WHAT IS A FAKE? Viewpoints on Chinese Republican Porcelain

Collectors, auctioneers and curators tend to Ural and value objects based on perceived authenticity. If the authenticity of the object cannot be verified, then the object might be discarded altogether. This is what happened to seventy vases from the early Chinese Republican era (1912-1949): when the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inArts of Asia Vol. 52; no. 4; p. 110
Main Author Christiansen, Linn A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Kowloon Arts of Asia Publications Ltd 01.12.2022
Subjects
20th century
Antiques
Authenticity
Ceramics
Chinese culture
Collectors
Porcelain
Vases
China
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Summary:Collectors, auctioneers and curators tend to Ural and value objects based on perceived authenticity. If the authenticity of the object cannot be verified, then the object might be discarded altogether. This is what happened to seventy vases from the early Chinese Republican era (1912-1949): when the owner discovered that the vases had been made only a short lime prior to his acquiring them, he told a museum to "place them in the museums storage facilities, and perhaps in a hundred years they will be of some interest!" Only a few decades ago, chronological catalogues and books about Chinese porcelain stopped right before the end of the Qjng dynasty (1644-1911). The idea at the time seemed to be that, in regards to porcelain, China had nothing new to offer after the mid-19th century, and that a collector should concentrate on porcelain from the Song (960 1279), Ming (1368 1644) or the first half of the Qjng dynasty. When the Norwegian Johan Wilhelm Normann Muiiihe (1864-1935) (2), acquired seventy famille-rose overglaze enamel vases in Beijing in 1920, he was certain he was receiving vases from one of the "good" porcelain periods.
ISSN:0004-4083