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Excerpt continued... In addition there are City gods and kitchen gods, the earth gods who protects specific piece of land and myriad spirits who protect wells, mountains or bridges, distribute rain or snow, control flooding or protect humanity from disease and epidemics Popular religious deities of creation and prehistory, and gods Popular religious deities of fate and destiny health and medicine matrimony and childbirth wealth and business From local spirit bureaucracy and the deities, demons and ghosts of the underworld. It is interesting that gods seem to be as numerous and diverse as the inhabitants of the cities and countryside. |
| More About Our Own Collection Eli began collecting them when he first started going on buying trips. At the time, almost 15 years ago, there was almost no interest in these fantastic carvings. In fact, most of them had been hidden or buried away during the Cultural Revolution and in the intervening years there was less and less attention paid to them. We kept looking for more because we liked that each was unique. That is, although we didn't believe that they were necessarily imbued with the spirit they were supposed to represent, we liked that each had its own character, that every Kitchen God for instance was the same but had been interpreted uniquely. Each one has its own spirit, carved into being. We marvel at the countless and unknowable wood carvers who made them. Another reason we were intrigued by them is that they were mysterious, if only because no one seemed to know very much about them, at least here in the States and through Eli's contacts. Around six years ago I (Craig) began searching the internet for information about the figures but I couldn't find much information and no pictures whatsoever. But I did come across one web site page which mentioned a scholar by the name of Keith Stevens who had been to over 2500 local temples in China and who had written a very good book (according to the grad student) about the statues in 1997. The trouble was the web site was dead and only mentioned Stevens and the book in passing. Soon after though I did find his book Chinese Mythological Gods on Amazon.com but it was several years before I even found out the title of the book he wrote in 1997: Chinese Gods, The Unseen World of Spirits and Demons. And it wasn't until 2004 I found an actual copy of the book. (I now have two copies.) Then in late 2005 I received a phone call that went something like this: "Artasia, Craig speaking." "Hi. I saw some pictures on your web site of Chinese folk statues and I'm interested in how you came by them?" "Well, my brother-in-law collects them when he goes on buying trips. We don't know much about them except we think they are all pretty much pre-Cultural Revolution. The oldest one was from 1703, which we sold to one of our first customers." "So you have more than the twenty on your web site?" "Yeah, we've got about 1000. We've collect them whenever we find them." Silence. Then "You have over 1000, the same type of statues?" "Yeah, they're getting harder to find." "You know there are only three collections that size in the world?" As I recall the gentleman drove to our store that weekend, all the way from Michigan. He is James Robson, a professor at the University of Michigan. He has since taken a year sabbatical to study our collection and we're in the process of learning all we can about them. We've had a passion for them for quite some time and Professor Robson has spent a good deal of his career studying them. We'll add more info as time goes on. Even today museums are not that interested in the figures because they are considered "folk art." |
Folk Statue description, excerpted from Chinese Gods by Keith Stevens: Door Guards, Hungry Ghosts, the Heavenly Dog who eats the moon, the wealth God who rides a tiger, and the thousand-armed sex-change goddess—these are just a few of the extraordinary deities who feature in the enormous pantheon of Chinese popular religion. China is a land full of gods and goddesses, ranging from the Creators of the world to worthies local to only one or two villages. This book introduces the reader to the most in[portent figures of Chinese Folk History, and those of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Intensely pragmatic in their religion, Chinese people hold all gods in reverence, but it is only the ones who answer prayers with concrete results that are exceptionally praised. Many gods have particular specialties, for instance, there are different wealth gods for success in business and for gambling. There are also individual gods for each trade, from those for garbage men in hong kong to students tat University. |
Antique & Ancestor Folk Statues We have one of the largest collection of Chinese folk statues in the world--over 1200, which we have collected over the past 15 years. They are mainly from Hunan and Fuxian province. There are only three known collections of our size: two in China and one in Europe. Beginning in 2007 professors from the University of Michigan and Paris will be documenting our collection: taking photos, translating the dedication scrolls and cataloguing the contents of each figure. In 2007 our entire collection will be on display for the first time in our Gallery. Although we have statues in our permanent collection, the majority of these wonderful and unique statues are for sale. Currently we are seeking non-profit status for the museum in order to attract funds to preserve and keep the entire collection together. |
| Artasia 181 N Broadway Milwaukee WI 53211 414-220-4292 Email Us |
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