Can any one read Chinese?

[cyberdan]

I got this at a yard sale quite a few years ago. It is signed or company name on the bottom.
Looks pretty old. Not Japanese or Korean I would recognise them.
It is some kind of display box. The part on the left goes over the display.

 

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[goldencoin]

Good evening, my wife is chinese. She says it reads (中和堂) Zhong he tang, a signature. A quick search suggests that it's from the late qing dynasty, which matches the construction. In my opinion, it looks like an altar for ancestor worship or a house deity. Pretty cool!

HH
-GC

 

[Red-Coat]

My oriental language skills aren't great but I believe it's not a signature. I think it says "Japanese-style temple/shrine within/inside". And that's exactly what it us... a shrine for home/personal use which would likely have housed small deity figurines. Mostly these are Buddhist items, but difficult to say without the figurines and perhaps not confined to Buddhist use anyway.

Calling Yang Hao... he will likely be able to say a bit more.

 

[cyberdan]

Calling Yang Hao... he will likely be able to say a bit more.

Is he a member? I will try to look him up.
Goldencoin's reply makes sense because that is what I thought the use was for.

 

[cyberdan]

Good evening, my wife is chinese. She says it reads (中和堂) Zhong he tang, a signature. A quick search suggests that it's from the late qing dynasty, which matches the construction. In my opinion, it looks like an altar for ancestor worship or a house deity. Pretty cool!

HH
-GC

Thanks GC, That is what I thought it was use for also. My wife is Japanese and she could pronounce it but had no idea what it meant. As you know the Chinese and Japanese use some of the same alphabets. She wants me to sell it (and get it out of my office) because she thinks maybe someone's ashes used to be in there.

 

[Red-Coat]

Is he a member? I will try to look him up.

Yes, he is. I've just sent him a private message with a link to this thread.

 

[Red-Coat]

While waiting to see if Yang Hao can add anything, I don’t think your wife should be concerned about it having contained someone’s ashes. Here’s something similar from the Rockwell Antiques Dallas website:



Vintage Japanese Temple Style Box. Made of rosewood … this box has a cover featuring Buddhist Swastikas on the front. The cover lifts off to reveal a tabernacle with 2 carved dragons on either side. Probably made in the first quarter of the 20th Century … circa 1920-30. Rectangular shaped for the storage of deities statues or treasures within. Bought by a Dallas Private Collector whilst on a trip to Japan in the 1970’s.

The styling is Japanese, but boxes like this came from China and other oriental locations too, especially anywhere with a Buddhist community within its population.

 

[Yang Hao]

There is not much else to add to the above thread. It appears to be what in Chinese is called a 佛龛 fo kan. It translates into a niche to place a buddha statue inside (as mentioned by Red-Coat). The style of it does look qing dynasty (as mentioned by goldcoin) but that doesn't mean it was made then. As for the writing 中和堂, it could be interpreted in a few ways. 中 (middle） 和 (and) 堂（temple) . 和 he also means peace as in 和平 heping. 中和堂 is also a chinese medicine style/practice that was by started by the manchu minority 满族 from the North East of China. In fact, that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the characters. The 中和 could be on it's own to mean peace and balance with 堂 to be temple so therefore the name of a temple called 中和堂. There is even a poem from the Song Dynasty called 中和堂 written by 王十朋 wang shi peng.

 

[Red-Coat]

There is not much else to add to the above thread. It appears to be what in Chinese is called a 佛龛 fo kan. It translates into a niche to place a buddha statue inside (as mentioned by Red-Coat). The style of it does look qing dynasty (as mentioned by goldcoin) but that doesn't mean it was made then. As for the writing 中和堂, it could be interpreted in a few ways. 中 (middle） 和 (and) 堂（temple) . 和 he also means peace as in 和平 heping. 中和堂 is also a chinese medicine style/practice that was by started by the manchu minority 满族 from the North East of China. In fact, that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the characters. The 中和 could be on it's own to mean peace and balance with 堂 to be temple so therefore the name of a temple called 中和堂. There is even a poem from the Song Dynasty called 中和堂 written by 王十朋 wang shi peng.

Thank you Yang Hao. Very helpful.

 

[cyberdan]

It appears to be what in Chinese is called a 佛龛 fo kan. It translates into a niche to place a buddha statue inside

Thanks, so confusing. I will be listing on ebay and go into great detail it may scare away buyers. If I put what you said at the beginning and what red-coat says would that be enough?

 

[cyberdan]

View attachment 1878351

I found that cabinet for sale. $420 is a bit high. I may list mine at half of that. It is not in that pristine condition. thanks

 

[signal_line]

Look it up in a Chinese dictionary. LOL

 

[Red-Coat]

Look it up in a Chinese dictionary. LOL

I did... although I looked it up as Japanese:



One never knows how reliable these look-ups are, but the possibilities seemed to make sense in the context of the item itself.

 

[Yang Hao]

Here is a list of them being sold on Taobao (Chinese eBay) the prices are in RMB

 

[cyberdan]

Here is a list of them being sold on Taobao (Chinese eBay) the prices are in RMB

Thanks I will look them up. I did not know Chinese money was written as ¥, that has always been yen to me.

Those are good prices but shipping would kill me. 1¥ = .1508¢

Those are a lot nicer than mine but brand new, not 100+ years old