Antique Chinese Cinnabar Lacquer Round Box with Character for Spring (Chun) and God of Longevity (Shoulao) nova scotia another obsession that has revealed

another obsession that has revealed itself through my picking is one for unusual boxes of all shapes and sizes

who clearly had a great deal of respect for this piece of wood

as is often the case with Northeast Coast native baskets

which are more pronounced on the reverse

so I removed the print from the backing it was attached to (cutting carefully through old masking tape to do so) and have put it in a simple black frame with white matte

Antique Chinese Cinnabar Lacquer Round Box with Character for Spring (Chun) and God of Longevity (Shoulao) nova scotia another obsession that has revealedThis lovely, finely carved antique Chinese cinnabar box features a large representation of the character for spring (chun, an allusion to long life), and a small image of Shoulao, the god of longevity, on its face, with an overflowing bowl below it set against a background of radiating rainbows. This "bowl of treasures" design apparently first appeared in the 16th century, but became famous and more complicated when an extraordinary series of boxes