End Date: Monday Sep-08-2008 10:12:41 PDT
Antique picnic baskets dating to the 18th century are easily available at reasonable prices and perfect condition in China, even now. Picnic baskets may also be Tiffin like, with round boxes, stacked on top of each other, with lacquer coating, in red or black, with brass and metal hinges and handles. Other designs of picnic baskets include fan like and semi circular baskets.
Another widely used variety of baskets is the Chinese round food basket. It is made of elm wood, which is also a natural insulator, which means that the food maintains its temperature inside the basket. These baskets appear like bowls with lids and handles to carry them.
The most important use of these “baskets” in ancient Chinese times was that they were used as measures of quantity. They were carved out of wood in standard sizes, and were used by traders of grains, water and other fluid and semi fluid products to measure the quantity of the commodity. Things were sold in “basket” units in the ancient times.
The water buckets, as we know them today, were also invented by the Chinese. These water pots or water baskets are available even today. They are like wooden casks with magnificent designs on the outside and a wooden handle to carry the water pot. These were multi purpose pots and were used in bathing, dwelling water out of wells of simply for storing water. A unique feature of wooden storage pots is that in ancient Chinese era, the water was stored in these pots and was kept on damp soil. The benefit of this arrangement was that the water would keep cool, even in extreme heat.
Most of these uses are now obsolete, because of restrictions on the use of wood and the advent of plastic items for storage and standard weights and measures for measuring quantities, but still, ancient Chinese baskets, buckets and pots remain an object of desire for many.