Wednesday, January 29, 2014

When the Horses come galloping in 2014.....


......Success will sure to follow so goes the old Chinese idiom Ma dao gong cheng.  With these words in mind  I post my 2 galloping steeds to greet Lunar New Year of the Horse 2014.

Ma dao gong cheng = SUCCESS

These two jade horses are also beads and can be used to make toggles for decoration around the house during the New Year

Horse toggles for Year of the Horse 2014

Here is a pretty horse pendant carved in jade

Horse pendant


Next I show my beautiful horse and rider agate seal from Yangon which must be centuries old. There are many examples of hard stone seals of Myanmar in the publicaton Ornaments from the Past: Bead Studies after Beck. In this book, a full chapter is devoted to Ancient hard stone beads and seals of Myanmar and I think my seal is from this era.

Ride a cock horse to Banbury cross :)


Agate seal with plasticine imprint


Borrowed from Heng is this vintage snuff bottle with horse theme. Made from bronze it depicts a horse and carriage scene from Han dynasty.

Old bronze snuff bottle with Horse and carriage scene in the time of  Han dynasty

2014 is the year of the Wood Horse and it is appropriate to show  my beautiful Burmese wooden horses from half a century ago.


Beautifully carved old wooden horses


Heng's zodiac animal is a horse.



These 3 horse look well together

2014 will also be the year of my first grandchild and so here is a little baby horse or pony seal to celebrate her birth.

Agate seal of pony probably Pyu

The last horse I will show is  Heng's golden horse which he received on his retirement


Heng's Golden Horse Award:) What a beaut !


Finally, Greetings to all Chinese collectors  with this horsy idiom for the Lunar New Year 2014

Ma dao gong cheng
Bu bu gao sheng !
Or
When the horses arrive, Success
With every step, Promotion !





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