Bamboo Bird Cage.china Qing Period 19th Century.

Small bird cage in split and carved bamboo, it is supported by a bronze hook made up of several riveted elements. Inside different elements for the comfort of the bird, porcelain drinkers, side perch and feeder in copper and center a pretty perch in green hard stone. This circular perch is carved in relief of 2 chilong (dragons) in the archaic Chinese style. The stone is very hard and appears to be jade, green stained and veined with black. We think it is a "Bi" disc, older than the cage, which was adapted to it. The "bars" part of the cage separates from the base for cleaning, the 2 parts are held together securely by 4 turned bone nails, which once in place are discreetly decorative. The base rests on 4 small pearl-shaped stone feet, held by a central bronze axis. The cage is entirely made of bamboo, a layer of lacquer partially covers it. This layer being not uniform, and partly concealing the beautiful veins of the bamboo, we think that it was deposited late. This type of cage was produced in China for centuries, but their fragility means that very few of these cages have reached us. It is difficult to date them precisely, however if we refer to the interior elements of it we can advance the date to the second part of the 19th century, in fact the two small porcelain mangers decorated in iron red with Lions Buddhist are typically from the end of the Qing dynasty, reign of Emperor Tongzhi, around 1860. However the cage is perhaps earlier. There is a small artificial bird certainly original, wearing real feathers. Dimensions 31x26cm Total height with hook 38cm. Good condition.