Carvings for Sale

The vertical Manchu script, based on the traditional Mongolian script, is one of the most endangered in the world. This carving reads “Whenever I chanced upon blooming flowers and moonlight,” by the Manchu poet Jakdan.

“Courage,” maple, 10″ diameter,
$400.00

Adinkra symbols from Ghana were originally used for printing textiles, but they are far more than designs. Each symbol implies a proverb or piece of cultural wisdom, and in being made for a specific important person they implied something about their character and personal history, like a fabric tattoo. The KWATAKYE ATIKO symbol is said to be based on the hair style of an Ashanti war captain, Kwatakye, and the symbol has come to represent bravery and fearlessness.

“Fighting Fishes,” maple, 15″ x 9″
$350.00

“Fighting Fishes” (BI NKA BI) is based on the saying, “No one should bite the other.” This Adinkra symbol shows two fish snapping at each other’s tails, and cautions against provocation and strife.

“Siamese Crocodiles,” maple, 10″ x 14″
$350.00

Adinkra symbols from Ghana were originally used for printing textiles, but they are far more than designs. Each symbol implies a proverb or piece of cultural wisdom, and in being made for a specific important person they implied something about their character and personal history, like a fabric tattoo.
“Siamese Crocodiles” (FUNTUNFUNEFU-DENKYEMFUNEFU) is a symbol of democracy and unity. The Siamese crocodiles share one stomach, yet they fight over food—a metaphor to remind us that infighting and squabbling are unnecessary and harmful to all.

“Knowledge,” maple, 7″ x 7″
$250.00

Adinkra symbols from Ghana were originally used for printing textiles, but they are far more than designs. Each symbol implies a proverb or piece of cultural wisdom, and in being made for a specific important person they implied something about their character and personal history, like a fabric tattoo. Based on the proverb, “He who does not know can know from learning,” this is a symbol of knowledge, life-long education and continued quest for knowledge.

Adinkra “Sankofa,” maple, 15.5″ x 12.5″
$350

The Adinkra symbols of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, are not so much an alphabet as a series of meanings compressed into individual characters. This one is Sankofa. Originally more clearly a representation of a bird with its feet pointing one way and its head the other, it means “Go forward looking backwards,” or “The way to progress is to respect the past.”

Baybayin “Explore,” flame mahogany, 38″ x 21″
$750

Originally created for an exhibition about American explorers and the cultures they “discovered,” this says “Explore” in Tagalog, using the endangered Baybayin script of the Philippines.

Pallava ‘Dharma,” walnut, 18″ x 16″ $550

Another iteration of the elegant “dharma” glyph, but this time carved in walnut and painted gold. It’s quite an experience to see the two side by side: in a way, they look like photonegatives of each other, but in another way they both bring out the character of the different woods in quite remarkable ways. Many thanks to Zafry Hadi for sending me the character and explaining its logic, its meaning and its ancestry.