Tag: dragon

Item description / significance
This is a winged dragon carved from wood, made in Indonesia. Size: Height 22 cm x Depth 19 cm x Width 12 cm. Attached paper price tag says Rp 275,000 (~US$17). No damage.

Bought where
in China on Xianyu, the Chinese second-hand marketplace app

Age and origin
age unknown, made in Bali, Indonesia

What I like about it
It’s a dragon! With wings! The detail is good.

Other notes
This is actually the third second-hand Balinese wooden dragon I’ve bought! I found the other two in Singapore on the second-hand marketplace app Carousell. They’re a little bigger.

» See Dave the dragon

» See Karen the dragon

See below for photos of Dave and Karen’s little sister. Continue reading Balinese wood dragon #3

Item description / significance
This is an abstract ceramic dragon with dark green glaze. The dragon is one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. It was the zodiac animal of the year 2024.

Bought where
on Xianyu (Chinese second-hand marketplace app)

Age and origin
Unknown age. Likely Japanese. The seller provided no information, but many of the seller’s other items are from Japan. Also, two similar dragons on Xianyu (one unglazed dark brown and one celadon) are listed as being from Japan. There’s a lot of cool stuff from Japan on Xianyu (including bears like this one).

What I like about it

The color. I like saturated colors, so this deep green is appealing. It’s the same deep green as some Chinese shiwan ceramics, like this rectangular pillow. Green is the color theme in my living room (at least in theory).

The style. Normally I like very realistic looking animals, and this one is not. But there’s something about the minimalist geometry here that I find appealing. Maybe it’s the semicircular snake bends in his body that contrast with the regular square scales.

See below for photos from the seller.

Continue reading Japanese green glaze dragon

Item description / significance
This is a winged dragon carved from wood, made in Indonesia. Her name is Karen. She has some damage; a couple of teeth, one of her long whiskers, and some of her short whiskers are broken, but her wings and body are intact.

Bought where
in Singapore on Carousell, a second-hand marketplace app

Age and origin
age unknown, made in Bali, Indonesia

What I like about it
It’s a dragon! With wings! The detail is good.

Other notes
I already had a dragon like this. I bought this one to give to my brother. He and Karen are still on opposite sides of the planet, though. =\

See below for a few photos.

Continue reading Balinese wood dragon #2

Item description / significance
This is a winged dragon carved from wood, made in Indonesia. Size: 32cm (H) x 11cm (W) x 25cm (D). No damage. Seems to be dancing! His name is Dave, thus he is Dave the dancing Indonesian dragon (because I like cheesy alliteration).

Bought where
in Singapore on Carousell, a second-hand marketplace app
Original listing is still online!

Age and origin
age unknown, made in Bali, Indonesia

What I like about it
It’s a dragon! With wings! The detail is good.

Other notes
I think the first time I saw one of these was in Chinatown in Singapore, in a shop that had a lot of wood carvings from Indonesia. They had several sizes (all way too expensive). So I searched on Carousell and found one. It’s still there; the seller never responded. I kept looking. As soon as another Indonesian dragon turned up, I messaged the seller offering to pay the asking price, and arranged to pick it up the same day. I never bought anything so fast! I took the MRT one stop from my house and met the seller, handed over the cash, and turned around and got back on the train. Never even went out of the station gantry. It was surreal. I am super pleased!

See below for photos of Dave.

Continue reading Balinese wood dragon #1