eBay

justinjtm · ‎10-02-2017

I'm looking for some info and cleaning tips on this heavy Asian wood carving that I bought from an estate of a Asian art collector. His daughter said he brought it back from Asia in the 1930's. She didn't know more about it except it was always in his office. All I know is it's extremely heavy dark wood and appears to be carved out of a single piece of wood. It sat in a storage for the last 20years and is really dusty with old ground in dirt.. Im not sure how to clean it to bring out the color of the wood. It looks like it is missing some sort of top piece but she said she never remebers anything else with it.

Thanks,

Justin

zzydny · ‎10-02-2017

Hard to be sure from distance in pictures but could be teak. Use a toothbrush to clean the dust out of all the crevices. If you are selling this piece, stop there once you've given it a good brush up. If you are keeping it, you will need to consider applying oil to feed the wood. I use lemon oil on my vintage carved teak chest but that might not be the best choice for your piece. Consider carefully and get lots of advice from folks who know much more than I. The carving on your sculpture is very pretty.

.....editing to add one more thing: I know that canned air works great for keyboards and so forth but I would NOT use it to clean carved wood. I worked in an antiques store and had the pleasure of cleaning some very grubby old chip-carved English oak pieces so I do have just a bit (not a lot, just a bit) of experience with this sort of thing.

justinjtm · ‎10-02-2017

thanks for the reply. I was going to try to clean it before I brought it to a local auction. Was going to try some mild wood soap or oil of some sort. Here is a better pic of the wood up close, although maybe still tough to tell.

bnbsellingtime · ‎10-03-2017

I would not think it a good idea to get it wet. A soft toothbrush and maybe a very soft new paintbrush to dust it with would be best IMHO. I would leave the oiling to the buyers discretion.

gekkoaway · ‎10-04-2017

How deep is the hollow part,could be brush holder.

the wood is quite common in China,off hand I cant recall what it is,but it is not teak,they dont have teak tree in China,a common wood they call yellow wood is kind of light colored wood and cheap and abundant ,easy to carve but not a strong wood.

It is probably not that heavy for its size and look at the carving,it looks like it is easy to cut into.

justinjtm · ‎10-05-2017

Here is a better image from the top. It may be a brush holder that as it is blackened in the center. Only about 5 inches deep though.

casey768 · ‎10-05-2017

does not look like a brushholder from top view,what is that bridge like thing?

but 5 inches sound right.

justinjtm · ‎10-06-2017

After looking more closely at that little Bridge thing it appears that that is an old repair possibly there was a split in the wood that they cut out and put that in there because that is the only area that appears to have been cut via a straight edge and it seems plugged in there. My guess is originally maybe that was a solid area with that bowl in the middle.