Chinese New Year: Year Of The Monkey

Celebrate Chinese New Year With Alfies- Year Of The Monkey

Chinese New Year is the most important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional luni-solar Chinese calendar. This year it lands on Monday 8th January, the year of the Monkey. It is also known as the Spring Festival, which is the literal translation of the modern Chinese name. Celebrations traditionally start on the evening preceding the first day and continue to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first calendar month.

The New Year festival is centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Traditionally, the festival was a time to honour deities as well as ancestors. Regional customs and traditions vary widely, traditionally the evening after Chinese New Year's Day is an occasion for families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to clean the house, to make way for good luck throughout the year. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts with popular themes of good fortune, happiness, wealth, and longevity. Other traditional celebrations include firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes.

Taken by Alfies staff at Longleat- Chinese Festival Of Lights Display

At Alfies we have a wide range of not only beautiful Asian antiques, but a wonderful array of animal themed collectables too, to suit your Chinese zodiac sign.

1860 'The Marmozettes' original print, available from Moe Heidarieh

A beautiful Chinese 1st Republic (1912-1920) double lidded pot for making soup, available from Horner Antiques

An unusual selection of 1920s silver marked monkey brooches, available from Zeeba Jewels

1860-1880 Buddha snuff scoop carved from cow bone, available from Horner Antiques

A wonderful carved wood African Monkey Dance mask, one of a pair, from Cameroun, available from The Moderns

Hand painted Imari vase made in Canton, c1825, available from Horner Antiques

Taken by Alfies staff at Longleat, Chinese Festival Of Lights

Taken by Alfies staff at Longleat, Chinese Festival Of Lights

Taken by Alfies staff at Longleat, Chinese Festival Of Lights

Tales of The Moderns...

A design duo started out as admirers, then collectors, in between became addicts and later hoarders of the twentieth century. This century of invention, a millennium of innovation that travelled through the pioneering Machine Age, the vision of the Be-Bop and the utopia of the Conceptual. Soon the duo exchanged their wares for money and scoured the earth to find objects unique of their time, like the leather mummified chair by Adnet, or the light sculpture by Sciolari. More tales to be told... 

The Moderns have recently opened their new shop on the ground floor at Alfies. This design duo specialises in European 20th century art & design, with a focus on Post-War furniture and objects with a distinctive character. Find a range of Scandinavian, Dutch and Italian pieces from key designers such as Tapio Wirkkala, Theo Ruth, and Stilnovo, to name a few...

Rare pair of heads from Nigeria, 1940s/1950s.

Hand formed in terracotta and decorated in colourful glass beads. 

Antique door carved out of one piece of hard wood,

Cameroon, circa 1900.

For more information visit the website:

http://www.themoderns.eu/