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ONE OF THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY DECORATING OPPORTUNITIES OF THE PAST FEW YEARS
has been the arrival on the antiques market of carved or painted architectural elements from China. These include balustrades, doors, ornamental brackets and archways, carved ceilings, and expecially windows. As China modernizes and rebuilds its urban centers, all over the country the wooden homes of the past two to three centuries are dismantled and torn down. Formerly, at the beginning of this process, a great deal of China's architectural heritage was simply destroyed. Now, because of the interest of foreign collectors, many of these striking works of art are now preserved.
Taken in Beijing in 1872, this is a photograph of the interior courtyard of a wealthy merchant's house. In it you see Master Yang seated at his ease, while above him on the balcony stand his wife and children and his concubine discretely off to one side. The photograph dates from the end of the Golden age of Chinese architectural carving and in it you can also see the placement of many decorative motifs; the rows of hand carved doors and panels, the brackets and windows.
Nowadays the doors, in hinged groups of three or more, make beautiful screens and room dividers, while the windows, originally backed with rice paper, make beautiful wall decorations, or else can be set inside an existing glass pane.
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