Old Doors & Screens | The specialists guide to Chinese antiques

Traditional chinese houses – from the countryside into the city (with million dollar profits too)

Old houses in China's countryside are being dismantled and reassembled for the nation's new rich.

Very interesting article in the China daily talking about the resale market for Ming and Qing dynasty Chinese traditional homes which are disassembled, transported, repaired and then resold to restaurants, clubs or wealthy collectors. Now this is an interesting topic which I could easily get lost in as it just touches on so many interesting elements from Hui Zhou architecture to Chinese antique restorations to wooden architectural carvings.

The article is basically a slimmed down version of another Chinese language article floating around the net. Its not a bad article, though it leaves out some of the more interesting details like such as how the industry works.

For example, the middlemen buyers tend to be divided up amongst two categories: those with ample capital and those who as essentially un-financed. Essentially those who are “un-financed” will buy the house and resell it right away to recoup their investment at a 20 to 30% profit margin. “Financed sellers” are those who have enough spare capital to buy the house, undertake all the repair and restoration work and then resell it in restored form at a 40 to 50 % profit.

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Old wooden doors

Quick follow up, on a prior post about antique doors and antique door furniture. Was pokin around on Flickr again and noticed just how many great photos of old doors there ( along with a few good ideas on how to use them, including for sculpture).

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Guide to antique doors and antique door panels.

I was in the warehouse just a few days ago, looking over a batch of antique door panels which just came in and it really reminded me just how cool some of these pieces are, especially the iron hardware, the various textures, and the overall character and charm of these bits of history.

In the raw and just in…

You can see all shapes and all sizes come in from smaller doors from private homes, to huge double doors which look almost as if they came from the doors guarding a castle.

Restoration and cleaning them up.

Often the door frames may be badly damaged and need to be reconstructed. Supports or other missing sections are replaced in the same manner and construction as the original.

Here you can see damaged sections which have been replaced using old wood, in this case the bottom stretchers on the frame and a support for the lock in the back.

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Trend Guide: Rustic furniture made from reclaimed elm and other salvaged woods

I was in the warehouse the other day looking over some pieces when I was reminded how much reclaimed, recycled and/or renewable materials are definitely a growing trend. A quick Google turns up a range of articles from Reclaimed furniture: Give trees a chance to buzz on various designer blogs. Even Furniture Industry trade publications are recognizing this trend which really started to take off last year. Furniture Today wrote an article entitled “Several sources introduce lines with reclaimed wood.” Another from FurnitureStyle Magazine is called “Las Vegas Furniture Market: Beyond Distressed.”

Reclaimed & salvaged materials are environmentally friendly in that there are no new trees cut down to make the piece. Sources of wood may be old railroad ties, beams from old houses that have been demolished or even old doors. Old elm tends to be a favorite as Elm in fairly common in China. Pine is also an option as well. Other woods are also used like cypress, walnut or beech though these woods are much less common and not available in large quantities.

Since the material has been aged it tends to be more stable then new wood (which must otherwise be kiln dried and chemically treated before it can be made to be stable). In essence, pieces created from salvaged materials are antique in a very unusual way – as the materials themselves have their own story, rather then the finished piece. Finishes are less of an issue to as rather then spend time carefully creating the right distressed finish, the focus is on the already distressed natural appearance of the wood. Construction is typically using the traditional methods of tongue/groove and Chinese joinery.Reclaimed wood furniture tends to fall within either one of following three classifications: Read the rest of this entry »

Comparing apples to oranges – more on determining quality in Chinese antique furniture

Photos of these two cabinets have been floating around on our file server for quite a while and I have been meaning to put them up here as another excellent example of differences in quality between Chinese antique workshops and restoration as well as in Chinese Country Antique Furniture in general. These are both essentially the same piece but restored in a different manner by two different factories. They are both restored antiques, both a once fairly common Mongolian style antique cabinets and even the dimensions are approximately the same. Piece A (bright red one) comes from a smaller workshop owned/operated by George, a gentleman who has worked with Chinese antiques for more then 20 years. He services mostly foreign customers and says he offers “good quality.” The other piece (Deep burgundy red) was purchased from Raymond, a larger volume based, Beijing wholesaler who claims to offer “good quality product.” Lets examine the differences to see which factory really does offer “quality” and which one is simply inexpensive.

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A true work of art – The making of a Chinese lacquered room divider/chinoiserie screen

Chinoiserie screens are always a favorite with interior designers and today, we give you a detailed glimpse into the workshop of an artist craftsmen and let you see the many steps required to create a perfect lacquer painting.

2243528513 7a5a05205d A true work of art The making of a Chinese lacquered room divider/chinoiserie screen

Note: The large versions of these photos are online: http://www.flickr.com/photos/acf-china/2243528705/

The art of lacquer painting is a ancient one, originating in China thousands of years ago. In the Neolithic age (about 7,000 years ago), while cutting down trees, the precursors to Chinese people realized that the sap of the lacquer trees could be applied to walls, furniture and other objects, thus giving birth to primitive lacquer art. Painting with lacquer is a meticulous and time-consuming process which most people fail to realize or appreciate. It is a very meticulous labor of love to create a lacquer painting and the process can take at least several weeks or in the case of a series of panels, more then several months to complete. Lacquer paintings & screen panels are traditionally created in three styles which correlate to the color of the paintings background:

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