A Ming Dynasty Vase Treated as Modern Copy

There are seven visitors 1) from Hoogland, Groningen searching for “antic porcelain China THE story of eight horses of mu wang bowl. The answer is easily found in the library of the Chinese museum in China. 2) Visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “Chinese antique furniture for sale Malaysia”. The problem is that the sellers do not know where the buyers are and the buyers do not know where the sellers are and the only way is to advertise in the newspaper classified advertisement. 3) Visitor from Saudi Arabia searching for “old timer antique shop in Kuala Lumpur”.  The old timer antique shop is Asia Antique at Loke House, Medan Tuanku, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the owner is Mr. Peter Clague, a licence antique dealer with licence no. 0281 issued by Muzium Negara (National Museum of Malaysia) under Act 168 of Antiquities Act 1976 and another is a freelance dealer is Mr. Mohammad and these are the old timers that I can recall. The experts that authenticate Chinese Porcelain items are Professor Peacock, William Young Willetts and Mr. Mohammad.  4)  Visitor from New York searching for “Chinese antiquities and porcelain and university”. When searching for Chinese porcelain you have to look for places which active trading has been taking place and the places for study are the museums which I studied during my lunch hour rest while driving taxi and now I have retired from driving taxi my notes reminds me of the facts that I gathered while at the museum. My visit to museums and shops always with the aim to know what I am looking for in my studies and not just to tour. My age is catching up and I would advise visitors to my blog to look for the people that I had named to assist in bringing better collection. 5) Visitor from Hanoi, Vietnam searching for “antique swords of yuan China”. I have not come across any of the items, you mentioned. 6) Visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “nyonya ware for sale”. This visitor did not read my statement or statements in this blog otherwise he would not have asked the same question. The answer A) you can order nyonya ware from Jing de zhen in China. B) I do not know whether Bandung which is famous for making copies are still making. C) In Kuala Lumpur, a shop that advertised nyonya ware for sale and not any other ware is still open with order and repeat order can be made at this shop or advertise in newspaper for your search. 7) Visitor from Singapore searching for “yuan vase authentication in Singapore” which I have not known of any. To quote two paragraphs for a book “To this must be added the deductions which can be made from the study of well-authenticated specimens, and, of course, the valuable work enshrined in the books which are mentioned in the bibliography.” And another quote is “There are dealers and dealers. Those who take the trouble to study the things they handle-and most of them do that –are the best friends to the researcher after truth in this particular field”. A Chinese proverb is “books are old teachers”.

Many years ago my late father sold an Early Ming vase to a Swedish man who works for a company well known in this world. He showed this vase to a number of places and was confirmed to be copy and when I check with the people whom he mentioned in his letter, all of them denied and at the same time he was using a strong force by saying that he need not prove that the vase a copy. After my father passed on, the local office Chinese man has also retired approach me and I was told that this Swedish man force him to buy up this vase and I swallowed my pride to buy the vase because he is an innocent man that got trapped. This vase has all the characteristics of the Ming dynasty and it is not for sale kept in a safe place and I could put a price for Rm 25million. From then onward I have no respect for customers from Sweden and other gas bags. Experts always say that copies are easily made by using chemical to aged and if there is no difference between then, this subject in education is all rubbish which I had on stage challenged and they were at the embarrassment because I do not want to be treated a fool by them. I had plans to start exhibitions to show my antiques and not half baked ones.

Unknowledgeable Collectors

A friend of mine brought a wealthy man who is a collector to my place to see my things and he said that my Yuan dynasty items are fakes and when I ask him to prove, he claim that he came to the wrong door step and I was told that he passed away.

A visitor from Woodside, New York searching for “Yuan dynasty porcelain plate” Yuan dynasty items are specially ordered for trade and most of the items are from good makers during the Mongul rule. Today there are a lot of imitations coated with mud. All the items whether genuine or fakes must be cleaned in order to make studies feasible.  Yuan dynasty plates are Mohamadan Blue which is violet blue and some are in underglazed red.

 Most of the searches are answered like 1) what is the value or prices. 2) Where to get antiques or looking for antique shops (answer are found in earlier blog). There two visitors 1) from San Jose, California searching for “original nyonya ware”. How to know which is original and not original because the same skill was used to make nyonya ware all along unlike the skill for making porcelain is different for different dynasties. 2) from kota bahru, Perak searching for “antique shops in bandung”. I must state that there are “bandung copies” which is well known. This visitor is an expert who is turning copies into antiques otherwise he won’t be searching for “antique shops in bandung”. 3) Visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “antique collector malaysia” which is difficult to find because the ones that I met are conmen and not truly antique collector. 4) Visitor from Menifee, California searching for “oriental chow table 6stool black laquar mother of pearl how much will it cost me”. It is difficult for me to say unless I have such stock then only I can tell you the price. 5) Visitor from Toa Payoh, Singapore searching for “gold kerosang nyonya”. There was a Kelantanese Malay man, I know sells Nyonya jewelry and I was told that he passed away and now his family members run a flea market stall on Sunday. 6) Visitor from Kuala Lumpur searching for “antique furniture malaysia”.  I have not come across any yet that is why I kept silent over it.