Set of 4 oriental 'paintings' - but no idea of origin, age or 'type'

[caffrey75]

Hi there,

I'm really sorry that I can offer no insight at all into what these are/where they originated from/how old they are, but I was hoping that somebody else might have a clue to offer. I did contact an dealer in oriental antiques, but as yet have received no reply. 

I don't really know much about art, much less oriental art, but these are a set of four 'paintings' and appear to be possibly Japanese in origin. They do not fall under my typical taste in art, yet I find them strangely compelling, perhaps because they appear to be something that has been crafted rather than mass-produced (obviously I could be completely wrong there!)

Although I said they are paintings, part of them is kind of done in relief work, mainly the characters, rocks/some foliage and the roofs of the buildings.  I don't know what material was used for this part of them, some of it feels cold like stone, and other parts like the character's faces look almost like ivory.  There appear to be no markings denoting an artist or any other means of identification on either the pictures or the frames/back of the frames (and definitely not 'Made In Taiwan' - they feel and look like they could be quite old)

If anyone has any idea about what these might be, or what type of oriental art they are, so that I could better research them, I'd really appreciate it. 

I've linked to some photos below. 

Thanks very much for your time

[talesofthesevenseas]

Use the images in this topic to try to tell if the faces are ivory, celluloid, bone etc.
http://www.antique-shop.com/forums/index.php?topic=6485.0

I don't know a whole lot about these types of pieces, but from the way you are getting deterioration in the background, (chipping or peeling I think around the edges of the stones?) I'm inclined to think these are older You may be experiencing damage from the acidity of the paper backing behind them and might want to swap out the backings for acid-free backing. Is there any indication of water damage/moisture that may have caused this or does it just look like the effects of age?

If you could, please post a photo of the backs of these. Sometimes we can tell a lot about the age by the materials used there.

[mart]

Pics are too large for me to download !! Can you take a pic of the back of the work itself ??  They appear to be hand carved tiles which was done mid 1900`s !! I had a similar set years ago when I decorated the bedroom with a Japanese theme !!

[caffrey75]

Thanks so much for replying guys.  I've uploaded a few more close-in images.  Sorry they were too big before, Mart, I'm not sure if you mean in dimensions or filesize, but I've tried to optimise these a little more and make the dimensions smaller.

You'll note that they seem to be completely sealed into their wooden frames, so I've no way of knowing what the backing might actually be behind and trying to remove the frames would destroy them.  Maybe the wear and tear is just age?

Thanks for posting that helpful ivory ID link, talesofthesevenseas . I followed it up hoping that it might be ivory, but to be honest I think it might be just celluloid.  Also, if you look at the last image (and I didn't notice this when photographing, only when I was sharpening the image) there are two little 'bubble' type things on the character's neck.  Indicative of plastic or some other material? 

Hope these images might shed a bit more light, guys, and thanks for being so helpful thus far

[mart]

I meant file size was way too large for us on dial up !! If you go by the photo recommendations listed for the forum, we can enlarge them to see detail !! We can`t do that with the pics as you have them sized !!  Enlarging would only distort and blur the image as they are now !!
Finally see the close ups and I am pretty sure that these are tiles !!  If you look where the paint has worn off around the edges of the figures it shows the white plaster !!  While these are probably hand painted and done in relief,,it was a common home industry back in the mid 1900`s and many were exported to the US !! The faces and other parts show no grain or cross hatching to indicate that they are any other material and there are impurities that can be seen in the plaster !! Looks like tiny bumps !!  The ones I had were framed similarly but each frame held a set of three hand painted tiles !!

[caffrey75]

Thanks, Mart....  Of course.....plaster!  Can't believe I didn't think of that, your comments and the bubbling definitely bears that out.  Ah well, guess they're not worth anything much then hehe

[snowflake]

I was going to say plaster too because I noticed a crack and thought it had to be. It looked just like the walls in my house!  But then thought: What do I know, better just to keep quiet! They are really nice pieces of art.

[mart]

Personally,, I like them !! Not many of the ones like this left since the plaster had a habit of wearing away !! They are very nicely framed and would look great in an oriental themed room !!  Maybe $100. for all !!

[caffrey75]

Yeah, I have to say I quite like them too, although can't exactly put my finger on why.  Guess that's the way with a lot of art!  Well, many thanks again for your help everyone

[KC]

Yepper, was going to say plaster as well.  It does pull away/shrink over time from the moisture that is still left in it!

Ya'll are doing REAL GOOD on getting these lately!  Yahooo!!!