The specialists guide to Chinese antiques » Oriental Antiques

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Roger S. — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:53:38 +0000

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A new twist on classic Ming style horse-shoe chairs – introducing the stainless steel Chinese yoke back chair!

Roger S. — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:50:55 +0000

Chinese red acrylic yoke back armchair from Green T. House in Beijing

I was reading over at Beijing Notebook about these translucent acrylic Chinese horseshoe chairs she saw at the Green T. House in Beijing. With clean and classic Ming style lines, these round backed chairs are a very updated idea on an extremely old concept. Very neat idea – probably not particularly easy to manufacture.

Sometimes, one needs a break from antiques

While admittedly cool, I think these polished stainless steel Chinese officials hat chairs from Chine Gallery are equally as funky. Known in Chinese as Guān mào yǐ (官帽椅) the name likely comes from the sculpted back which resembles a winged official’s hat.

An extremly designer-esque stainless steel officials hat chair from Chine Gallery

And with first hand-experience, I can tell you these yoke back chairs are also not very easy to make! (trust me I have done QC on them and a lot of hand crafting goes into each and every single one. No mass made here thank you very much! Same with these sleek stainless steel Chinese low back arm chairs known in Chinese as a “Fúshǒu yǐ” (扶手椅).

A very modern set of Chinese low back arm chairs in stainless steel.

Reminds me a bit of last years Dynasty Revival exhibit at Lane Crawford. For more interesting contemporary takes on Chinese furniture by contemporary designers try the book Inspired by China: Contemporary Furnituremakers Explore Chinese Traditions

Imperial jade, ivory, bronzes, silks and embroideries – all for sale at rock bottom prices (in 1908 that is)

Roger S. — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:51:29 +0000

Absolutely fascinating article from the New York times in 1908, reporting on the sale of The Sarah Pike Conger collection of oriental antiques. Containing priceless artifacts, even by 1908 standards, its in today’s terms that the prices paid are even more eye catching:

Elephant’s trappings from the imperial elephant stables: $150.00
Large gold alloy cast bell from Temple Of Agriculture $560.00
Chinese executioner’s sword engraved with dragons: $25.00
Antique cloisonné enamel palace seat: $540.00

A bit of historical background.

Mrs. E. H. Conger (Sarah Pike Conger) was the wife of Edwin H. Conger, who was the “Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China” (in other words the ambassador to China) from 1898 until his resignation in 1905. An author who wrote several books about her time in China, and experienced the turbulent time of the Boxer Rebellion first hand, having been besieged for 55 days in the British legation quarter in 1900. She was also a friend of the Empress Dowager Cixi and some items in her collection were gifts from the empress herself. In fact, the only known image of Cixi touching a foreigner is of the two of them together.

In many circles however, the auction was highly controversial. The Washington Herald’s 1908 announcement of the auction was less then flattering in it’s assessment and notes with irony that as she was the ambassadors wife, the items even entered the country tax free.

The soldiers who stole these things were glad of any market for they could carry little away with them, and in the far east today, stories are still told, with many a chuckle, of ignorant soldiers selling diamond studded watches and priceless bronzes for a handful of Mexican dollars

Meanwhile the fact of the sale must give our Chinese friends food for thought. It is hard to see how the morality of the case can be defended on any grounds. Without mincing words, the property that is to be put up at auction is stolen poperty, and the shame of this looting rests, in a measure, upon us all as American citizens.

Meanwhile the Evening Times has this to say:

The Conger collection, which was sold in New York last week was advertised as being chiefly loot taken in Peking after the allied armies ocupied the city. E H. Conger, of Iowa, was then United States Minister to China. He did not himself steal the imperial jade, ivory and bronze pieces, or the silks and embroideries; but the thieves who did steal them found a ready market at the United States Minister’s quarters under the flag of the United States. The minister showed his shrewdness by keeping a record of the distinguished owners of the stolen property. It was a good investment.

Such things must have been cheap when the allies were looting Peking but what do the American people think of one of their ministers raising the sign over his door: “Cash for stolen goods here.”

“What must the Chinese people think of a nation that permits it.

Of course this was not the only controversial auction at the time. Herbert G. Squiers, who was the First Secretary of the American Legation in Beijing was said to have amassed such an extensive collection of antique Chinese porcelain that when he eventually left Peking, it filled several railroad carriages. When the Squiers Collection was sold in 1912 it too was also accused of being looted goods.

CHINESE ANTIQUES SOLD.

New York Times - Feb 20, 1908

Auction of effects of former Minister Conger’s Widow.

The hope of geting Chinese loot brought a large throng yesterday to the first day’s sale of the Oriental collection of Mrs. E. H. Conger, widow of the late Minister Plenipotentiary to China, at the American Art Galleries. There are nearly a thousand lots, all told, and the sale goes on every afternoon this week. Brasses, bronzes, idols, cloisonne, and weapons came first on the list. The sale was held in one of the small galleries, and every seat was filled. Standing room was at a premium.

The prices were good throughout, and ranged from $5 up to more than $300. The Metropolitan Art Museum and the Peabody Museum of Salem, Mass., were among the purchasers. The biggest piece of loot brought the highest price of the day. It was a big cast brass bell, 12 Inches high by 9 1/2, in diameter, which was taken from the Temple Of Agriculture during the Boxer rebellion in 1900. It was bought by K. Slater for $560.

It is a beautiful bell, of a rich colored brass, in which there is said to be gold alloy. It was sold with the original red rope by which it hung in the Chinese temple. It belonged to the k’ang-hsi period (1662-1722), and was rung once a year when the Emperor, who is supposed to be particularly the patron and father of those who cultivate the soil, ploughed a piece of land in public.

Two old and interesting pieces, which went to the same purchaser for $1,010 ($505 each), were cast iron temple gongs. These bore the marks of dedication in relief. They were used in the Buddhistic services, and the two together make chimes very rich, clear, and of long continuance.

The largest purchase by the Metropolitan Museum was that of a part of an elephant’s trappings, which came from the imperial elephant stables, and was used during the reign of the Emperor Ch’ien-lung. It was a, great ball-shaped ornament of brass, 16 feet high by as many in diameter, in a design of dragon and cloud scrolls and mounted on a circular base, also of brass. It sold for $150. The museum also bought an antique brass Chinese ink box for $14, an antique brass, square-shaped bowl for $20; a miniature hand mirror of the Ming period, polished brass, for $10; another larger one of the Hsuan-te period for $30, and an interesting antique brass kettle for heating wine for $30.

Interesting among the armor sold was a big Chinese executioner’s sword engraved with dragons, a double-handed grip, and a bright red scabbard, which went for $25. Another without the scabbard was bought by the Peabody Museum for $16. The Peabody Museum also bought an old Chinese sword with an odd blade, a cavalry sword, Boxer swords and pikes, and a couple of wooden weapons from the Sulu Islands.

An antique cloisonné enamel palace seat, in the shape of a barrel, brought one of the highest prices of the afternoon, going to Henry F. Ross for $540. On one end was a mark of the Ming period, and the cloisonne was of the reign of Ch’in-t’ai. Mr. Ross also bought for $205 an antique Chinese incense burner, oblong, on four feet and chiselled in designs of the dragon and Svastika, of the Wan-li period.

A. E. Durrant paid $180 for a palace bell of cast brass with chiselled designs, mounted in a teakwood frame, and $200 for a large antique brass vase. Mrs. Henry Elling paid $180 for a tripod incense burner of brass ornamented in engraving and relief with designs of the sacred lotus.

A quadrilateral-shaped Chinese enamel-covered vase with tree peonies and chrysanthemums in natural colors on a turquoise blue ground went to Geraldyn Redmond for $390. It had brass mountings and cover, the latter surmounted by the sacred fungi. The receipts of the afternoon’s sale , were $8,057 .

Original print of 1908 article in the New York Times can be found here.

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

Roger S. — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:03:55 +0000

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.

The other interesting aspect left out is detail on how much time and effort goes into the whole process. One home took ten workers several weeks just to disassemble and haul away it away piece by piece in a dozen different large trucks. Quite a task considering each individual piece from support beams to wood carvings to stone had to be meticulously tagged and documented in order to be reassembled off-site. Before restoration can even start, a methodical checking of each piece had to be made to determine which wood must be replaced, which carvings repaired etc. Then there is the restoration and reassembly itself – a complex process involving carpentry, masonry, painters and wood carvers.

An old chinese courtyard home being reassembled and restored

What’s interesting is the trade has moved online as well, with websites listing both complete homes (in restored and un-restored form) as well as individual salvaged components like ornate wooden architectural carvings, brick carvings, stone and even reclaimed wood.

The China daily version is below – still a fascinating read. For the brave, here is also the more complete Chinese language version of the article.

Show homes
2011-07-28 08:02
By Xu Junqian (China Daily)

Old houses in the Yangtze River Delta’s countryside are being dismantled and reassembled for display in the gardens of the nation’s new rich. Xu Junqian reports.

At a hidden warehouse, on a vast expanse of open moorland in Dongyang, Zhejiang province (在(浙江)东阳市歌山镇西宅村), a group of middle-aged carpenters are busy working on a pile of pillars and corbels, beams and windows. Spread over the 10,000-square-meter clandestine locale that has no name or address – marked only by a muddy path – they have been carefully dismantled from century-old houses scattered throughout the Yangtze River Delta countryside.

Once reassembled, they will move into the gardens of the country’s nouveau riche.Tired of filling their working and living rooms with antique vases, ink paintings, calligraphy and 19th-century hardwood furniture, the emerging upper class is looking for something new to show off their wealth and cultural sensitivities.

And buying these quaint houses that date back to as early as the Ming (1368-1644) or Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, is becoming a popular choice.

The trend has been growing in the recent years, Zhang Zhu’an (张祝安), co-owner of the nameless warehouse site, says. “More people, including the not-so-affluent, are seeing them as an investment.”

These ancient houses can range from 300 to 400 square meters, with some even reaching 1,000 square meters. While they rival the size of the buyers’ homes, these collectors’ items are mostly for display.

Zhang, a 61-year-old Dongyang native, and his partner, the main investor of the warehouse, started the business three years ago. Although the carpenter-turned-businessman sidesteps questions about how lucrative the business is, he acknowledges it has been “acceptable” from the beginning. Now, they sell one house every two or three months.

The older the house, the pricier it gets, Zhang says. “But the style of the house, its condition or the status of its former owner – say he is a famous political figure – can also add to the value.”

With a team of about 10 carpenters, who double as porters, Zhang’s warehouse is the biggest of its kind in Zhejiang and possibly in the country.

Over the past few years, more than 10 houses have been relocated from remote villages to be reassembled and refurbished in the warehouse and then dispatched to the properties of affluent buyers in Hangzhou, Shanghai and even as far away as Beijing.

After restoration, this Qing Dynasty courtyard will sell for more then ten million RMB

Currently, there are nine houses here, some of which are ready to be “taken away”. Most are typical southern Chinese residences, featuring upturned eaves, elaborate woodcarvings and thick and straight pillars.

“This one is not that ancient. It dates from the end of the Qing Dynasty,” says a 49-year-old carpenter, surnamed Pan, referring to a door from a typical Anhui-style house, currently the most popular variety on the market, that he has been working on for five weeks.

“I heard the whole house was bought for several hundred thousands yuan. But this door alone can be sold for more than 10 million yuan ($1.55 million) after I’m done with polishing it,” Pan says.

There are about five or six similar warehouses in Dongyang, a city best known for its ancient craft of woodcarving, Zhang says. Just a few meters from his site is a similar, but much smaller, warehouse with four dismantled houses.

“People may think it is easy to start a business like this because of a huge supply of carpenters here,” Zhang says. “But good houses are becoming increasingly hard to find, as they have either been taken apart by collectors or demolished by their owners to make way for new modern buildings.”

Zhang says that while his special “hunting crew” travels the country looking for houses, he also networks with furniture recyclers and secondhand storeowners in the area.”If they come to know of someone who wants to sell his house, they will immediately call me,” Zhang says, adding that he only goes for structures that are at least 70 percent intact.

“For the province’s growing number of rich people, such houses represent the ultimate collectors’ item,” says Yu Feng, vice-chairman of Collection Association Club of Yiwu, the city neighboring Dongyang.

“After all, the vases, paintings and precious chairs need a place where they can be put. And what better choice than a heritage house,” Yu says.

The club, founded in 2005, has about 300 members in Yiwu. As the world’s largest small commodity center, it attracts hordes of the parvenus.

Every year, they host exhibitions to showcase their art collections. An antiques market that can accommodate 500 stalls also opened earlier this year.

“I can’t say how many people are doing this (collecting houses), as we don’t have such figures in the club,” says Yu, whose own collection includes five houses.

They occupy a 2,000-square-meter space that the logistics tycoon has specially rented.According to some industry insiders, a Yiwu businessman has 100 such homes from all over the country in his collection.”If you start early enough, you can get a house for no more than 50,000 yuan,” Yu says.But with more people entering the market, the average price has easily doubled.

By Xu Junqian (China Daily)

The profit for middlemen like Zhang has dropped from 50 to about 30 percent of the price.For Yu and others like him, the biggest headache remains finding a place for their house collections. “After all, it’s not that easy to buy land. And once you move a house, it’s not likely you can do so again,” Yu says.

But even as some worry about where to put their gigantic collections, others have found ways to make money out of them.
Zhu Youfu, a retired local official in Yiwu’s Fotang village has turned his collection – worth millions of yuan – into a tourist attraction in his hometown.

With a nearly 1,000-square-meter house built at the beginning of the 1800s and several other smaller ones, the site has become a recreational complex that also offers dining, accommodation and sightseeing.
Yang Handong, meanwhile, is more generous with sharing his collection.Yang is the owner of Hujiang Group, the country’s biggest thread producer, which is also based in Yiwu.

Apart from an underground museum that is home to 300 old vases and paintings located below the teahouse he runs, the antiques aficionado has also built a park behind his factory for his seven heritage houses. Admission is free to the public.

The purchase of old houses can be controversial.

Chen Rongjun, director of Dongyang Relic Protection Office, says that although it is legitimate to buy these houses not categorized as “relics under protection”, the houses, which are one of the few legacies of the local culture, become “dead” once they leave their original locations.

According to the local government, only 207 homes in the area are categorized as “relics under protection”, leaving 1,560 houses labeled as just “relics”, for not meeting one or another of the protection category standards.

“Homes with historical value are disappearing fast. More villagers are willing to exchange their homes for money to build new villas, and we are not there to stop them,” Chen says.But Zhang, the middleman, is defensive. “We are far more professional than the owners while dealing with these houses, which are usually in a seriously dilapidated state when they come to us,” he says.

“It’s true we are making money from them but not by tearing them down,” he adds. “Rather, we are restoring them to their former glory, which is definitely better than letting them suffer further wear and tear.”

Other online resources:

	The Hong Kong Heritage Museum’s exhibition of Huizhou vernacular architecture. There is a great book from this exhibition available at the museum shop, however I have never seen it for sale online.
	The Peabody Essex Museum’s “Yin Yu Tang” is a qing dynasty home on permanent exhibit at the museum. The home can be explored online via a very cool interactive guide.
	b2bgujian.com and szgujian.com are Chinese websites specializing in the sale of reclaimed and rebuilt traditional chinese homes (the sites are in Chinese only). The forum section is quite fascinating..
	A google image search in Chinese for Huishou style wood carvings.

Beautiful colors still remain on this brightly painted fo kan family shrine from Gansu used for ancestor worship

Roger S. — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 09:11:19 +0000

Been quite busy recently spreading time between Beijing, Guangdong and Hong Kong and thus have been a bit slow with blog updates. Which is all the more reason why I enjoyed some free time hunting around of the back alleys of the antiques world with James from UK based Shimu Chinese Furniture (who by the way also a fan of Shanxi painted furniture and has a very nicely developing blog on Chinese antiques here worth a look). Of course the “finds” are different each time and this particular visit turned up this amazing family Shrine from Gansu in western China.

Known as ”fó kān” (佛龛) in Chinese (or sometime fo gui 佛柜), these are shrines of worship – essentially a family temple. In ancient times, Fo Kan were dug from rock much like niches or grottos as can still be seen today in many buddhist heritage sites. Later stone, wood and other materials were used. Eventually Fo Kan evolved and began taking on architectural characteristics, modeling houses, official buildings and even palaces. In many ways they are very particular to each region, more so like architecture then furniture. This particular one is quite impressive and its owner would likely have had some level of material wealth judging by it size and grandeur.

The Confucian ideas concerning filial piety strongly reinforced the practice of ancestor worship and thus Fo Kan were commonly seen in ancestral halls, homes and temples. Inside would contain religious statuary or “soul tablets.” As ancestor worship is a complicated topic in itself I shall leave this for different future post.

Probably late 18th or early 19th century, the inscriptions on this Fo Kan read 父母恩泽似海深 fùmǔ ēnzé sì hǎi shēn (left) 宗族功德如天大 zong zu gong de ru tian da（right). In English this basically would translate as “Our parents kindness is as deep as the ocean and the merits of the clan are as vast as the sky.” (谢谢小花)

A “Laowai” from ancient times: A closer look at a Han dynasty bearded foreign groom

Roger S. — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:05:36 +0000

Laowai (老外) is a common Chinese word often heard by any foreigner in China. Literally translated as “old foreigner” we often hear it all to many times. Yet, it seems foreign devils in China are not recent occurrences, judging by this foreign gentleman, who is a bearded Xianbei - Xiongnu guardian (or more likely a groom) based on the hat, eyes, large nose and upturned chin & beard. He’s lost a hand along the way, though understandable after 2000 or so odd years. He is likely from either the Western Han dynasty or the Northern Wei Dynasty (Ad 386 to 534). (Quite an interesting article debating the origins of the Xianbei people can be found here.) While foreign grooms are more common during the Tang dynasty, the rough features seem to lend more towards Han.

This particular Chinese tomb sculpture is about 40 cm tall, from the Shanxi - Shaanix region and is made from low temperature fired earthenware with cold-painted red and blue pigments over a white ground. His long flowing robe is draw up in the front. While ceremonial/ritual representations and funerary art predate Han as far back as neolithic times (5000 BC – 3000 BC), it was during the Han dynasty that it flourished and became almost a true art form in itself. Belief in the immortal world was particularly strong in all layers of society during this time. However unlike the archaic Bronze forms often seen in Shang, Zhou and prior dynasties, Ming Qi goods were not seen as ritual offerings but rather symbolic and practical representations of personal items and were found in both the common man’s tomb as well as in royalty’s.

Often placed near the front of the tomb (or in larger tombs nooks and in side chambers), they were intended to provide the tombs occupant with surrogates of various daily objects which might be needed for the next life. As burials became increasingly more elaborate, reaching a golden age during the Han period, an entire industry sprang up creating Ming Qi goods. Often relatively inexpensive to produce (as opposed to bronze wares), these objects would have many times been very “middle class” in nature, though not exclusively. Nor was Ming Qi limited to pottery, as specially made clothing was even considered a form of Ming Qi.

Whats fascinating is that not only were model houses, granaries, wells, coins and even farms complete with miniature animals included, but towards the end of the third century, a vast range of different ceramic figures began to be placed in tombs as well. During and before the Shang Dynasty, human and animal sacrifice occured and as this practice declined in the third century BC, possibly these figures were gradually considered as substitutes. They also served to show the occupants social status, military power and/or to provide protection.

Not to be confused with Sheng Qi items 生器 (which were used during the lifetime of the deceased and may have been included as well), pottery Ming Qi was deliberately made to be “non-functional” in nature. In order to further make the distinction between the world of the living and the dead and to show humanity towards yet not confuse the dead, Ming Qi surrogates offered a delicate symbolic balance. As Sheng Qi 生器 items may have be included as well (yet disabled in some manner so as not to be functional), an interesting ancient text states that “articles used in life (Sheng Qi items 生器) have the correct form but no function and spiritual items (Ming Qi 明器) have the right appearance but cannot be used.”

For an interesting “work in progress” database of Ming Qi Chinese tomb figurines have a look at http://www.willemclaessen.com

Red star over China – These temple carvings from the cultural revolution era sport politically correct themes

Roger S. — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:00:26 +0000

Stowe Sprague was kind enough to send me these interesting photos on her blog from her visit to the Tulou region of Nanjing county, Fujian province. During her visit to a temple in the town of Taxialou, she noticed the temple’s architectural wood carvings had been replaced with “politically correct themes” rather then the traditional Chinese motifs. Apparently in order to evade destruction during the height of the cultural revolution, its care takers replaced them with more “patriotic ones.”

Retired chocolate factory worker discovers his blue and white vase is a rare 600 year old Ming dynasty moon flask worth millions!

Roger S. — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:12:34 +0000

Just a super quick update post since the folks at Chine Gallery in Hong Kong have been keeping me quite busy these days. Though with lots of cool things there to look into like this 18th century cinnabar lacquer box from Beijing can you blame me?

On to the latest “record price” headline, this one picked up from the BBC. Whats amazing is the guy walked in with the vase stuffed inside a cardboard box!!!

Cardboard box Chinese Ming vase ‘may fetch £1m

A blue and white Chinese Ming Dynasty vase that arrived at a Dorset auction house in a cardboard box is expected to sell for more than 1 million.

The 11.5in (29cm) vase is the largest ever recorded from a rare group of early Ming “moonflasks” from 1403-1424, Duke and Son auction house said.

The Dorchester-based firm said it was believed to be one of the most exciting works of art to come to light in years.

The seller, a retired Cadbury’s worker aged 79, does not wish to be named.

‘Spectacular find’

A Duke’s spokesperson said the man “lives modestly and has been interested in antiques for many years”.

Guy Schwinge, of Duke’s, said: “When my colleague initially showed me what had arrived in a cardboard box I could not believe my eyes.

“The vase is in perfect condition and it is amazing to think that it has survived unscathed for almost 600 years”.

Duke’s consultant for Chinese Works of Art is Anthony du Boulay, a scholar and author, who said the vase was “a spectacular find”.

The vase will be sold at auction in May.

Original BBC story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-12355404