Posted 6 years ago
Sylvester22
(81 items)
Hello, picked up this unique piece of art or artsy side table. The top is heavy concrete I think that has either Chinese or Japanese writing covering the whole top. The top is 14 inches by 10 and a quarter inches. It sits on a solid hollow wood base that stands 16 inches high. I can not translate the writing and I do see any other marks or signatures on the piece. I think the burnt hole that raising towards the top part of the piece is not an accident, I think the artist but it there for some statement or purpose. I like unique art, I hope some one who sees this knows more about this cool piece. Would be nice to know it’s purpose. Thanks for looking.
Keramikos, thank you for the response. I to hope it doesn’t say drink your ovaltine, I think I would feel just as bad as the little boy in the movie. The edges I did notice that it looks like the piece was cut right through other ideograms. Maybe it was reduced in size from a larger slab. The research will go on.
NOT that I have any actual idea whatsoever about this piece (even less 'Asian furniture' in general) -- I certainly don't -- but the more I keep looking at it, I've also gotta keep wondering if its "burn mark" is really intentional. I'd simply point out that I'd expect a similar kind of burn to be produced if, say, a lamp fell over with its hot lightbulb (esp if of the 'halogen' variety?) coming to rest against its side...maybe also if it is made of a variety of wood (teak, rosewood, etc.) that is naturally sorta 'flame resistant' anyway, so to have only charred rather than bursting into open flame during such a "mishap", at least until the smoke detectors went off and someone came running with a fire extinguisher...??
ALSO not that I don't think it is completely COOL either way...? ;-) :-) :-) :-)
Don't translate this. It is Chinese, but it is jumbled. It deliberately lures you in with recognizable words and phrases but ultimately doesn't cohere into something legible. Looks like an art project or something that contemporary artist like Xu Bing or Gu Wenda, or at least inspired by them. How did you get this again?
Hello WMA, I picked it up at an estate sale in upstate New York. The owners of the home had a lot of Asian objects. I was just curious about the burn mark if it’s part of the piece or an unfortunate accident.
It is a lamp table. Made for a lamp sometime between 1967 and 1980. I have collected them over the years. There was a large export import business at the time. Italy made some of the best, but there were others also.
Thanks PhilDMorris, I guess my burn mark is not suppose to be there.
I am not sure if it is not supposed to be there as a lot of these tables are different meaning I see different ALL the time. I look at the burn and I think that a burn like that should have started a major fire so it may be intentional. Also the 16 inch height is the size of a coffee table BUT you have to realize that so many of these lamps were oversize and also that many of the lamps esp from overseas the style was for lampshades to be around 30-32 inches high, during the later 60's. It would have been nice to see the lamp that originally adorned this table, maybe a chinese theme, there are so many possibilities. I see some scratch marks so maybe you could buy some of the furniture polish that have a walnut bit of stain added to help cover those pesky scratches. Walmart even sells them or at least I bought their brand one time.
Also I have kept a collection of postings that show a lot of these lamps and the more than fascinating bases :
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/user/PhilDMorris/60s-to-80s-plaster-and-metal-statues-a