Chinese Bargains

Sallie Brady of Forbes has a good article on Chinese works of art and how Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) is currently considered undervalued. According to Brady, one of the reasons Tang Dynasty works of art are undervalued is that until just recently many thought the items were to be used in the original owners afterlife. Value determination for these works of art are very similar to other collecting categories, scarcity, age, condition, and quality. Brady also reminds the reader that just because the artwork is old, that alone does not make it good or valuable.

Brady states

"The Chinese felt it was disrespectful to disturb the tombs of their ancestors," says James Lally, a 40-year veteran of the Asian- antiques trade and owner of New York's J. J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art. Over the past five years, though, a robust Chinese economy and greater openness to Western influences, particularly scientific archaeology, have fueled Mainland Chinese demand for antiquities.

What haven't changed are the factors determining value. Foremost among them is the status of the person for whom the work was made: The higher his standing, the higher the value. At the top are objects made for someone with an Imperial connection. The worth also climbs if the paint is original. And value accrues to a piece rich in carved detail: How extensively does it capture facial features, the drapery of the clothing, the various parts of a horse's saddle? Then there's cachet in a work's "degree of movement," those qualities that lend it a lifelike sensibility-- a subjective measure, to be sure.

Beyond the Neolithic era, which dates from 10,000 to 2,000 b.c., and the Bronze Age (up to about 771 b.c.), Chinese antiquities are typically identified by dynasty. Tang and Han (206 b.c. to a.d. 220) works are most popular with seasoned collectors. Bargain hunters will find such pieces as small Western Han pots for $200 or such deals as a 5,000-year-old amphora (wine jar) from the Neolithic era for £300 (about $495), the latter at London's Guinevere Antiques (www.guinevere.co.uk).

To read the full Forbes article, click HERE.