Grandpa Brought Chinese Antiques Abroad. Now Sotheby’s New Asia Chief Wants to Bring Them Home By Ryan Swift

As a toddler in the 1970s, Nicolas Chow would run around in the Geneva house of his legendary grandfather, Edward T. Chow, a famed dealer of Chinese antiquities. “We used to visit my grandpa for lunch on Sundays, and he had this thick carpet on the floor … that was my first contact, seeing these beautiful porcelains,” Chow recalls. 

The elder Chow was famous for dealing with some of the world’s earliest collectors of China’s ancient artifacts, building an international network from his home in Shanghai, before he joined the exodus to Hong Kong in 1949, finally escaping the 1967 riots to Switzerland. Edward Chow also had a hand in the great exodus of Chinese antiquities from China to western collectors. 

Now, his grandson, newly promoted as chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, is playing a part in bringing those antiquities back to China. He is also doing his best to widen the interests of China’s collectors  to boost Sotheby’s presence in China. 

Having joined Sotheby’s in 1999, Chow arrived at just the moment that Chinese collectors began to make their presence felt in the market. His moment of glory came with the now-legendary chicken cup, bought by Shanghai-based collector Liu Yiqian.

The evolution of the mainland Chinese art collector is moving into a wide array of new types, says Chow, and the price is not the determining factor. “The Chinese are keen on building collections; that’s why they have this energy. In the beginning, a lot of people were ridiculing them as ignorant. But when you engage with that degree of intensity, you learn quickly,” Chow says. “In the beginning, they (mainland Chinese buyers) may have gravitated towards decorative pieces, but quickly moved to the essentials … now they are branching out to other areas – contemporary Asian, Western, even Old Masters.” 

One of the things that mark out mainland Chinese buyers, Chow says, is their willingness to experiment in their collecting, much more so than buyers in Hong Kong. It may also have something to do with the intrusion of social media into the art world, which Chow thinks has led to collectors, particularly new collectors, wanting more stimulation and more worlds to explore. 

http://www.scmp.com/business/money/wealth/article/2145688/grandpa-brought-chinese-antiques-abroad-now-sothebys-new-asia

Hong Kong Must Shut Door on Illicit Trade in Antiquities Before It Can Emerge As Global Art Hub By Eduard Fernández

The trade in looted artefacts in Hong Kong began over a century ago, when such items were sold on Hollywood Road. Experts say Hong Kong’s busy port and set of rules protecting buyers of illicit pieces have allowed this trade to continue. “If you want to buy looted antiquities, Hong Kong is one of the best places in the world to do it,” says Steven Gallagher, associate dean of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law. 

Along Hollywood Road, the antiques stores are still a tourist attraction. Joanna Caen, a senior consultant and adviser for high net worth individuals, banks and trustees from the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, recommends to those interested in acquiring antiquities to buy “through reputable agents” and have the provenance documentation reviewed by independent experts.

That said, the challenge of determining real provenance is tough, paperwork or not. “Receipts and certifications are only as good as the person that writes them,” says Roger Schwendeman, an antiques merchant who operates in China and Hong Kong. 

Other dealers admit there are still objects with questionable origins on the market, but stress that most professionals will stay away from them. “It’s up to the individual dealer; some take a chance, and some are more cautious, because you can have some problems with collectors, as many might reject those pieces,” says Nader Rasti, owner of Rasti Chinese Art. However, Jamie Wang, from Orientique Arts Dealer, says regardless of their origin, “good [pieces] will eventually be picked up”.

As Hong Kong ramps up its bid to become a global art hub, experts have called for the city to close its doors to the illicit trade of cultural property once and for all.



http://www.scmp.com/business/article/2136161/hong-kong-must-shut-door-illicit-trade-antiquities-it-can-emerge-global-art

FREE Evaluation and Talk at Naik Antiques and Oriental Gifts

Dear readers, 

In order to assist our customers, friends and associates in their quest to collect beautiful collectibles, we have decided to to include a mini talk in our second evaluation session! Below are the full details:

Date: 26th May 2018
Venue: Naik Antiques and Oriental Gifts
Address: 111M, Jln SS21/37, Damansara Utama, 47400 PJ

AGENDA
3pm - 5pm: FREE evaluation of items
5pm - 5.30pm: Introduction to Blue & White (Ceramics)
5.30pm – 5.45pm: Q&A

Please click on the link below to register:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-evaluation-and-talk-at-naik-antiques-and-oriental-gifts-tickets-46149462284

For further inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact me at 018 3867939.

Regards

May Naik

Ancient Greeks 'may have inspired China's Terracotta Army' by Maev Kennedy

Greek craft workers may have helped inspire the most famous Chinese sculptures ever made – the 8,000 warriors of the Terracotta Army who have been watching over the tomb of the first emperor of China for more than 2,000 years.

Archaeologists and historians working on the warriors say they now believe that the figures’ startlingly lifelike appearance could have been influenced by the arrival in China of ancient Greek sculptures, and even that Greek sculptors made their way there to teach their designs.

Li Xiuzhen, a senior archaeologist at the site, said recent discoveries, including that of ancient European DNA recovered from sites in Xinjian province from the time of the first emperor, were overturning traditional thinking about the level of contact between Asia and Europe more than 1,500 years before the travels of Marco Polo.

The Terracotta Army , unearthed from pits in Xi’an, was discovered in 1974 by a farmer, who was terrified to see a human face staring up at him from among the cabbages. Many other pits of terracotta soldiers have been found, but the older ones are small and usually very stylised. The Xi’an figures, safeguarding Qinshihuang, the first emperor, with their weapons, horses and war chariots, are life size and sculpted in extraordinary detail down to elaborate hairstyles and decorative knots tying sections of their armour.

Archaeological discoveries from both eastern and western sites have already shown the extent of very early trade. The Silk Road, with its caravan stops and trading posts, was formally established in the third century Han dynasty, but many of the trade routes were far older. Chinese historians recorded the arrival of Roman traders; by the time of the emperor Augustus Chinese silk was streaming into Rome and many of its wearers were being denounced as effete and immoral by commentators including Seneca.

The Terracotta Army , unearthed from pits in Xi’an, was discovered in 1974 by a farmer, who was terrified to see a human face staring up at him from among the cabbages. Many other pits of terracotta soldiers have been found, but the older ones are small and usually very stylised. The Xi’an figures, safeguarding Qinshihuang, the first emperor, with their weapons, horses and war chariots, are life size and sculpted in extraordinary detail down to elaborate hairstyles and decorative knots tying sections of their armour.

Archaeological discoveries from both eastern and western sites have already shown the extent of very early trade. The Silk Road, with its caravan stops and trading posts, was formally established in the third century Han dynasty, but many of the trade routes were far older. Chinese historians recorded the arrival of Roman traders; by the time of the emperor Augustus Chinese silk was streaming into Rome and many of its wearers were being denounced as effete and immoral by commentators including Seneca.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/12/ancient-greeks-may-have-inspired-china-terracotta-army-sculptors-ancient-dna

Étienne Terrus Museum in Elne Uncovers Fake Art in Collection

A French museum dedicated to painter Étienne Terrus has discovered paintings it thought were by him were fakes.

The Terrus museum in Elne in the south of France discovered 82 works originally attributed to the artist were not painted by him.

More than half the collection is thought to be fake. The paintings cost about €160,000 (£140,000).

Staff at the museum were not aware of the forgeries until a visiting art historian alerted them.

The council in Elne bought the paintings, drawings and watercolours for the museum over a 20-year period.

Eric Forcada, an art historian, contacted the museum in the town near Perpignan several months ago to express his doubts about the authenticity of the paintings.

The museum assembled a committee of experts from the cultural world, who inspected the works and concluded that 82 of them had not been painted by the Elne-born artist.

The news was announced on Friday as the museum opened after a renovation.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43933530

Mini Tour and FREE Evaluation at Naik Antiques and Oriental Gifts

Dear readers,

I'm pleased and excited to announce that Naik Antiques annd Oriental Gifts will be having our very first mini tour and FREE evaluation session on 28th April 2018!

Agenda:
3pm - 4pm: Free evaluation of items
4pm - 4.30pm: Mini tour

Please click on the link below to register. 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mini-tour-and-free-evaluation-at-naik-antiques-and-oriental-gifts-tickets-45423329401

For further inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact me at 018 3867939. We look forward to seeing you there!

May Naik

Director of Naik Antiques and Oriental Gifts

Ker-Qing! How Sky-High Prices for Chinese Porcelain Hurt Museums by Kylie Knott

"While we think of porcelain and ceramics as being incredibly fragile, which, of course, it is, it is also very resilient, so when we get shards of porcelain that have survived over time we can use it as a way to teach people about Chinese social history from the origins of China right through to now," says Harrison-Hall, who has a special interest in the material culture of later Chinese history, particularly the Song to Qing dynasties (960-1911).

British-born Harrison-Hall, who has published many books on Chinese ceramics, is also fascinated by the Ming period (1368-1644), a time of great growth in China when emperors and their palaces benefited from the skilled workmanship that created paintings, furniture, costumes, ceramics and jewellery. Even in modern China, the Ming dynasty is still considered a "golden age" of Chinese culture, she says.

But while Harrison-Hall wishes people luck building their private collections, she says the growing number of them - and the huge prices paid by private collectors - make it difficult for museums to acquire pieces. "When items are selling for £21 million [HK$254 million] then it's tough for museums to build on their collections. Museums rely on private donations and much of the money also goes on building maintenance and staff, so these prices make it very hard."

But she is not surprised by the amounts being paid considering the rarity of Qing imperial porcelain. "Very few examples of such high quality exist and those that do are in the imperial collections of the Beijing Palace Museum, Taipei National Museum or the Percival David Foundation in London."

http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/article/1831921/ker-qing-how-sky-high-prices-chinese-porcelain-hurt