Museum in Lotus Special: Chinese New Year 2022 Part 3

On 19th February 2022, the 19th day in the Lunar year of the Tiger, Lotus on Water galleries celebrated Chinese New Year. Mr Pino DE Giosa (P), who features in the Museum in Lotus 莲中博物 documentary series, together with Ashley Sim (A), help us appreciate the rare antiques that was used in the re-blessing ceremony. 

Let us spend some time to appreciate these artefacts,  and understand how they add value to the re-blessing ceremony and bring even more huatness to our Lotus on Water galleries.

A: Hello everyone, I am Ashley and together with Mr Pino, we are going to introduce the Hibachi.

P: The Hibachi is a brazier which holds charcoal. In another words, its purpose is to create warmth during the winter.

P: This hand carved Hibachi dates back to the Edo period (江户时代) in Japan, between 1803 to 1867. The beautiful grain of this hollow wood takes centuries to form. The Japanese use a technique called Maki-e (日语:蒔絵まきえ), a lacquer decoration tachnique in which patterns are drawn with lacquer, and then iridescence from shellfish is sprinkled and fixed on the surface of the Hibachi. This a very complex process to master and produce, so this beautiful piece was certainly owned by an extremely wealthy family.

The inside of this Hibachi is made with copper because copper is not a strong conductor of heat, which helps to preserve the external wooden shell. The copper internal is all hand beaten. Notice how its natural colour matches the exterior lacquered wood perfectly.

A: It is amazing how Master Yun uses items with such rich heritage and culture for all his re-blessing ceremonies. The level of thought and consideration into every detail is absolutely unbelievable. For customers of Lotus on Water, the value we get is priceless.

What is also priceless in my mind is this thousand hands sandalwood Guan Yin sculpture.

This specific sculpture belongs to Master Yun’s personal collection. In fengshui, Sandalwood is used to boost indirect wealth, creativity and inspiration. I personally think the level of detail in this sculpture fully justifies the $128,868 price tag, especially when we can keep it for generations to come.

For those of us who want the benefits of sandalwood at a more affordable price point, let me introduce the sandalwood imperial dragon pendant.

This design has been bought my many people during the pre-launch, and I believe stocks of this piece are running low and will not be reproduced. If you have not yet seen this in person, I strongly recommend you to make an appointment with Cola to witness the level of finishing and unique sandalwood scent of these pieces.

With that, we have come to the end of our session. My heartiest appreciation to you, Mr Pino, for joining me in hosting our CNY reblessing event today. I have learn a lot from you.

P: Thank you very much for having me as presenter. You are very kind.

Special thanks to Mr Pino and Ashley Sim for the knowledge and guidance.