After the hunt…

After returning home from a trip to an auction, flea market, country estate sale - wherever - the best part is unpacking everything I found.

I just returned from a Boston/Connecticut sale of Asian arts and am now in the midst of researching some of the pieces. From antique temple jars, ginger jars (always popular) to bookends, to statues and foo dogs, my desk is cluttered with notes, books and all kinds of ceramics today.

Speaking of ginger jars and foo dogs, did you know….

Ginger jars began as spice containers, hence the name, but were used for herbs and oils too. Later they became primarily decorative, status pieces, not unlike today.

You can get some mass made varieties at an import store for a very reasonable price. Then there are the ginger jars that are ‘in between’ and go from about $150 to $3000. And then there are those that are museum quality and sell for tens of thousands to much, much more.
I usually have the ‘in between’ examples on hand for my shop.

Chinese ceramics have never really gone out of style - they’re timeless and they can sit in a very traditional interior or a very modern one.

An interesting note about Chinese ceramics is that they are one of the most forged kinds of arts. I recall an expert in the field saying that 85 percent or more of the so called ‘antique’ examples on eBay alone were fake. Forgers have become experts at duplicating the little details that used to be hallmarks of authenticity.

And like I said, they can be very expensive.

In fact, the British Museum’s largest donation in terms of value, was the Sir Percival David Collection of Chinese ceramics, which was valued at over 1 billion dollars and included 1,700 pieces.

The David Vases were part of this group, two blue and white, tall, elongated pieces from 1351 that were originally made for a temple (I’ve illustrated one of the pair above along with a ginger jar).

They’re special not just because they’re beautiful but because they helped further knowledge on dating these types of ceramics.
Previously, it was thought the Ming dynasty was the first to create blue and white porcelain, but because these were dated 1351, it proved that this coloration was in production before that.
They were made during the Yuan dynasty.

Okay, I’m going to finish writing up descriptions for the shop and then re-watch some of The Auction House series. This is a reality show set in London’s Chelsea neighborhood and it’s kind of funny.