Mr. Schwendeman, an American who has worked in China’s antiques trade for eight years, said Chinese buyers are still paying top dollar for jade and furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties made from rare hardwoods like yellow rosewood and ebony, which most foreigners ignore.
Highlites!
Cool Finds: A look at some 2000 year old, Han Dynasty pottery & earthenwares

Note: All images are clickable. During our treks and travels, we come across all sorts of rare, unusual and interesting things. Like this 300 year old temple table we stumbled across this past summer. Or this Chinese ancestor painting which eventually wound up permanently wall-mounted in a friends living room. But this cache of Han Dynasty […]
- Design
- ...
Can furniture get drunk? A look at the works of Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei

Chinese contemporary artist Ai Wei Wei, who reinterprets traditional and classical furniture designs in unexpected ways. Lets explore!
The real deal: Looking back a few hundred years at an authentic chinese alter table

This enormous solid wood console (over two meters) which supposedly dates back to the Ming Dynasty, originally made its home in a temple in Shanxi province before being stumbled upon by us in the far off, dusty dirty corners of the antiques trade. Known in Chinese as a “Gong An,” or roughly a”temple table” the […]
Hunting for treasures in Beijing’s Antique furniture markets

Yesterday I went out looking at antique furniture on the outskirts of Beijing with Roger Schwendenman of the ACF company. Roger is a specialist in wholesale furniture and has his own restoration workshop, and it was interesting to go look at unrestored furniture “fresh from the countryside” versus the fully restored variety that we see at most furniture sellers in Beijing
Whoops! TV show assistant smashes 2,500-year-old Chinese bronze mirror

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 […]