amazing
I opened the door--like solving the final riddle in a maddening RPG--and actually...stood inside...Lai Fong.
The rooms were as I remembered them-- cavernous, tall, and dim. The display cases heavy glass and ancient dark wood. Piles of brocade and pre-Territorial Chinese robes as high as the Mountain of Heaven. Dioramas of ivory carvings. Cloisonné in exclesis. Antique toys, antique furniture, antique carved boxes, antique Hawaiiana, screens, teapots, lamps, jewelry, mah jong sets, my mind boggled and melted before this vast Persistence of Memory.
The guy, tall and pale, bowed attentively over a female acquaintance seated at a decayed stool by a display case in the back. She was examining a cloisonné trinket box universe in gold and canary through a jewel-handled magnifying glass. He was surprisingly friendly and displayed a marked preference for cash.
What did I buy? Ah. Well, it's two exquisite little things, one black and one green. They're both plain enamel with scalloped gold wire (cloisonné) trim. They are two little matched circular dishes, polished to a high degree, each with one bronze Qing dynasty (ca. 1900) dragon coin forming the base. (Pics forthcoming when Time isn't breathing down my neck.)
The rooms were as I remembered them-- cavernous, tall, and dim. The display cases heavy glass and ancient dark wood. Piles of brocade and pre-Territorial Chinese robes as high as the Mountain of Heaven. Dioramas of ivory carvings. Cloisonné in exclesis. Antique toys, antique furniture, antique carved boxes, antique Hawaiiana, screens, teapots, lamps, jewelry, mah jong sets, my mind boggled and melted before this vast Persistence of Memory.
The guy, tall and pale, bowed attentively over a female acquaintance seated at a decayed stool by a display case in the back. She was examining a cloisonné trinket box universe in gold and canary through a jewel-handled magnifying glass. He was surprisingly friendly and displayed a marked preference for cash.
What did I buy? Ah. Well, it's two exquisite little things, one black and one green. They're both plain enamel with scalloped gold wire (cloisonné) trim. They are two little matched circular dishes, polished to a high degree, each with one bronze Qing dynasty (ca. 1900) dragon coin forming the base. (Pics forthcoming when Time isn't breathing down my neck.)
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