How can I tell if my Chinese Furniture is antique? #
If you read my other posts like “blurring the line” or “with this Chinese antique cabinet, appearances can be deceiving” you know how difficult it can be at times, to honestly decide whether or not an item should be considered a “genuine original Chinese antique.”
“How can I tell if my Chinese furniture is antique?” becomes a slightly more difficult question to answer, when you consider the awkward journey a piece may take, as it travels through the “antique-reproduction” supply chain.
Consider this attractive low kang cabinet from Shanxi, which we purchase and restored for a customer in Italy. The image above and below is the final result AFTER cleaning & restoration where it’s sitting at the warehouse waiting to ship out.
However in order to really determine just how original it is, we need to look at what the piece looked like BEFORE restoration.
Take a quick look. What do you see? #
A quick visual inspection shows that:
- its extremely dirty
- it shows signs wear and tear
- the finish is worn away in many places
- it clearly needs further restoration.
So that is the cabinet in found form, in the antique market for wholesalers: Also, its important to mention that when I say “antique market” I specifically mean closed industry only markets where wholesalers purchase raw goods (in this case “raw antiques”) which they then repair, restore and resell thus adding value and taking a margin in the process. These are not places where fakes are generally sold (with some exceptions) as this is not a retail environment – this is a specialist environment. In this regard we can call this a somewhat “higher” level of trust environment.
So on first glance we would reasonably assume the cabinet itself is both antique and in original form. A reasonable assumption all things considered. Look at the top which clearly needs to be refinished!
Looks are often deceiving. #
Now here is where it gets a little tricky. And in order to understand why, we need to look at how the supply chain works for the antiques world.
First it was collected from a peasant on a farm by a “materials collector,” who then sold it onward, to what we would consider to be a wholesale antiques flea market far off in Shanxi province, hours away far west of Beijing.
Then it was bought (in bulk along with many, many other pieces) by a local furniture factory who re-laquered the front and completely retouched (actually repainted) the beautiful gold painting you see on the front of the piece.
So what DID the front look like in the first place?
Maybe there never was any red lacquer and the piece was just a common wood color. Or perhaps it was lacquered but the paintings were in a completely different style.
So while the delicate gold “miao jin” paintings and trim look old, they are in fact completely new.
Why is this?
ITS ALL ABOUT ECONOMICS #
The answer is mostly about business and economics. The cost of labor in the areas in the country side is less expensive, which means that artist costs less then if he or she were located near the city. So a painter in Shanxi will earn less then say, a painter working in a major city like Beijing or even on the outskirts of Beijing. So this is cost of labor issue.
And another added (perhaps unintended) bonus is that the retouching was probably done by a local peasant craftsmen or artist who has been painting the exact same motifs, patterns and styles as his fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers have for generations. This adds to the “authentic feel” because unless you are a craftsmen from Shanxi province, you will probably not know how to paint those particular motifs in “just the right sort of look.”
So the paintings on this piece LOOK authentic because in this regard, the paintings ARE authentic.
They are just not original-antique paintings
Still a long way to go... #
At this point, the piece is still unrestored and still back in its home province. That means, it will later be loaded into the back of a flatbed truck, along with a hundred or more other pieces and trucked overland in the open air for the long journey where it will eventually reach Beijing.
It will eventually be sold to a restorer which means it will then be loaded into another warehouse – or maybe left in the open air for a few days before finally being restored.
And all this BEFORE we got it into the workshop and restored it….
RED OR BLACK LACQUER GILT PAINTINGS – DETERMINING THE OLD FROM THE NEW #
How to tell which ones are original and which ones are retouched.
So, is it antique or not? #
Technically yes, although the paintings and finish are indeed not.
This means when assessing a piece we must be careful not to draw easy conclusions. We must use our eyes to look carefully at all aspects. Asking ourselves questions:
- Is the piece itself or its frame old? (looking for signs of wear and tear or repair)
- If yes, what about the finish? Is the finish old or perhaps its brand new?
- What about any paintings? Are they new or retouched?
How can I tell if my Chinese furniture is antique? Sometimes the answer is not so clear 🙂
Still need a bit of help? #
We understand figuring these sort of things out can be tricky. Sometimes you just need the assistance of an expert. So why not reach out?
4 Responses
I like this cabinet even it looks to old It looks very expensive..Thanks for sharing this to us!
Nice kid of furniture..Thanks for sharing..
I love the beauty of different cultures expressed in their every day furniture and ceramics , textiles etc . time only makes it better their lives their history …so awe inspiring.
What a great explanation of the process of restoration of Chinese antique furniture that you undertake, much appreciated ?