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I have an old piece of artwork that years ago I thought might be some kind of candle holder.. two large dogs and below those are two smaller dogs but these dogs have a kind of beastly look about them and in the center is what might be considered a basket. This is all carved and I am not sure if its Jade or what as it has such a waxy feeling to it. It looks like old Chinese hand carved jade. Was going to put it in the dish washer and give a good cleaning but I got to thinking maybe its not and only wax...hahaha.
Anyway if anyone can understand what I am trying to get across here please send me an email if you can help me figure out what this is.. Thank you all for you time. Have a great day.
Gary

It is a better than average soapstone carving. Don't put it in the dishwasher.

Cheers,
Stan

Thank you Stan.. I will make sure it wont hit the dishwasher...hahaha
Gary

This is not wax, but soapstone. Despicted are tempel dogs, also known as temple lions (protectors). Just soaking it in warm/hot water with some detergent will clean it nicely.
Ernest

Ernest, thank you very much. I will do that. Its been kicking around for sometime and I really wanted to find out what it was before I made the mistake of just putting it up in a closet and leaving it there. Do you have any idea when something like this might have been carved and where. Looks like someone sure had a lot of skill here. Thank you again
Gary

It was customary for a person who went on a trip, to pick up some small gift for his family/friends. This would be often an inexpensive soapstone carving. Not much was thought about those, until the Chinese realized that Westerners like those carvings, and the market is ready for those tourists/ collectors. Soapstone, just like Serpentine, is often sold as Jade. My guess is, because of the colour, this item could be about 40 years old. The problem is, because it is a very soft stone, it can be easily damaged.
Ernest

Ernest, Thats pretty interesting. Sounds like you know what your talking about. Thank you very much for your time and answers.
Gary

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