The specialists guide to Chinese antiques. » Video Postings

Woman finds out her father’s jade collection is worth over a million USD.

Roger — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:45:41 +0000

18th-Century Qianlong Jade Collection from Qing Dynasty

Appraised Value:

$710,000 – $1,070,000

Watch the appraisal video here on the Antiques Roadshow website. Or even better, watch this interview with the owner in North Carolina.

GUEST: My father was in China two different times– I think in the late ’30s and sometime during the ’40s, with the Army, and he was a liaison of some sort. He was just a Kentucky farm boy, but he learned Chinese and he met a Mr. Liang at number ten Jade Street, and that’s pretty much what I remember him always telling me. Mr. Liang would call him and say, “John, I have some pieces you might want to look at.” As children, we heard that some of them had imperial seals, and then I just always have been curious.

APPRAISER: Well, that Mr. Liang must have been a very, very good friend of your father’s, because he led him down the path of great collecting. Generally you see people who purchase things in China at that period of time, and they purchased things that were very, very poor quality. These things are all of very, very fine quality. Did you have any idea about the value on these things?

GUEST: This dragon bowl, as we’ve always called it, we’ve always heard that it may be worth a lot of money, but no, I don’t know the value.

APPRAISER: You start with, basically, the runt of the litter in terms of these groups is that bowl there. And that’s a bowl that’s based on a style from India that they refer to as Mogul style. And it’s Chinese, 18th century. Very, very thin carving, really beautiful, crisp workmanship. This one here is the same style, but only a little more ornate. This is also Mogul style, also 18th century.

GUEST: So 1700s.

APPRAISER: Yeah, they all date from the Qianlong period, which is 1735 to 1796. This one here is set with a ruby in the top and very, very finely carved. The animal is a thing they call bixie. It means to ward off evil. And that animal is just a beautiful piece of celadon jade, wonderfully carved. And then we have the top piece of the group. This one has an inscription in the bottom that is imperial. It has a cyclical date there, which they’re kind of hard to read, because they run in 62-year cycles. But it also has the mark “by imperial order.” Rather than just “made.” So it was made specifically for the emperor himself.

GUEST: Oh, fantastic.

APPRAISER: But you start getting into the value of these objects, and the bowl there, a conservative auction estimate on that bowl would be $30,000 to $50,000.

GUEST: No! Oh, my gosh!

APPRAISER: A conservative estimate on this vase here would be $80,000 to $120,000.

GUEST: Oh, I love this one.

APPRAISER: This animal here, beautifully carved, wonderful quality, would be $200,000 to $300,000.

GUEST: Uh… I can’t believe you.

APPRAISER: And this bowl here, because of the imperial inscription, this would be probably very, very conservatively, $400,000 to $600,000.

GUEST: Oh, I don’t bel… Oh, my gosh.

APPRAISER: For a total amount of between $710,000 to $1,070,000.

GUEST: Damn.

APPRAISER: It’s an incredible collection, and he also bought at a period of time where I would doubt if he paid more than a hundred dollars for any one of these pieces.

GUEST: Yeah, I’m sure you’re right. I just can’t… I had no idea.

APPRAISER: It’s the best thing I have ever seen on the Roadshow.

GUEST: Oh, my gosh! I love hearing that. Thank you.

APPRAISER: By far.

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Importa muebles orientales de Pekín

Roger — Fri, 06 Feb 1987 03:12:42 +0000

Muebles Orientales. Aragón en Abierto (2/05/2007)

La tienda que se ubica en la calle Laguna de Rins, importa muebles de Pekín.

http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=9cpmo4Ggffs

(Youtube)

Hot Seller: Chinese Calligraphy Brushes

Roger — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:52:14 +0000

Chinese horse hair calligraphy brushes seem to be a hot seller recently. Actually, they have been doing well for quite some time now. We get quite a number of requests for them, particularly from smaller shops, boutiques and designers. They make great accessory items which fit with a range of decorating styles – and depending on how they are displayed, can be seen either as “exotic,” “world traveler,” or simply “oriental.” They are small enough to ship express and inexpensive enough to be impulse buys (while thinking about larger purchases). Whats not to like about them? They come in a range of materials from carved green jade, carved stone, pearl, bone handle, bamboo, glass beads or Cloisonne.

Sidenote: Have a quick look at this video of Chinese water graffiti which I found on Reuben Miller’s blog. Pretty cool actually and yes, some of the larger brushes do get used for this in fact. Every time I go to Jing Shan park in Beijing there is always someone doing this.

Like these brushes? Head over to our Home decor reference catalog for wholesalers to get some for yourself.

These are of course reproductions… One customer in France had an excellent idea on how to increase value (and add a nice touch as well). He requested we have correctly size boxes made for them.

Material Girls Blog noticed a great way to display them on the M Design website (which by the way, has some very impressive interiors). Had not thought of hanging them before….

Stylecourt, always hot on the heels of any trend, has some nice ideas for displaying calligraphy brushes. Personally I prefer these iron ones over the standard wooden stands. Head over to their post entitled Visiting the Cote de Texas for a bit more.

* Photo by Byron Newland

ACF China appears on China Central Television’s “Culture Express” program

Roger — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:11:03 +0000

A while back, ACF’s Roger Schwendeman was featured on CCTV (China Central Television) Channel 4’s program Culture Express. CCTV 4 is broadcast throughout China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and worldwide via satellite.

CCTV’s team accompanied Roger for several days during buying trips of un-restored Chinese antiques, and then onward to oversee the next steps of restorations and repairs. They also accompanied him to the Panjiayuan weekend market. We have not yet uploaded the video but plan to do so to soon.

Art of Asia: Ceramics – Innovations in Clay

Roger — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:47:19 +0000

There are some good youtube posting on porcelain and ceramics, starting out with this interesting eight minute long academic video overview of the history of Asian ceramics put out by the “Minneapolis Institute of Arts.“

“Ceramic production in Asia dates back many thousands of years. The Chinese have always been regarded as the undisputed masters of ceramics. Other Asian cultures have made astonishing contributions as well. The collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts sheds light on virtually every type of Asian ceramic—from Neolithic vessels, to Japanese tea bowls, to Chinese export porcelain, and beyond. “

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Learn Chinese Language Characters for Furniture

Roger — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:21:39 +0000

Found some more relevant videos on YouTube about learning Mandarin Chinese speaking and writing.

Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Introduction to Chinese Symbols for Furniture

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Dining Table:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Armchair:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : TV Stand:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Side Table:

Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Bed:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Bookshelf:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Desk:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Cupboard:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Loveseat:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Vanity Table:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Shoe Cabinet:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Cabinet:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Coffee Table:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Sofa:

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Learn Chinese Symbols for Furniture : Wardrobe: Chinese Symbols for Furniture

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

Roger — 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?”

]" title="chinese antiques roadshow on BTV">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. )

Hand carved Vs. CNC woodworking

Frederic — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:48:59 +0000

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 …

There is no doubt, those CNC (computerized numerical control) are pretty impressive. It seems it can produce almost any shape at a preciseness that can not be achieved by the human hand. Here is my first point of skepticism. What is woodcarving about? About the value of the labor, the skill of hand carving, or only about how fine the result is? There is a certain kind of coldness to a perfect picture, a computer made drawing. It is an art form, just like painting. Why don’t we hang computer-made print-outs on our wall instead of gouache paintings? This point proves that hand carvings will never be completely replaced.

Now a more practical remark is that : computers do not make designs, artists/craftsmen do. Knowing that carving has a lot of cultural identity in it, every region has its style (even a craftsmen family) and carries a signature, is unique. Those styles have been passed on for generations. Now who is going to make the CAD (Computer Aided Design) drawings, the blueprints for what the CNC makes? Also making such CAD is very labor intensive. (Those who are good at making them have a very technological background.) It must take maybe even longer to design a carving on a computer then having a craftsmen actually sculpting his piece of wood. Once a computer design is made it can be reproduced a hundred thousand times … that is true … Then we are moving towards mass productions, towards “IKEA-carvings”.

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Nevertheless we are happy with the development of the CNC. It can do amazing things. And in fact does increase the value, the appreciation of the carving made by artisan craftsmen. On the long term, hand made carving will become a luxury, expensive art. As for the antiques, the same counts, people will realize the amount of work put into certain pieces. It took us more than a thousand years to build a machine that can do almost the same. . It would be interesting to know the opinion of other people. So I hope to read a lot of comments on this post !

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On the internet I have found some articles about this matter : An inexpensive computerised numerical control (CNC) machine has helped start a new production woodworking business. The company produces complicated architectural ornamentation that was up till then mostly made by skilled craftsmen working with power tools. There is a substantial market niche for producing decorative woodcarvings faster, cheaper and at higher levels of accuracy. Low-cost CNC machines can accurately duplicate a computer aided design program in much less time than someone working by hand. Although clearly a skilled job, making complicated pieces such as carved mouldings and friezes is a very slow process by hand. The first piece is typically assigned to a very experienced and highly paid craftsman, who cuts it out with hand and power tools, then less experienced workers typically duplicate the piece using a tracer. One problem with this approach is that even the most skilled woodworker has difficulty accurately producing three-dimensional contours. The result is a piece that requires extensive finishing by hand, to chisel and sand the piece the way a customer wants it finished. The beauty of a CNC machine is that every detail of the piece can be defined to absolute perfection in the CAD/CAM software and allowing time for the operator to do something else while the machine produces the part. While the CNC machine isn’t perfect, the accuracy of the machines is far beyond what can be achieved by hand. However, every piece made will be just as good as the first one such that each piece coming off will need little hand finishing. While programming is a labour-intensive process similar to cutting out the first piece by hand, … Read the full article here : “CNC machines bring down carving costs”

A video can be seen on : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buOaF6EwEvs

Weekend shopping at the PanJiaYuan antique market in Beijing

Roger — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 12:44:22 +0000

If you have never been to the Panjiayuan weekend market, you are really missing out. Genuine antiques? Not really (Well maybe one or two) But cool stuff? Definately!

It you are a wholesaler or professional in the industry, you know this is a horrible place to do business. On the spot cash payments and consolidation/transport issues can be a real headache and those inside the enthic furnishings industry know that the real business is conducted elsewhere during the weekdays when the market is closed. I think ACF probably knows most of the vendors there already anyways which means when the market is closed during the weekdays, its vendors are still open to ACF.

But what the weekend market is good for is to get a “one-stop-look” at all the variety available in handicrafts and other various smalls (which could be filling up those empty spaces in your container). And its a lot of fun, looking at all the different items from art to ceramics to carved bone.

This particular video was found on youtube by someone named wenwen888

Making of Chinese Tang Tri-color Pottery

Roger — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:11:10 +0000

This is yet another interesting youtube find, and this particular one deals with the making of Tang dynasty style tri-colored glazed pottery figurines. Its actually quite good – showing you the entire process from rolling out the initial clay to the sculpting of the figurine.

Here is a snippet from their youtube posting:

Tang Tri-color ware was produced at the height of the Tang dynasty’s strength and prosperity; the court was “pure and bright,” society stable, the economy flourishing.

Tang Tri-color ware is broadly divided into two categories: ornaments and utensils of daily use. The items especially designed as funerary ornaments include funerary honor guards of civil and military officials, animal headstones, statues of the Emperor of Heaven, models, male, female and animal attendants, most of which were unearthed from Tang dynasty tombs. The items are fired uncolored at temperatures between 1,000 and 1,100°C before being glazed, then placed in a kiln to be fired for a second time at between 800 and 900°C. Because the temperature of the post-glazing firing was lower than that of the pre-glazing firing, almost no changes in shape and the multi-coloring occurred during the post-glazing firing. The colors of each of the glazes mixed and blended with one another, creating that luscious, extravagant phenomenon that is the distinct decorative flavor of the exceptionally splendid Tang Tri-color pottery.