The specialist guide to Antique Chinese Furniture Antiker Chinesischer Möbel muebles chinos antiguos mobilia cinese antica

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 facilities. These are both essentially the same piece but restored in a different […]

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Probably one of the smallest, yet most sought items in Chinese antiques is called the snuff bottle. Snuff bottles were used by the Chinese during the Qing Dynasty to contain powdered tobacco. During the mid- to late-16th century the use of snuff and snuff bottles spread through the upper class, and by […]

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I am noticing a trend where just about “everyone and anyone” is now selling so called “Chinese antique furniture” (or some variation of this) and misrepresenting it as any number of different things. Items made just yesterday (antique reproductions) are falsely labeled as genuine antiques and the real antiques are often completely misclassified. I […]

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Another excellent youtube find.
[http://youtube.com/watch?v=742wDih0ySI]

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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. 

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 […]

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“Tibetan” style furniture is a phrase used loosely and frequently items made just yesterday are placed side by side with items 50 or 80 years old. Of course, all are claimed to be real “Tibetan Furniture.” So when it comes to so called Tibetan” items, its important to know just what is is that […]

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There is a great show on on BTV (Beijing TV) called “Collection” which I happened to stumble upon late one evening while flipping though the Chinese channels. Normally I avoid the Chinese channels like the plague since about 90% of the time they are eiter a) boring b) lame c) boring and d) lame and […]

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Last week we went to an exhibition of new classic Chinese furniture. There were not only factories of furniture, but also those selling frightening robot-like CNC machines… It made me wonder if hand labor is even in threat of becoming abundant even here, even in this workmanship, even in art …

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I am by far not an expert and to be honest, my main advantage is simply having the opportunity to see, touch & feel different restored, un-restored pieces on regular basis. When the factory is literally right behind you and you can hang out with the workers and see the entire process, one can […]

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Here is some great collection of articles I found on wood finish supply.com’s website about lacquers & wood finishing. Its quite technical and really intended for woodworkers and the like but if thats you, then this is a good resource.
Here is a sample of some of the articals:

The Atanomy of A Wood Finish
These 3 basic […]

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