Posted 7 years ago
Smithy56
(1 item)
This has been in my family for as long as I can remember. It appears to have dragon carved legs and possible cranes/peacocks and moths/butterflies on the lid There also appears to be an onion shaped (dome?) carved on the lid with a angry face inside. Lid is lockable and hinged. Inside is a removable shallow tray with one large square section, 3 rectangular sections and 2 small square sections. It appears to be hard wood perhaps teak. 14”Wx18”Wx26”H
Its a beautiful piece, carved wood with the Buddhist Asian motifs, the lotus flower on the sides, the bird and the dragon which represent symbols of yin and yan, male -female, black-white, etc.
The style is not typical of China or Japan, it would be a show piece for the owner, and may have had a practical use as well for storage.
Maybe Indonesian
Thank you for the comments and information. My father was in the Australian Airforce and was stationed in various islands in SE Asia and finally Japan as part of the occupation forces. Perhaps a link there.
DizzyDave you were correct. I found examples of others - it is an early 20th century Japara sewing table from Java, Indonesia. Thank you all.