Chinese Marble Fu dog with baby sculpture

Beautiful and unique marble statue; probably used to be a set but just have the one. Discovered it in the ruins of an old house in Southern Taiwan. Pretty sure it's marble. Extremely heavy. Base is 12x6.5. Signed with Chinese character stamp carved in.

Not sure about the history...

18th century Japanese Ivory owl carving

Recently inherited this piece from the family estate; was given to my mother as a child from an older relative. There is a signature on the base in (japanese?) characters. Based on similar items, my best guess is that this is carved Japanese ivory, probably 18th/19th century. The eyes and feet are painted yellow, a little carelessly. This may have been done later. The feet are metal/ivory.

The piece is pretty heavy; maybe mammoth?

What do you think it is? Value estimate?

12th Century Khmer Bronze Figure of Buddha Muchalinda

I've had this piece for years and am suddenly aware that it might be very valuable; if authentic. The style of the piece is most similar (identical) to pieces from the 12th century Cambodia, Angkor Thom or Khmer region. It's 16" tall, the base is 4.5x3". It is "well cast and sensitively modeled, with Buddha seated in meditation on the coils of Muchalinda, rising to form a seven-headed hood sheltering Buddha, his face with a serene expression with downcast eyes and hands held in his lap, the faces of the nagas well defined and with incised scales retaining original gilding, with a smooth blue green patina  (which results from azurite leeching out of the metal over the centuries)" (description modified from similar item).

I have no way of telling whether it is truly 8 centuries old or was cleverly made to look that way; I need an expert appraiser for this. However, I've seen no 'fakes' or reproductions that look like this; everything I can find that's similar sells for anywhere between $1000 to $50,000... My piece is unique in that it breaks into 3 pieces - base, seated buddha, and 7 naga backpiece. I have seen other statues of the same period where the Buddha also was loose from its supporting stand. So what do you think? Authentic? Value?

MORE INFORMATION:
In Buddhist iconography, naga serpents bring wisdom and protection. Mucalinda, Muchalinda or Mucilinda is the name of the specific naga depicted in this statue. This particular naga protected the Buddha from the a rain storm after the Buddha's enlightenment. Here's the story: four weeks after Sakyamuni Buddha began meditating under the Bodhi tree, the heavens darkened for seven days, and a prodigious rain descended. The mighty king of serpents, Mucalinda, came from beneath the earth, and protected with his hood He who is the source of all protection. When the great storm cleared, the serpent king assumed his human form, bowed before the Buddha, and returned in joy to his palace.

There are numerous extant Cambodian images of this configuration because it was the focus of a cult during the reign of the Cambodian king Jayavarman VII, who ruled the Khmer empire from about 1181 to 1218. Although this scene had been depicted earlier in South and Southeast Asian art, it was the Khmer who popularized this particular image of the Buddha seated under the Naga's 7-Headed canopy. The reasons that Jayavarman chose to stress the Muchilinda Buddha remain speculative. Snakes were associated with healing, and perhaps because Jayavarman may have been lame, he emphasized healing, as indicated by his construction of hospitals throughout the kingdom.

English Editing, ESL Instruction, Religious Writing and Surrealist Oil Paintings

ALL ABOUT ME! I'm taking stock of my successes (before turning 30) as well as amping up/strengthening a few of my personal projects. Check out some of the things that I'm working on:

1) I run an editing and proofreading website. If you need help editing a book, manuscript, essay paper, thesis or dissertation, please check it out at http://www.paper-perfect-editing.com

2) I'm an artist. My home site, featuring my surrealistic oil paintings, is http://www.derekmurphyart.com

3) I run an English Summer Camp in Taiwan. We focus on practical English and ESL conversation, fluency by providing an English Immersion Environment. See more at http://www.englishculturecommunity.com

4) Finally, I'm a writer/researcher. I focus on religion, history, and spirituality. I have a lot of articles, and some books, at my website http://www.holyblasphemy.net

Quality editing and proofreading for your English documents

I've redone my proofreading and editing site again; if you need editorial services, copy editing, proofreading or help for essays, papers, books, etc - I have the best prices around and offer great service:

http://www.paper-perfect-editing.com

Superstition, ghosts and magic in Taiwan

Taiwan seems like a very advanced, modern place with open minded people. I was recently reminded that this is not true; I'm using 'ghost money' to paint a painting, which has garnished some strong reactions. Ghost money is money that you burn to give to ghosts, or deceased relatives, or gods to placate them. If you run over a cat (as my student, who is a doctor did recently) and feel bad about it, you can burn ghost money with pictures of cat food and toys on it. Besides money, you can burn plasma TV's (made of paper), food or lots of other things, which will then be transferred to the spiritual world, ready to use.

When I die, please somebody burn me effigies of Pam Anderson.

This is pretty similar to the Egyptian practice of burying the dead with useful items for the next life. It's a nice thought, an interesting cultural facet, and universally believed. Doctors, engineers, lawyers, students... the boundary of 'Taboo' is not simply that, in using the ghost money, I'm doing something inconsiderate that some people might not like; it is a personal belief that using the ghost money is unlucky, will attract misfortune to me.

Gosh I hope not - but I have a strong idea for a painting and want to do it; it only works with the ghost money, so I'm going ahead. However, I doubt any gallery in Taiwan will display it, and of course no one in Taiwan would want to buy it and put it in their house.

I don't understand why though; the stores are filled with STACKS of ghost money; why don't the ghosts go hang out in the stores? Why isn't selling ghost money unlucky? Surely ghost money has it's power in its application; the intentions of usage. Ghost money represents and preserves the intention of being generous with the dead of with the gods; otherwise it's just paper.

德瑞克墨菲(Derek Murphy)當代亞洲藝術

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台灣當代藝術/ 當代亞洲藝術

德瑞克‧墨菲 (Derek Murphy)的創作擅於玩味宗教象徵與大眾文化之意象，試圖尋求深伏於各式爭議性議題之下的光點。德瑞克作品最出色之處，是在於他處理圖像所展現之精妙 度與創新性。他的手法並非如一般的模式，即循環利用同樣的意象與主題，以便廣泛呈現一大綜合概念。德瑞克的每一作品，內容上通常沒有太大的關聯性，但風格 總有一定的機制在運作，亦有幻化不定的詭譎元素穿插於中，更有他所繪的一個個臉龐，泛現困惑與慌恐。

Work 創作

德瑞克的創作擅於玩味宗教象徵與大眾文化之意象，試圖尋求深伏於各式爭議性議題之下的光點。
德瑞克作品最出色之處，是在於他處理圖像所展現之精妙度與創新性。他的手法並非如一般的模式，即循環利用同樣的意象與主題，以便廣泛呈現一大綜合概念。 德瑞克的每一作品，內容上通常沒有太大的關聯性，但風格總有一定的機制在運作，亦有幻化不定的詭譎元素穿插於中，更有他所繪的一個個臉龐，泛現困惑與慌 恐。

構圖之取材，不論是各式的拼貼或一疊疊的照片與圖像影本，德瑞克皆有辦法捕捉並烘托出影像中所蘊涵的混沌與荒謬感，縱然媒材是”靜物”影像亦能如 此。他擁有非凡靈巧的能耐，熟稔於即刻辨悉文化宗教領域中極具衝突性的元素，勾繪出頗具爭議性與駭異的題材，使其創作充斥著一股強烈的生命力，展現一番剌 激的魅力，俘獲他人可尋，但不可見悉。

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Is it Surrealism? 是超現實嗎?

超現實主義狹義而言指的是像達利等畫家的畫風，基本上超現實一詞，可追源至佛洛伊德的潛意識與夢之解析。然而，超現實主義現已廣泛用來描述繪畫創 作，形容 其傳達意念頗為真實，但呈現手法卻是異常甚至是駭人的。事實上，德瑞克認為自己的風格實為”後現代荒謬主義”，承襲超現實派大師馬格利特及小說家卡繆之理 念。

荒謬主義背後隱涵之哲理，即是人所能理解的終究是有限的，因此號稱絕對真理之存在甚是荒謬。然而，此番荒謬並非悲觀，而是藉此愉悅並幽默風趣地體驗人生，縱然一切了無意義。

Statement 聲明

我的畫作展現出我樂觀的天性，我幽暗的諷世性，與我精神之深邃。我深深敬畏這世界的力量，倍受其暗藏的喜悅所驚動，並為其頑劣難治的意識形態垃圾所 震怒。頑腐不可變通的信念，是密佈這整個世界的電欄: 標籤、區別、分離、譴責。只要我沒有這些，我也不會有什麼基準來批判他人或讚揚自己。我希望能藉由巧妙玩弄敏感話題，得以將焦點轉注於情感的藩離幕帷，這 也是定義我們為何的關鍵。我遊浮於常理之外，並深為神秘的驅動力所傾迷。我活在無息的掙扎中，試圖平緩內在多重自我之間針鋒相對的衝突，而畫布即為兩方皆 能平等對言之論壇。無論如何，我是我的時間的產物，而我所能做到的，是分享我的視野觀維所見的這世界。

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