 Some of our best pieces are found in western Chinese farmhouse storage rooms—kind of like grandma’s attic. Light from vents in the roof make for dramatic photos as well. Our main offices are in Qinghai province, in the western part of China on the edge of Tibet. Incredible faces such as this gentleman abound throughout the region. These primitive red cupboards make beautiful side tables. In July 2008, we collected this pair in a village in Huangzhong County, Qinghai province, on a lovely cool rainy day. The family and the family kitchen cabinet . . . this piece is probably only 80 years old, but I love the hutch top and the great colors. A truck full of beautiful pieces headed to our workshops for refurbishing. . .  A very unusual storage box found in 2003 in a small village, Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province. On a perfect summer day, this Tibetan monk provided a great image while sitting on a grassy mountain pass between Pingan and Hualong Counties, Qinghai. Minhe County, Qinghai Province. We collect a lot of incredible trunks and hutches from this region that is mostly inhabited by Hui Muslims. My daughters love to go on collecting trips with me. Here my third (of four daughters!) Abigail is picking some canola oil flowers, which blanket Qinghai fields like a patchwork quilt in the summer. This Salar Muslim village includes a 500+ year old mosque. It will soon be under water when a large reservoir fills the Yellow River valley where it sits. Hay bails in Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province. We get a lot of great low consoles and grain storage cabinets from this region.  Tibetan architecture has fabulous textures and colors. The image of this beautiful, simple doorway was taken at Taersi Monastery, just 30 minutes from our head offices. This two storey house (Huangzhong County, Qinghai) is a great example of how many of the carved architectural fragments and screen windows that we have are used. Most farmhouses in Qinghai have high adobe mud walls surrounding them. The color of the walls usually indicates the age of the buildings and furniture inside. Farmer in Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province. A Tibetan monk and pilgrim walking around Labrang Monastery, Gansu Province, summer 2007. A solitary Tibetan monk standing in a doorway. Taersi Monastery, Qinghai Province, Summer 2000. A Mongolian monk playing Chinese chess outside a small monastery in Huangyuan county, Qinghai Province, July 2008. A group of Tibetan pilgrims in the grasslands above Labrang Monastery, Gansu Province, July 1991. Frosted air hangs above a small village in Huzhu, a county just an hour away from our main offices that is home to the Tu minority, descendants of Mongolian invading forces. Three yaks graze high above the clouds in Huzhu county, winter 2007. Hay surrounds the doorway to a farmhouse, Huangzhong county, Qinghai province.
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