The late Mr.Ng Ting Kau has been in antique business for a
long time and planned to make Kuala Lumpur an antique trade centre but his plan
has failed because there were sayings that imitations from Bandung were made
exactly the same as originals in the 70’s which has caused a lot of frictions
between my late father and customers. The customers will come back and throw
their weight which forced him to take back what he had sold are fakes without
having to prove that the items they bought are fakes. I tried to revive the
business and the lucky thing was that I am still running this business in sole
proprietorship otherwise there will be quarrel among partners over fakes issues
from customers and also I will have difficulty in exporting which need to be
agreed upon.
After closing down the shop, most of the beautiful items
were shipped overseas because they were deemed fakes by local collectors. This
blog has helped me by telling collectors terms like “not worth being a
collector”, ”rumour buy rumour sell”, ” no genuine no fake”, “wealth never
passed three generations”, “all artefacts are imitation unless and until proven
genuine” and ultimately in Chinese short story that father and son has to carry
the donkey home. A visitor claims that it is hilarious that I am a taxi driver
which I found the benefits of being a taxi driver. Here is the list of
benefits. 1) when my wife was sick and she passed away in 2007, I have to take
care of her and my four sons without having to apply leave from my job. 2) It
gets me to know Kuala Lumpur route well. 3) I usually have my lunch at the
canteen in the National Museum of Malaysia and after my meal, I will take a
rest at the museum’s library and from that museum’s library I learn how to know
the values in ancient artefacts and how to protect myself so that wealth can
pass three generations in my family and also Asian Art Museum in Kuala Lumpur
which has authenticated specimen for me to study.
A visitor from Denmark is searching for Xu bei Hong’s horse
painting on plates. As far as I know he
only paints on papers and oil painting. The genuineness of paintings need to be
inspected and details on how results. The wood block prints of some of Xu bei
Hong’s painting is also posted with the front cover of the catalogue. I visited
a shop which displayed a few paintings for sale, a Chinese national was looking
for Xu Bei Hong’s painting and I took out the book on wood block prints and
instead of looking for paintings, he wants to buy the book from me.
A visitor from Longford, Ireland searching for pua nguar
teko but he did not make it clear whether he wants pua nguar teko from Bandung
or Jingde zhen. Other visitors searching for Nyonya ware, antique shops in Penang,
Singapore, Straits Chinese Singapore, Nyonya Ware UK, Kangxi vase colour nyonya
ware.
This is the list of searches from visitors to my blog. 1) Taiwanese Antique bowls. 2) auction value
“Sung Dynasty Bowls”. 3) Nyonya ware
encyclopedia. 4) jokes on collecting antiques. 5) valuation of peranakan
porcelain. 6)reproduction nyonya ware. 7) ”ronnie ng” 1980 photographer. 8)
where to buy nyonya ware. 9) where to buy nyonya ware in penang. 10) how much
commission for antique dealers in Malaysia. 11) fake nyonya ware. 12) fake
Chinese antique porcelain. 13) Jingdezhen/nyonya reproduction. 14) antique porcelain opium
press and bowls. 15) Kamcheng nyonya
ware teapot for sale K.L. 16)Malaysia expert on nyonya ware. 17) Che Mokhtar
Che Ali. 18) Chinese ming dynasty pots bowls. 19)kutani made in japan tea cups.
20)straits Chinese plate uk. 21)Cheng Ho Porcelain bowl. 22) where to buy
reproduction ware in penang. 22)Che mokhtar magistrate. 23)kangxi vase color
nyonya ware. 24)sung ting bowl-singing. 25) where to get cheap nyonya ware in
Singapore. 26)Singapore nyonya ware. 27) Yuan vase fake. 28)reproduction
peranakan Chinese porcelain manufacturers. 29)antique shop
Malaysia-alibaba-lelong. 30)thermoluminicence test for porcelain in
Singapore.31)searching for images of fake sung dunasty bowls. 32)searching for
fake sung sung bowls. 33) made in Taiwan, republic of china label on spittoon.
34)arahats blue bowls. 35) is there a nyonya ware antique shop in Kajang?.
Visitors searching for fakes should go to People Republic of
China, there are Yuan vase fakes and fakes sung dynasty bowls including images
which you can even design for them to make.
Nyonya ware can also be bought there. I came to know there is an
importer for nyonya ware in Kuala Lumpur but I do not have contacts with
manufacturers.
Visitors searching for “ronnie ng” 1980 photographer, Che
Mokhtar Che Ali and Che mokhtar magistrate should advertise in the newspapers
and facebook.
Visitors searching for Taiwanese Antique bowls and made in
Taiwan, republic of china label on spittoon should refer to Taiwan trade
embassy for assistance because whether the mentioned items are made of jade,
marble or other materials is not stated.
Visitors searching for nyonya ware, antique shops, in
penang, expert on nyonya ware, Singapore nyonya ware, valuations on nyonya ware,
nyonya ware encyclopedia, where to get nyonya ware in Singapore and is there a
nyonya ware antique shop in Kajang has
created jokes in antique collecting. I
state what I know and I take those as a jokes. These visitors should request
for nyonya ware shops to be opened in front of their house.
Visitors searching for auction values “Sung dynasty bowls”
should find out for yourself because I don’t know whether the prices suits you
and also antiques has no fixed market value. As to antique porcelain opium
press bowls which I do not know what it is. Cheng Ho Porcelain bowl which I
didn’t see Cheng Ho eating with that bowl and as such I cannot confirm that it
is Cheng Ho Porcelain bowls. As to arahats blue bowls, sung ting bowl-singing
and kangxi vase color nyonya ware which I haven’t come across and I do not have
knowledge of what other collectors had.
Visitor searching for kutani made in japan tea cup which I
have not come across but I have two sets of kutani sake set comprising of a
double gourd bottle and two cups in one set. These sets which are not for sale
and I do not like to post the photo for the set but only for one sake cup.
Another visitor searching for experts in Chinese Imari for Kang Hsi Emperor. Emperor Kang Hsi is in China and what was
found in his possession and who actually knew about Chinese Imari for Kang His
Emperor is not known to me but the expert mentioned can only be found in
Peoples’ Republic of China today.
Thermoluminescence tests is available at an institute in
Bangi, Selangor and please check with specialist for more information. There
are tests namely carbon 14, carbon 12 and non destructive scientific test.
Collectors know that there are a lot of fakes sold in the
market but there are also genuine antiques in the market. There is a visitor
accuses someone being cheat. Why do
collectors want to collect items that are so easily faked or imitated? An
article that appeared in the Chinese daily, experts has broken thirty genuine
artefacts after mistakes made in authentication. Two months ago I bought a genuine Tang Dynasty
(AD618-AD960) three colour horse for Rm100/- and I used my experience to
authenticate it which I found it to be genuine and made it affordable for me to
keep. All artefacts are imitation unless and until proven genuine.
This will be my last reply to visitors because I have
antique exhibition to organize. The way that I answered was not clear to
visitors and English should not be used. This blog has advised that do not be a
collector because treasure can turn rubbish and rubbish can turn treasure.
Another thing is when experts claim that imitations can be made exactly the
same as originals then we do not need experts to authenticate. Wealth never
passed three generations is when collectors with genuine artefact passed to
next generation without telling the next generation, how to know that it is
genuine will have trouble when the next generation shows to experts with the
intention to sell and was told that is a fake. The next generation will scold
the ancestor for giving them rubbish. Good collectors make good teachers by able
to share the knowledge that tells what is genuine and fake. Good antiques are
not judged by its prices but based on willing buyer, willing seller and
knowledge.
Why a genuine Tang Dyansty three colour horse is sold for Rm
100 is because collectors could not see the value in the genuine horse thinking
that it cannot be genuine. The vendor also have problem selling at that price which browsers couldn’t believe
that it is genuine.
One last reply for this year to a visitor searching for
nyonya furniture of penang. Nyonya furniture is a mixture of Chinese and
Western. Mahogany or blackwood furniture, red and gold furniture are the
Chinese and the Dutch styled furniture. Mahogany furniture comes in sets of
eight chairs and four side tables which come in square or rectangle, there is
one type that is without armrest, bench, opium beds, half-moon tables and lower
stand, with and without mother of pearls. Red and gold are guilded with
goldleaf, single and double posted beds which means that mosquito net could be hung,
seven carved panels with flower baskets in the front and a chest of drawers is
placed at the back. Dressing table with five drawers with the beveled edge in
green and flakes of mother of pearl., cupboards with two drawers and below the drawers are two panels on the
left and right and in between the panels are two doors and on top of it is
another cupboard with two doors. Washstand and mother- in- law chest. Red and
gold doors are of two type main door and side doors, side doors are the slim
tall doors.
Western furniture which I came across are cupboards with two
doors on the top section, at the lower section are two drawers curved and doors
at the lower section. Dining furniture set, with one dining table with eight
carved chairs rattan netting at the seat and back and also with arm rest. Side-boardes with beveled edge mirrors and beautifully
carved balustrades shelves to put decorative items on the top section and lower
section usually Italian marble top with one long drawer and two side drawers,
the specials ones has the middle drawer half -moon shaped. Side boards will not
fit into modern homes with low ceiling. Balustrades taken from sideboards were
modified into legs for piano stools. Another is that I find it difficult to
describe is two slim cupboards with a panel of carving on top and in between is
a drawer and a base plus a mirror to hold these three items. My late father has
a restoration workshop at Old Klang Road in the earlier days.
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The look alike paintings of Xu Bei Hong are woodblock prints extracted from the catalogue.
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| Front cover for the wood block print catalogue. |
Kutani Cup from Sake Set. Kutani Plate with four Kanji characters.
