I was showing Mr. Jim
I got 300 bucks RMB from my dad
as my pocket money
and they all went into
the pocket of the old gentleman
at Dong Tai Road Antique Market 東臺路古玩市場
that’s like such a safe amount
compared to what we spent at Beijing
and my dad was trying to
attribute the spending to me,
so this is for me, huh
not him who wanted this
an alcohol warming pot
crafted with the
“4 Pretties Ladies” 四大美人
ever… in the Chinese history
their individual stories were
pretty interesting, by the way
so what you do is:
the alcohol is stored in the smaller pot
whenever you wanna drink it
you warm it by pouring boiling water
into the outer pot
then you put the alcohol pot
back into where it is
and the heat from the boiling water
will warm up the alcohol as desired
the tiny mini monkey
surrounding by frogs
I am yet to find out
what significance does it carry
but the monkey looks real pretty
you see the tail, the ear, the limbs
no joke, this is fine crafting
during the bargaining
my dad was (again) telling the gentleman that
this gonna be my wedding gift 嫁妝
my future husband needs to
own a big house
he has no idea what kind of
unique items I gonna bring along
I don’t consume alcohol
is it possible to warm tea or something
in there instead?
this came real cheap
because it’s just one
instead of a pair
it’s solid bronze,
really really heavy
yet we left it behind
setting aside luggage overweight
my dad was suddenly thinking again
yeah.. I didn’t get the idea of him buying
in the first place
things that come in pair
it doesn’t feel good to buy it
when it’s left with one
and this probably comes from some
ancestral altar.. source unknown
moreover this is broken,
somewhere in the middle, the string
creepy… huh
we are not superstitious people
yet well since he doesn’t want it
I wouldn’t insist
one last picture
who knows this is really expensive treasure