Hi John, 

Firstly your jadeite jade guanyin buddha is beautiful!

I can't see your stand properly. Is it a type of lotus leaf/flower carved stand in design? How many legs did it have and do you have a picture of it prior to the damage? Did you still retain the other legs or did you throw them away? 

Judging by the size and the small stand holding the size/weight is it wobbly or likely to fall over? 

Mark 

Hi Mark,

Thank you! I appreciate you looking at it. The stand originally had four legs. It was a lotus flower carved in I believe. Unfortunately, Bonhams did not ship the missing leg to me. Here are some photos of the stand as received:

I removed the rest of the legs, and kept them just in case! Here are some photos of the stand as it is now: 

The stand is a bit uneven, but it is not likely to fall over. It seems sturdy.

Kindly,

John

Hi John, 

Now I see the problem. 

The stand is a custom made one for your statue. It would be very difficult to pin down exactly another one to fit perfectly. It's not a expensive wood and I suspect it is very light. Probably easy to rectify in China rather than the USA I suspect. 

You could if you really wanted to have a carpenter make you another leg. Or failing that buy a sort of additional stand either square or rounded with a flat top. Then join them together. It would then be much more stable. It's funny I also have a couple of jadeite statues with very flimsy light stands. You have to put them on a solid bench rather than a table or in a cabinet. Otherwise they will simply fall over with the slightest movement. And we certainly don't want that. 

So you would in essence have a two-tiered stand. Does that make sense?

It's funny actually I remember years ago you could find stands very easily. Now you can't. At least here in Australia. 

I would search ebay under 'chinese wood stands' or similar wording. You never know your luck. Also search auctions. They often have group lots of stands. I have lately seen a few.

I hope this helps you a little bit. 

Mark 

My favorite stand dealer is on Aliexpress 

Tender Wood Store
https://a.aliexpress.com/_vncKaR

Never ever thought about aliexpress! 💭😁

Mark 

This might be time consuming but you could build a new one with resin mold by casting the old stand in liquid rubber you would have to create new legs with molding clay. Sounds difficult  but this is how old parts are created 

Posted by: @bartholin

Hi all,

 

I hope everyone is doing well. Last year, I bought a relatively large jade figure from Bonhams and it arrived with the stand missing a leg. I ended up just removing the rest of the legs so the figure can still display on it, but the whole experience left a sour taste in my mouth. It turns out the stand was broken during the auction, but it wasn't broken in the photos nor disclosed in the description. It looks fine, but I really want to forget about this and have another stand made for it, but I'm not sure where to look. None of my google searches are fruitful. Any suggestions? 

 

It is 16.5" tall. Here's a photo:

Kindly,

John

Thank you Mark, Birgit, and Brian!

I feel like I have to put on my DIY-hat! A seemingly dead-end turned into three new roads. I'm unsure which route I'll take but I'm grateful for the options. Although aliexpress seems to be the easiest and cheapest way to go, I'm really curious how a resin mold would turn out. I feel like all of my resin projects warped over a week's time even without all the weight of the jade on it!

Also, you are right, Mark. The stand is very lightweight. I was mainly looking for a new stand for aesthetic sake, but it does wobble a bit if I handle the cabinet it's on top of too much. Maybe I'll look for a carpenter on fiverr or something.

Thanks again!

John

Hello John:

Is the photograph in your post of the figure on the wooden stand after all the feet have been removed? If so, it looks really good and unless it is markedly unstable I would no go to the trouble of replacing the stand. If it is a little unstable Amazon.com sells felt pads of different sizes that can be used to make the stand and the figure more stable.

I have noticed during the last couple of years that even the inexpensive contemporary Rosewood vase stands sold by such companies as Oriental Furniture have a low availability. They import them from China and the supply has simply dried up. I wonder why that is the case.

Regards,

Errol

@shinigami

Birgit:

This looks promising. However, the website seems to have something wrong with it in that parts are obscured. Do they make custom stands?

Errol

Posted by: @erroll

Hello John:

Is the photograph in your post of the figure on the wooden stand after all the feet have been removed? If so, it looks really good and unless it is markedly unstable I would no go to the trouble of replacing the stand. If it is a little unstable Amazon.com sells felt pads of different sizes that can be used to make the stand and the figure more stable.

I have noticed during the last couple of years that even the inexpensive contemporary Rosewood vase stands sold by such companies as Oriental Furniture have a low availability. They import them from China and the supply has simply dried up. I wonder why that is the case.

Regards,

Errol

Hi Errol,

Yes, that first photo is of the figure on the stand with the feet removed. It's funny, this whole issue has been plaguing my mind since I acquired it, but I never thought of something so simple as felt pads. Thank you for that! I think that'll be the fix in the meantime. I still would like to change the stand in the future, but that would give me peace of mind.

Also, although it's a bit different, I do wish the secondary market for custom stands/mounts/fittings are as strong as they were before. I really enjoy silver/ormolu mounted antique porcelain in particular. Maybe the decline in modern production quality is to blame for the lack of this secondary market now. 

Anyway, thanks again! 

John

Posted by: @erroll

@shinigami

Birgit:

This looks promising. However, the website seems to have something wrong with it in that parts are obscured. Do they make custom stands?

Errol

Oh, I think Birgit posted a mobile link to that shop. If you click a photo of a stand it reverts to desktop. I don't know if this will be the same: https://tender.aliexpress.com/store/3569009?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000007.1.637119a0utVmxy

It doesn't look like they do custom shapes, but just custom sizes.

@bartholin

Hello John:

Apart from felt pads for the stand, you could also use Museum putty to secure the figure on the stand. That is also available at Amazon.com. Of course, none of these will work if the figure is in a location where it can be accidentally knocked by someone. It would still tip over.

I was interested to see that you like Ormolu. I have a couple of marble vases from the Louis Philippe period (see photographs) in which the Ormolu has become discolored and darkened over the years. I see that conventional brass cleaners should not be used on Ormolu. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has the following recommendations for discolored Ormolu:

"Cleaning gold and ormolu should be limited to gently dusting with a soft brush. If the surface is discoloured, use a swab moistened with methylated spirit and rub gently. If this doesn't work, try a swab moistened with spit, followed by a swab moistened with distilled water."

I have found that simple household cleaners don't work for this, but have not tried methylated spirit. Do you have any suggestions for removing the tarnish that does not involve taking these very heavy marble vases to a metal specialist? Incidentally, the photographs below were taken several years ago when the Ormolu mounts still had a bright appearance. Now they are a dull color.

Regards,

Errol

@bartholin

Thanks John and Birgit that worked. This looks like an excellent resource for wooden stands. The carving is much better than on the inexpensive stands that are sometimes available in the United States. 

Errol