In 1949 when the communist took over mainland china, many more pieces eventually made their way to Hong Kong. This was the 2nd time time, when the flow of antiques pouring out of China would spike.
Chinese History
The rise and fall of Hong Kong’s Hollywood road – Part 1 of 3: The Rise
Hong Kong’s famous “antique street” Hollywood Road, was completed in 1844 and was the 2nd road to be built in Hong Kong, after Queens Road Central. These were the very earliest days of the colony, and its role as gateway to the east was only just starting to become established. At that time, Hollywood Road was quite close to the coastline (significantly more so than today, due to reclamation of the harbor) and its near proximity to the shoreline, meant the area was never short of foreign merchants and sailors on their way back to Europe.
Burn, loot and pillage! Destruction of antiques during China’s Cultural Revolution.
Being out on the web, I get so many emails from people asking for help identifying pieces, woods, etc. I would love to be able to reply to them all, but its just not possible (hey – anyone want to pay me for this? 😉 ) But this particular one which came in a […]
The great leap forward- a disaster for Chinese antique furniture
(The following is a few slides from one my classes on Chinese Antiques. Sooner or later I hope to post all the slides here along with videos.) A Bit of Background The Great Leap Forward was a socialist mass movement designed to harness China’s enormous peasant labor force in order to rapidly transform China from an […]
Imperial jade, ivory, bronzes, silks and embroideries – all for sale at rock bottom prices (in 1908 that is)
An absolutely fascinating discussion and article from the New York times in 1908, reporting on the sale of The Conger Collection of oriental antiques, looted during the Boxer Rebellion in China.
Chinese furniture in B&W: historical perspectives from old china
This particular image was taken from Ralphrepo’s photo stream on flicker and it apparently comes from a book called “The Face Of China As Seen By Photographers & Travelers 1860-1912.” He has a much longer and interesting commentary with a snip in which the furniture itself is mentioned. “Socially, the furniture belies a family of […]
