving ~ Three wise monkeys

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photos by Styrous®

In the early sixties I was on one of my "junking" forays along Turk Street (link below) and came across a 10 pound, 16" tall, two-sided statue with detailed carvings that consist of various wild jungle animals, birds and hidden between them are the three "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" monkeys. I fell in love with it at first sight; it would be my second Asian art purchase, more on that later.     

 

Originally from China in the 8th century, the depiction of three monkeys is actually a play on words. In Japanese, the proverb is mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru (見ざる, 聞かざ る, 言わざる) or “see not, hear not, speak not”. Zaru can also be a modified form of the word for monkey (saru, 猿), so people inserted monkeys into the depictions of the teachings. The monkeys are named according to the original proverb. Mizaru, covers his eyes, seeing no evil; Kikazaru, covers his ears, hearing no evil; and Iwazaru, covers his mouth, speaking no evil.       

The price on it was ten dollars, not a lot even by living standards of the time, so, assuming it was plastic, I bought it anyway. There it has remained for decades in my collection as a nice plastic reproduction. Five or six years ago a friend informed me it may not be plastic after all; it may indeed, be ivory! Needless to say, I was stunned.         

 

After I heard that I examined the sculpture closely; the middle figure at the bottom is different on both sides but the 'tusks', with the exception of the loped off top of one, are exactly the same; I don't think what would be true if it were carved by hand.

 

¿Pero, quién sabe?

There have been many art, music and science projects based on the Three Monkees, most of them named after Mizaru. Aaron Sherwood has an engrossing series of performances (link below). Although the concept is interesting, Florence Blanchard has a series of art works based on the three monkees, however, the images remind me more of the art work for the album cover of the Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark album, Dazzle Ships (links below). Science is represented as well, the Mizaru Project deals with the acceptance of climate change (link below)     

         

 

                               

 

 

                                

                               

                                

obverse

                        

 

        

                        

                          

 

 

 

 

The Three wise monkeys

         

     mizaru                                                     kikazaru                                                iwazaru

Los Animales

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

        

       

       

Viewfinder links:        

        

Dazzle Ships           

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark         

Turkish Delights         

       

Net links:                

         

Florence Blanchard ~ No Evil Series: Mizaru, Kikazaru, Iwazaru        

Mizaru Project             

No Evil Project ~ Three Wise Monkeys           

Old Tokyo ~ Mizaru, Kikazaru & Iwazaru c. 1910     

Purring Tiger ~ MIZARU - installation / performance         

RuneScape.wik ~ Mizaru            

Aaron Sherwood ~ Mizaru Performance           

Teaching Tuesday ~ Three Wise Monkeys         

         

YouTube links:    

                             

许巍 ~ 生活不止眼前的苟且  (Xu Wei ~ Life is more than what is in front of you (Who knows)            

Natti Natasha - Quién Sabe         

Mizaru          

Happy Harmonies ~ Three wise monkeys (1030's animation)        

The Three Wise Monkeys (Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil)     

¿Quién sabe?

         

Styrous® ~ Sunday, September 212, 2024              

        

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Turkish Delight: alabaster lamp (gold)

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Alabaster lamp
       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The purest alabaster (more into in link below) is a snow-white material of fine uniform grain, but it often is associated with an oxide of iron, which produces brown clouding and veining in the stone as with this lamp.     

 

 

 

photos by Styrous®

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

        

       

       

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alabaster        

Turkish Delights         

        

        

         

Styrous® ~ Tuesday, August 27, 2024              

        

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