PRINCIPLES OF COLLECTING ASIAN CERAMICS:

Don’t Buy Ceramics in 

Rich Asian Cities

The Chinese tradition of producing imitations works of art is ancient – as it is in all civilizations. During the 18th and 19th centuries, it was respected practice for Chinese potters to imitate the designs of 14th and 15th centuries as a display of admiration to the great achievements of those past ages. At that time, no attempt was made to deceive buyers as the date markings were clear as to when the works were produced. 
 
If we move forward to today, China has become the workshop to the world and has also learned to make imitations of most merchandise: luxury hand-bags, clothing, electronic gadgets, drugs and so on. Anyone who has spent time in emerging countries knows that most of the “branded” merchandise available for sale are actually knock-offs from China. 

 
Even in so-called advanced countries, it is estimated that 10% of all branded products sold are high-quality fakes produced in China and the number is increasing.  
 
Given that the Chinese seem able to produce fakes of everyone else’s products, it is reasonable to expect that they can do the same for their own. One such example of this is high-quality fakes of ancient Chinese Ceramics. 
 
The result is that the majority of old looking Porcelain and Stoneware Ceramics available for sale in the advanced cities of Asia are high-quality fakes. Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Kuala Lumpur are the most obvious examples. 
 
Sophisticated collectors have long gotten hold of authentic pieces and high-quality fakes are filling the void for ongoing demand. But unlike other products, the sellers of forged antique Chinese Porcelain do not have to worry about going to jail.  No one owns the copyright of a vase design that was created 5 centuries ago. 
 
The picture above shows one of the principals of The Chalre Collection in the premises of an apparently prominent antique dealer in Beijing. All of the pieces on display are certainly fakes but being passed off as authentic to foreign buyers. 

Go to the

Chalre 

Collection

of Asian Ceramic Art