Antikasia

Gallery of Oriental antiques. Fine Korean furniture and Southeast Asian works of art.
Contact at: tortue@csloxinfo.com

• Antique Store

Most of Antikasia furniture collection features accent pieces from Korea. Gathered since 20 years and carefully selected for their condition and authenticity, it includes a wide range of chests used for different purposes.

Most of them are genuine late Choson or Yi dynasty dated mid to late 19th century.

Korean furniture show high standards of craftsmanship and respect for the material used. For the inhabitants of the Morning calm country, wood was not meant to be molded or carved into elaborate designs or covered by thick layers of colors that obscured its beauty.

It should be wisely cut to emphasize the patterns of the grain with plain surfaces finished to enhance their natural colors and textures.

The main characteristics of the traditional Korean chest are the absence until early 20th century of large pieces and the low level design of many of them.

KOREAN CLOTHING CHESTS
Amongst others pieces of Korean clothing chests, the Bandaji commonly called Blanket chest was the most diverse in style.

A half closing chest with its door that extend all the way across the front and opens downward. Bandaji means half Ban and closing Daji. At the contrary to Jang and Nong, thick wood panels were used in making those chests. This type of chest was mainly used to store clothes and sometimes for books and manuscripts among lower classes households.

Jang also called wardrobe chest feature several levels, from one to three. Each level come with a door compartment were clothes were folded and laid flat. The top level usually features a raw of small drawers.

The single level Jang called Morijang or head side chest was generally placed near the bed.

A Nong consist of two stackable boxes of equal sizes. Each level was equipped with a door to the front.
It differs from the Jang because each piece was separate. Even legs were detachable so that they could be used under another chest as needed.

Nong were usually smaller than Jang. In most cases Nong comes with handles on the sides. In the anbang or women s quarter, Nong were highly decorated. Some were lacquered or covered with mother of pearl and shark skin inlay.

KOREAN KITCHEN CHESTS
Kitchen furniture included rice boxes, portable dining tables, shelves and cabinets. Cabinets for storing vessels and food Ch an-Jang were made with thick pine wood frames combined with grained zelkova or elm wood. They had usually two or three levels.

Tuiju, boxes to store rice and beans were commonly used all over the peninsula. Large pieces were used to store rice and smaller one to store beans. Both were built with elm or pine panels fitted into a thick frame designed to protect the contents from rodents and moisture. Metal work was scarce on kitchen furniture and iron only served a structural purpose.

Kitchen furniture tends to have heavier proportions than other household items. It is often solid, stable and functional rather than thin, refined and delicate.

KOREAN COFFERS AND BOXES
Boxes of various sizes were used to store items ranging from documents and money to jewelry and small accessories.
The large coffers included Ton Kwe or Coin chest in the men s quarters called Sarang Ch ae.

Boxes of smaller sizes such as wedding boxes, mirror and sewing boxes were mainly found in the women s quarters known as Anch ae

KOREAN TABLES
Because of lack of space, Korean tables are small and reduced to few design. The most common is the Soban also called dining tray. Our collection also includes small altar table used by monks in temples. Those items are rare and hard to find today.

The rubrique KOREAN MISCELLANEOUS feature pieces used in shops such as medicine chests as well as furniture made for religious rituals. It include shrines and altar tables

CHINESE AND JAPANESE CHESTS include furniture from the neighbors countries.

NOTE

To help identify the value of a piece, we rated each furniture as follow:

* Reproduction piece

** Fairly common - Early 20th Century.

*** Hard to find - Late 19th Century.

**** Rare and unusual - Early to Mid 19th Century.

INDICATION OF ITEMS LOCATION:

Collection GOLDEN TORTOISE in Bangkok, Thailand.
http://facebook.com/goldentortoise.bangkok



Private collection = Items sold.







FURNITURE MADE TO ORDER

Since 10 years, GOLDEN TORTOISE in Bangkok has also developed a made to order Furniture business.
http://facebook.com/oldwoodbkk