Hongshan Cicada Jade ~ exquisite

Here we have a huge Hongshan anceint jade cicada. This is a real exquisite piece. The size and age alone is breath taking. This is a true beauty.

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Nymphs of cicadas, larvae/pupae of wasps and ants were used as delicacies for emperors and nobles.

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Hongshan Culture formed in a late New Stone Age, about 5000-6000 years ago. It was mainly in western Liaohe region, including parts of Liaoning province, Inner Mongolian province and Hebei province today. The characteristic of Hongshan Culture is the coexistence of pottery and stone and jade wares. Among them,jade articles are especially outstanding, which vary from small ornaments to huge ritual ware. They played an important part in every aspect of the social functions at that time. Hongshan culture jade articles can be divided into five classes: tool class- such as axe, spin, rod, etc.; ornament class- such as ring, bracelet, pin, tube, etc.; ritual ware class- such as bell, battle-axe, annular pendant, Pei, etc; animal class- such as dragon, pig dragon, bird, turtle, cicada, silkworm, etc.; and statue class. The most representative pieces are "C"-shaped pig dragons. When you see them,you’ll feel calm and peaceful, you’ll also have a feeling to go back to nature.

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Good Fortune Feng Shui Symbols
Chi Lin, the Dragon Horse
Large Cicada
The Red Bat

Many Chinese Scrolls on website .............

Here we have a scroll painting done the Empress Dowager. This is beautiful and represents her work in finest form. We have several of her paintings on the web site for sale and her life is written out in a previous post here. Enjoy and be sure to check our web site for many beautiful paintings by some of the great master artists of their time.

Qianlong Scroll

Emperor Qianlong ( pronounced Chin Lung) 1711-1799 was the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty. The photo above is a huge scroll done by him that once hung in the The Palace of Heavenly Purity, or Qianqing Palace. The Qianqing is a palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. It is the largest of the three halls of the Inner Court located at the northern end of the Forbidden City. During the Qing dynasty, the palace often served as the Emperor's audience hall, where he held council with the Grand Council. We have four of his paintings and it always amazes me at the age and qualiy of the older scrolls, they are beautiful and exquisite in their own right. The one above is huge and above the painting on the top is an imperial golden strip and has the imperial seal. You can view more of this painting on our website under Chinese Paintings. Antique Dragon

Empress Dowager Cixi

Empress Dowager Cixi is the artist of these beautiful scrolls. We offer many Chinese scrolls and all are exquisite in their own right.

On November 28th of 1835, Cixi was born, surnamed Yehe Nala. In 1851, she was selected as a beauty into the palace. Due to the favor of Emperor Xianfeng, she was honored as a high-ranked imperial concubine, with the title of Yi Guifei.

In 1854, she was given a higher rank, with the title changed to Yipin.
In 1856, she gave birth to Zaichun who later became Emperor Tongzhi.
In 1861, the Second Opium War broke out. After Emperor Xianfeng died in August, Cixi's son ascended the throne as Emperor Tongzhi, who honored his mother as 'Holy Mother Empress Dowager'. In November, along with Prince Gong (brother-in-law of Cixi), Cixi launched a coup in which the eight chancellors were dismissed or killed. As a result, Cixi became the real power by keeping court from behind a screen.
In 1862, she was given the title of Empress Dowager Cixi by Emperor Tongzhi (Actually, she gave the title to herself through Emperor Tongzhi's prescript).
In 1873, as Emperor Tongzhi had grown up, Cixi appeared to turn the power over to him but she still held power behind the scenes.
In 1874, Emperor Tongzhi died. Cixi chose another grandson of Emperor Daoguang as the heir - Emperor Guangxu. Because she was aunt of Emperor Guangxu, she could continue ruling from behind the screen.
In 1889, Emperor Guangxu married. Cixi announced that she would relinquish her power and retire to live in the Summer Palace. However, all the court officials still listened to her, leaving Emperor Guangxu as a puppet emperor.
In 1894, Japan launched the Sino-Japanese War while Cixi was busy preparing the celebration of her 60th birthday. What's worse, when the Chinese navy fought fiercely with the Japanese, Cixi strongly insisted on appropriating the military fund to restore the Summer Palace, ignoring the advice of chancellors.
In 1895, the Qing Navy was defeated due to the compromise of Cixi. Taiwan Island ceded.
In 1898, Cixi launched a coup against Emperor Guangxu's Wu Hsu Reform. After that, she executed the main reform party members and from then on she put Emperor Guangxu under house arrest.
In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces captured capital Beijing. Cixi took Emperor Guangxu with her and fled to Xian. In September, another humiliating treaty - Peace Treaty of 1901 was signed.
On November 15th of 1908, the day after the death of Emperor Guangxu, Empress Dowager Cixi died in the afternoon.

Ji,Yun Calligraphy Painting

This is a poem on parting between friends, created in AD 8th century by LI, Bai, the greatest romantic poet of Tang Dynasty(AD 7th -10th century).. The calligraphy was written by JI, Yun in 18th century, the great scholar during Qing Dynasty (17th-20th century).
It depicted the author saw off his friend near the Yangtze River, expressed author's parting mode with the friend through depicting the scenery at that time. It is very popular in China, almost known by everybody.