Chinese Furniture: A Guide to Collecting Antiques - Hardcover

Mazurkewich, Karen; Ong, A. Chester

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080483573X ISBN 13: 9780804835732

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing, 2006

Synopsis

The international market for antique Chinese furniture is booming, and masterpieces from the Ming and Qing dynasties are now worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Chinese Furniture is a survey of these collectibles—from the very best hardwood pieces featured to standard softwood specimens still available on the Asian market. The book presents an overview of carving styles, wood types, regional variations, class distinctions and restoration techniques.

With this renewed interest in antique furniture, a forgery market has emerged. Thousands of factories in southern China are churning out brand new or refurbished furniture and passing them off as antiques. Chinese Furniture unearths these forgeries and serves as an indispensable reference guide to collectors.

About this title

About the Author:

Karen Mazurkewich is an Asian Wall Street Journal reporter who has covered Asian culture and the retail scene for three years from her base in Hong Kong. Mazurkewich has investigated art forgery, interviewed countless collectors, grilled innovative businessmen and queried tradesmen all in a quest to better understand antiques and manufacturing in Asia.

Review:

"Guide is the key word here, since the author is not a scholar. She does, however, pull a lot of information together about subjects ranging from classic 17th-century Ming hardwood pieces to Shanghai Art Deco styles of the 1930s, and she carries the exposition right up to the present, with horrible but relevant Western-style examples."—Art & Auction

"Karen Mazurkewich has spent years researching and investigating antiques and manufacturing in Asia. She puts her experience to use in this well-illustrated book."—The Maine Antique Digest

"[Chinese Furniture] shows authentic classics from beds to household accessories, with advice on how pieces were constructed. There is a section on fakes, but identification and knowing authentic ancient to modern looks is the point of this book."—The Smart Collector

About this edition

• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 080483573X
• ISBN 13: 9780804835732
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224