Studies for the Genuine Antiques

The Yuan dynasty Mohammadan Blue plate.












Late Ming copy of the Yuan dynasty plate.

The photo of two yellow-ground dishes : that on the right is a Ming original, and that on the left a Ch'ien-lung copy is extracted from a book 'Chinese Porcelain' which thought me to know the difference between the original and a copy.

This is the Ming dynasty bowl that was claimed to be a modern copy by William Willetts and Peter Clague.

There are too many visitors searching for antique shops in Penang, Singapore and other places. The only way to look for these places is tourist information center and where to get kamcheng, basin, ladle, spittoon in Malaysia.

There are not many people who want to set up antique business because 1) the genuine items is here today and gone tomorrow.  2) Dealers do not know what to buy and sell due to complaint from customers that so and so expert claim that copies can be easily made in China. 3) Keeping the stock for too long and selling at a later date with low profits.

There are a few visitors who want to know whether what they have are genuine. The first thing to check is the ability of the expert in telling whether your items are genuine or fake. Don’t just go away happily when he or she tells you that your items are genuine and sad when he or she tell you that your items are fakes, find out how he conclude in order check any mistake is made by him. The photo of my Ming dynasty Blue and white bowl with lotus pond was claim to be a copy and comparison was made at a museum which left the William Willetts to embarrassment and Learned Magistrate to disappear from the court without calling for adjournment. There is a dealer cum expert claims that there are a lot of “bullshit” which I am about to find out whether he is a “bullshit” or not. Recently I check with one dealer who talk bad about my father’s collection to a friend and this friend brought me to see him. All I need to know is to see how he state his facts to conclude that his items for sale is genuine and being his customer will be at the wrong end and this incident was spread around Kuala Lumpur.(Chinese educated).       

The simple way to gain knowledge from experts is to ask for the difference  between Pua Nguar and call it what you like Nyonya, Peranakan, Strait Chinese porcelain ware and from this you can learn the difference between the two wares  and also the important requirements “genuine and fakes”. Pua Nguar and the other was told by a famous expert and the difference is not known to me yet. The dates between the genuine and fakes of Pua Nguar and the other are not too far apart and skill in telling will be valuable.

The reason for collecting old porcelain was not known to many collectors. I asked collectors why do you want to collect old porcelain items?  There are many banners hung on the roadside in various parts of Malaysia selling Jingdezhen porcelain, why are they no good? They should be good because 1) good condition. 2) no need to source. 3) buy it as the age you wanted it.

There are three visitors 1) from Hong Kong- searching for Nyonya ware price. 2) from Asia Pacific Region- on bubbles and authentication. 3) from Indonesia- the most rarest antiques and expensive Mohammedan Blue.

1)      Nyonya ware price is zero because it depends on whether the item a plate, tehko, spoon, cups, spittoon and others. When there is a chip on the item, it will bring bad luck to the collector unless it is something not from dining table.

2)      On bubble mentioned in one of the book and in another painting on the items are also important. A photo extracted from a book showing 2 plates of different periods, one being original Ming dynasty plate and the other a Ching Dynasty copy.  I have photograph of my Yuan Dynasty plate and A Late Ming copy of the same motifs. Spot for the difference.

3)      Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1279 to A.D. 1368) has the finest Mohammedan Blue items like foliated edged plates, bowls, double gourds vases, ewers, meiping vases, kendi, pitcher, temple vases and others. Its beauty has attracted potters of today to make imitations. In a kiln to fire porcelain, there are defects and the nearest to perfection will be good to collect and the ones with defect  are good for study purpose Price has nothing to do with collecting antiques but knowledge is important. Most of the comment is that imitations can be made exactly the same as originals and if a product with many processes can be easily imitated then we don’t need experts to authenticate and at the same time we can order to make and that make porcelain items cheap and my question is why do we want to collect porcelain that is so easily imitated. When we can easily get old porcelain from factories, we do not need to dig graves and salvage things from the seabed. Many collectors are afraid to collect porcelain and has interest diminished in collecting old porcelain wares.

The world most expensive Mohammedan Blue is unknown to me. It can be said to be cheap but involve a large sum of money. Expensive or high priced has something to do with the buyer because when the item is up for sale and the buyer interested in and able to pay for the price (record breaker price) is important and these record breaker price can further be broken. No high priced item or record breaker price sold by dealers in the market is heard of. It is of no use to dealers to have browsers who is interested in the item and cannot afford to pay for the high price. Selling at a price too high makes things unaffordable and selling things too cheap may raise suspicion that the items are no good (Too cheap to be genuine). There are experts who authenticate artefacts by price and further claim that the price is not correct to be genuine but then what is the correct price which makes artefacts genuine need to be specified. A very good piece when on sale in the street will not fetch high price without grandfather and grandmother stories.

For almost 35years,collectors hasn’t seen what I have and when I  opened my shop most of the collectors brushed me aside which made me to shift out. The fact remain that collectors will have to prove what they have are genuine when they wanted to share knowledge with friends or family members or customers when they wanted to sell.

Don’t be a collector if you are not one because depending expert for knowledge will end up telling you that imitations can be made exactly the same as originals. In the 70’s it was said that copies from Bandung was made exactly the same and nyonya items was sold by mail order. I told some of the collectors that don’t keep bad education because it can cause wealth never pass one generation. There are items in some collectors that multibillionaires cannot afford to buy it because it is special and not for sale. A good collector will look for something special (with knowledge) to keep with no worry of selling and such items money could hardly buy.