The specialists guide to Chinese antiques » Humorous or Funny

Germany’s fake terracotta warriors – seems even the museums get duped sometimes

Roger S. — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:47:57 +0000

Somehow I missed this one (which dates all the way back to 2007). While I have to admit its a bit cynical to say it, I find this absolutely hilarious (on so many levels, I can’t even begin to touch on all of them). From rampant piracy in China, to its historical context concerning fakes to the gullible nature of foreigners doing business in china. Either way, for any of us who have burned a few bucks on a item we thought was “an authentic antique,” its good to know that from time to time even the experts get taken for a ride.


A fake at the Hamburg museum.	On of our own “authentic fakes

German museum admits terracotta warriors are fakes

More than 10,000 visitors to an exhibition of terracotta warriors in Hamburg are to be offered refunds after organizers admitted the figures on display are fake. Germany’s art world was stunned by the scandal, which came to light when officials from Xian, the home of the 2,000-year-old clay army, said they were unaware that they had lent any of their figures to Germany and that those on display at Hamburg’s Museum of Ethnology could not possibly be real as the originals were all elsewhere.

Chinese experts are on their way to the northern port city to examine the objects in the Power of Death exhibition, which consists of eight clay warrior figures, two horses and 60 smaller artefacts including bronze vessels, weapons and tools. German art detectives have launched their own investigation.

A spokesman for the Leipzig exhibition company, Centre of Chinese Arts and Culture (CCAC) which arranged the show, reluctantly admitted on German television that the figures were copies. But he was keen to stress the figures’ similarity to the originals.

“First of all one has to say that the material clay was also used in those days. Then one can say that these figures are the same size as those in Xian, but in any case they are not originals,” Yolna Grimm said. He added that the figures had been obtained from public authorities, institutes and businesses in China.

The company also organised a show of terracotta warriors in Leipzig two years ago, but there visitors were explicitly told that they were viewing copies.

Wulf Köpke, director of the Museum of Ethnology, said he had agreed to the exhibition on the firm understanding that the exhibits were genuine and the company had assured him that was the case.

“The CCAC presented us with certificates of authenticity, but not documentation proving how they had been transported,” he said.

The museum has not managed to free itself from suspicion of involvement, particularly as the figures for exhibition were delivered after dark. “The fact that the warriors came to the museum in the dead of night adds to the sense that deception was at play,” wrote Die Welt newspaper.

Grimm of the CCAC insisted he had never claimed the figures were original. “There was never a word about originals in the Hamburg contract,” he said.

China’s state office for the administration of cultural artifacts in Beijing, said it was likely that the exhibits were illegal copies. “It looks like this is a problem with the protection of copyright,” a spokesman told German media.

Authorities in Xian confirmed that the only exhibition of the clay soldiers that had been authorized was the ongoing First Emperor exhibition at the British Museum in London, China’s biggest ever overseas loan of the figures.

Many have questioned the timing of the row. China recently heaped criticism on Germany after the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, paid a visit to the chancellor, Angela Merkel. Political leaders promised that Germany’s refusal to stop the visit would have “consequences”.

Until now the Chinese authorities have often turned a blind eye to terracotta warrior fakes, even allowing a controlled number of authorised fakes to be made by certified manufacturers. It is not clear whether the Hamburg exhibits were authorised copies.

Hamburg’s museum has now put up a sign informing visitors that the authenticity of the exhibits is in doubt. “Some or all of the objects in the exhibition that are said to be authentic may in fact be copies,” the sign reads.

An "authentic rare blue terre cotta warrior" on a customers balcony

German art critics have called it the “art crime of the decade”, saying that exhibition-goers have been conned in what could be one of the biggest copyright infringement cases Germany has ever known.

The terracotta army was uncovered around three decades ago by a farmer digging a well. It comes from the tomb of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, who spent more than 20 years laying the foundations of modern China before his death in 210 BC. The clay soldiers were created to protect him in the afterlife.

Original article from the guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 12 December 2007

Whoops! TV show assistant smashes 2,500-year-old Chinese bronze mirror

Roger S. — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:33:04 +0000

Here is one that seemed to miss me, despite having even been picked up by wired magazine. Ever get nervous watching people handle priceless porcelain or works of art? Worried they might drop it? Well how about this one (Anyone have the video of this?).

TV show assistant smashes 2,500-year-old bronze mirror

2007-01-17 03:30:10 Xinhua English

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — A Chinese television show audience watched dumbstruck as a presenter’s assistant accidentally smashed a 2,500-year-old bronze mirror.

The mirror, dating back to the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), was being held up for display on a China Central Television programme, when it fell from its wooden casket.

The programme, shot on Jan. 14, was to select “ten most valuable treasures” from China’s private collections.

The accident left the audience and crew silent and stunned until experts rushed on to the stage to pick up the pieces.

The mirror’s owner, renowned antique collector Chen Fengjiu, said the CD-sized mirror was the only one of its kind and other collectors had offered 1 million U.S. dollars to buy it.

The program’s producer has promised to invite leading antique experts to repair the brittle mirror, but there have been no published offers of compensation.

Experts said the mirror, which was gilded and inlaid with 11 turquoise stones, demonstrated the craftsmanship of the Warring States Period and was of great value.

Ouch! The Chinese media was a lot less kind in their descriptions:

“Miss manners live demonstrations of a complete ancient bronze mirrors “
“Miss fumbled smashed ancient ceremonial bronze mirrors.”

For those curious, here is more in depth article from the Chinese media…

Dutch designer Maarten Baas in Shanghai: Interesting twists on Chinese traditional furniture designs

Roger S. — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 07:27:22 +0000

I stumbled upon this rather amusing post on designaddict.com which talks about Maarten Baas‘s, recent Jully 2008 exhibition at Contrasts gallery in Shanghai.

While participating in Contrasts’ residency program, which brings Western artists to China to study local artistic and cultural practices, Baas became fascinated with traditional Chinese woodcarving; this exhibition is dominated by the results of this interest. His work pushes the boundaries of this time-honored Chinese craft, while also revealing the designer’s playful imagination.

Needless to say, these are some very interesting interpretations on Chinese furniture. The plastic garden chair in wood is just brilliant.

Personally, I like his smoke series in which wooden furniture has been burned with the remaining charcoal’ed pieces then preserved with a coating of clear epoxy.

Can’t afford real Chinese antiques? Then buy virtual ones instead.

Roger S. — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:51:08 +0000

A while back I know the SIMS game was amazingly popular. This is the game where you control the lives of virtual characters from making conversation to making love. People take virtual vacations, get married – you name it! Heard it was extraordinarily addictive, so I skipped over it (Actually was already addicted a few years back to SIM CITY which was time consuming enough as it is!). But I thought this was rather cute when I stumbled across this site about SIMS Interior Design.

Apparently people pay as much attention to decorating their virtual homes as they do their real homes. But i was surprised to see Chinese antiques, Tibetan furniture and lacquered TV cabinets in the mix. Cute. Very Cute.

Some fun examples of Chinese Erotica…

Roger S. — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:58:39 +0000

A while back, I had a posting about a Antique Chinese red wardrobe with gold erotica paintings on the front. Which got be thinking, so I did a bit of poking around on Google and dug up some interesting links on the subject of Chinese erotic art and culture.

Portrait of a Chinese Paradise

Apparently John Byron is a sinologist (China Expert) who has authored several books ranging from biographies (The Claws of the Dragon) to detective novels (The China Lovers) to a book about Chinese erotica (Portrait of a Chinese Paradise). But heck, we could care less about this! What we like is his great collection of Chinese erotica art!

“Therapeutic Love Posture for the Concentration of Sperm”

Believe it or not, thats the name of this painting! Fine with me!

Nostalgic Asian Erotica

This blog has a mixture of Japanese and Chinese erotica exampels (all pretty cool, if I might say myself). For examples check out this one from Japan (1823-26) ” Clockwise from upper-left: double penetration, aerial sex, lesbianism in the hot springs, sex on stilts, and finally a dildo-tree.”

Worth taking a look…. The Mongolian Pony Ride looks interesting!

Chinese Erotic Art

“Rooted in Antiquity – the first known examples of Chinese Erotic Art and texts date back over two thousand years – erotic art is an integral part of China’s cultural heritage. Erotic art reached its apogee concurrently with the rise of the rich mercantile cities of southern China from the 10th century on, when Suchow, Hangchow, and Quangchow were among the most sophisticated places in the world. Its heyday was in the late Ming period (1368-1644), a time when artists signed their works without fear of reprisal from the censors, and government policy promoted the development of art and science. The paintings and drawings were made under the pretext of providing instruction for shy or inexperienced young people. Sure not shy after seeing this example!”

Erotica on Chinese Porcelain (From Gotheborg)

“It is interesting that you noted the small feet. The bound feet was considered utterly exciting and the smell of these bound feet was especially appreciated by the real connoisseurs. On export pieces this kind of decoration was copied from European erotic prints, presumed French, but I believe the English was into this kind of art too. “

Read the rest here

Chinese wardrobe with erotica paintings on the front.

A Chinese twist on the popular TV show Antiques Roadshow.”

Roger S. — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:54:06 +0000

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 boring. But collection caught my eye as right at the minute my clicker landed on that particular channel, they were smashing up a ming dynasty porcelain vase!

“What? What? What? Huh? Why? How?”

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3695420

Which is exactly what I was thinking too. Basically it turns out to be a “Chinese Antiques Roadshow” with a bit of a twist. People bring in items which they honestly believe to be of value and/or genuine for assessment and appraisal. Experts then assess the value and authenticity of the piece. Now this is where the twist comes in. At a certain point in the show the piece is formally valued by the panel of experts and is done in front of an audience and the other contestants. If the piece is real, its smiles, “oh my god!” and all is well and good. BUT if the piece is assessed to be a fake, out comes the golden mallet (I kid you not) and the piece is smashed and destroyed right there on the spot in front of everyone.

Classic! Check out the video on ABC News or read more about it here on Danwei
(If you know how to use a machine translator (like Google translate), check out the shows homepage on BTV. )

this season, give the gift of mao

Roger S. — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:59:13 +0000

When taking customers on buying trips through the weekend market we always see “Mao Memorabilia” (Chairman Mao Tse Tung) and I always think, “someone must be buying this stuff, its just not OUR customers.” Well, from this blog posting apparently there IS a market for it…. And a pretty clever way of marketing it too

With the holiday season fast approaching, I thought this to be quite relevant. Maybe we SHOULD be “giving the gift of Mao.”

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