Showing posts with label Connoisseurship References. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Connoisseurship References. Show all posts
Jun 23, 2011
The tricky business of recognizing fakes
In a prior post on connoisseurship references for Chinese and Japanese arts, I cautioned about the prevalence of forgeries and the difficulties of recognizing them, even for experts. There I listed a number of useful reference works for specific types of arts. Now I want to point out a new effort that is based on science, a collaborative forensic research project being jointly undertaken by Cranfield University in the UK and Bonhams auction house. The online journal, ART RADAR ASIA, recently did a story on it.
Nov 20, 2009
Chinese Decorative Arts References
Because I get so many questions about later Chinese decorative arts I have prepared this short list of references to help interested persons begin to do some research on the subject themselves.
Recommended Bookseller for titles listed below:
Paragon Book Gallery, Chicago
Some Useful Websites:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has extensive bibliographies online.
Understanding China website--features bibliographies and resources for the study of Chinese art and culture.
Two sites for Chinese porcelains every collector should know:
Antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Collector's Help and Info Page
Chinese Porcelain of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the private collection of JP O'Brien, with much useful info on forgeries
References and Suggested Readings for Chinese Decorative Arts:
Arts of Asia. Hong Kong: Arts of Asia Publications, bimonthly journal.
Ayers, John. Chinese Ceramics: the Baur Collections (4 vols.). Genève, Collections Baur,1972-1974.
Brown, Claudia and Donald Rabiner. The Robert H. Clague Collection: Chinese Glass of the Qing Dynasty, 1644-1911. Phoenix: Phoenix Art Museum, 1987.
Brown, Claudia and Donald Rabiner. Clear as Crystal, Red as Flame: Later Chinese Glass. New York: China House Gallery, 1990.
Chinese University of Hong Kong, ed. Elegance and Radiance: Grandeur in Qing Glass. Hong Kong, 2000.
Clunas, Craig. Art in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Clunas, Craig. Chinese Carving. London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1996.
Clunas, Craig, ed. Chinese Export Art and Design. London, Victoria &Albert Museum, l987.
Eberhard, Wolfram. A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986.
He, Li. Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. New York: Rizzoli, 1996.
Hutt, Julia. Understanding Far Eastern Art: A Complete Guide to the Arts of China, Japan and Korea: Ceramics, Sculpture, Painting, Prints, Lacquer, Textiles and Metalwork. Oxford: Phaidon, 1987 (especially useful for non-specialists)
Kerr, Rose, ed. Chinese Art and Design - the T.T. Tsui Gallery of Chinese Art. London, Victoria &Albert Museum, 1991.
Kerr, Rose. Chinese Ceramics: Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty. London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1986.
Orientations. Hong Kong: Pacific Communications, monthly journal.
Rawson, Jessica, ed. The British Museum Book of Chinese Art. London, British Museum Press, 1992.
Rawson, Jessica. Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing. London, 1995.
Wilson, Ming. Chinese Jades. London: Victoria and Albert Museum Publications, 2004.
Recommended Bookseller for titles listed below:
Paragon Book Gallery, Chicago
Some Useful Websites:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has extensive bibliographies online.
Understanding China website--features bibliographies and resources for the study of Chinese art and culture.
Two sites for Chinese porcelains every collector should know:
Antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Collector's Help and Info Page
Chinese Porcelain of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the private collection of JP O'Brien, with much useful info on forgeries
References and Suggested Readings for Chinese Decorative Arts:
Arts of Asia. Hong Kong: Arts of Asia Publications, bimonthly journal.
Ayers, John. Chinese Ceramics: the Baur Collections (4 vols.). Genève, Collections Baur,1972-1974.
Brown, Claudia and Donald Rabiner. The Robert H. Clague Collection: Chinese Glass of the Qing Dynasty, 1644-1911. Phoenix: Phoenix Art Museum, 1987.
Brown, Claudia and Donald Rabiner. Clear as Crystal, Red as Flame: Later Chinese Glass. New York: China House Gallery, 1990.
Chinese University of Hong Kong, ed. Elegance and Radiance: Grandeur in Qing Glass. Hong Kong, 2000.
Clunas, Craig. Art in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Clunas, Craig. Chinese Carving. London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1996.
Clunas, Craig, ed. Chinese Export Art and Design. London, Victoria &Albert Museum, l987.
Eberhard, Wolfram. A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986.
He, Li. Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. New York: Rizzoli, 1996.
Hutt, Julia. Understanding Far Eastern Art: A Complete Guide to the Arts of China, Japan and Korea: Ceramics, Sculpture, Painting, Prints, Lacquer, Textiles and Metalwork. Oxford: Phaidon, 1987 (especially useful for non-specialists)
Kerr, Rose, ed. Chinese Art and Design - the T.T. Tsui Gallery of Chinese Art. London, Victoria &Albert Museum, 1991.
Kerr, Rose. Chinese Ceramics: Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty. London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1986.
Orientations. Hong Kong: Pacific Communications, monthly journal.
Rawson, Jessica, ed. The British Museum Book of Chinese Art. London, British Museum Press, 1992.
Rawson, Jessica. Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing. London, 1995.
Wilson, Ming. Chinese Jades. London: Victoria and Albert Museum Publications, 2004.
Feb 16, 2009
Connoisseurship of Chinese & Japanese Art--Selected References
Copies and forgeries abound in Chinese and Japanese arts and indeed, they have been made since premodern times. The problem has gotten worse in recent years as forgers have begun to make use of sophisticated technical production means. Collectors would be wise to familiarize themselves with some of the thorny issues about forgeries, and at the same time learn that in the context of Chinese and Japanese art, not all copies have been created as fakes.
Recommended Bookseller for titles listed below:
Paragon Book Gallery, Chicago
ASIAN ART GENERAL
Linda, Mary F. ed. The Real, the Fake, and the Masterpiece. New York: Asia Society, 1988. Catalogue of an exhibition, with thematic essays.
CHINESE ART
Allen, Anthony J., a Chinese art dealer in Auckland, New Zealand, has self-published the following:
Allen’s Authentication of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, 2006.
Allen’s Authentication of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, 2001.
Allen’s Authentication of Later Chinese Porcelain 1796AD – 1999AD, 2000.
Allen’s Introduction to Later Chinese Porcelain, 1996.
Chang, Arnold. "'The Small Manifested in the Large: The Large Manifested in the Small: the Connoisseurship of Chinese Painting." Kaikodo Journal 12 (Autumn 1999): 43-54.
Chang, Qing. "Genuine or Forged: Methods of Identifying Forgeries of Chinese Buddhist Sculptures," Ars Orientalis 36 (2009): pp. 79-109.
Clunas, Craig. "Connoisseurs and aficionados: the real and the fake in Ming China (1368-1644)," in Why Fakes Matter: Essays on Problems of Authenticity, edited by Mark Jones. London: British Museum Press, 1992, pp. 151-156.
Fu, Marilyn and Shen Fu. Studies in Connoisseurship: Chinese Paintings from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection in New York and Princeton. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973.
van Gulik, Robert Hans. Chinese Pictorial Art as Viewed by the Connoisseur. Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1958 (rare but authoritative)
Kerr, Rose and Jon Ayers. Blanc de Chine: Porcelain from Dehua. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.
Page, Amy. "Spotting Fake Chinese Bronzes." Art & Antiques 2/2 (Feb. 18, 2002).
Stuart, Jan. Worshiping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2001.
Stuart, Jan and Chang Qing. "Chinese Buddhist Sculpture in a New Light at the Freer Gallery of Art," Orientations April 2002: pp. 29-37.
Wilson, Ming. Chinese Jades. London: Victoria and Albert Museum Publications, 2004.
JAPANESE ART
"Chinese Forgers Take Aim at Japanese Market." Taipei Times, April 4, 2009. Regarding Chinese copies of Japanese netsuke. Available online at: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/04/04/2003440165
Clark, Timothy. Ukiyo-e Paintings in the British Museum. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1992. See especially section on forgeries in the chapter: "The Study, Collecting, and Forging of Ukiyo-e Paintings," pp. 36-46 and the appendix on fakes, pp. 233-240 (with illustrations).
Cox, Rupert, ed. The Culture of Copying in Japan: Critical and Historical Perspectives. London: Routledge, 2008.
Graham, Patricia J. Faith and Power in Japanese Buddhist Art, 1600-2005. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2007. Chap. 8 discusses forgeries of Buddhist painting and sculpture.
Graham, Patricia J. Tea of the Sages: The Art of Sencha. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1998. Discusses Japanese copies of Chinese ceramic wares, basketry, and metalwork.
Nisemono, honmono, kobijutsu kantei (Forgeries or originals, judgment on antiques). Taiyō (The Sun, monthly magazine), special issue #190 (February 1979). In Japanese only.
Uhlenbeck, Chris. "Collecting Ukiyo-e Prints: Issues of Quality, Condition, Rarity," in The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints, edited by Amy Reigle Newland. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2005, pp. 366-376.
Wilson, Richard L. The Potter's Brush: The Kenzan Style in Japanese Ceramics. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2001.
Extensively illustrates and discusses issues of authenticity of ceramics by Kenzan.
USEFUL WEBSITES
Schneider Japanese Cloisonne, the personal website of Fredric Schneider, a passionate collector of cloisonne and author of an authoritive volume on the subject.
James Cahill.info. The website of James Cahill, the renowned emeritus professor of Chinese painting at the University of California, Berkeley. His posts include an article and musings about the nefarious forger Chang Dai-chien.
Gotheborg.com. An excellent database of Chinese and Japanese ceramics, with marks.
Viewing Japanese Prints. On issues of authenticity in Japanese prints (editions, Meiji recuts, deceptive copies, imitations), see specific sections of the FAQ and TOPICS page of the web site
Watanabe Publisher Seals. For examples of seals for modern Japanese prints published by Watanabe Shōzaburō
Explanation of tests & equipment for dating of artifacts:
Smithsonian Institution
Getty Conservation Institute
Recommended Bookseller for titles listed below:
Paragon Book Gallery, Chicago
ASIAN ART GENERAL
Linda, Mary F. ed. The Real, the Fake, and the Masterpiece. New York: Asia Society, 1988. Catalogue of an exhibition, with thematic essays.
CHINESE ART
Allen, Anthony J., a Chinese art dealer in Auckland, New Zealand, has self-published the following:
Allen’s Authentication of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, 2006.
Allen’s Authentication of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, 2001.
Allen’s Authentication of Later Chinese Porcelain 1796AD – 1999AD, 2000.
Allen’s Introduction to Later Chinese Porcelain, 1996.
Chang, Arnold. "'The Small Manifested in the Large: The Large Manifested in the Small: the Connoisseurship of Chinese Painting." Kaikodo Journal 12 (Autumn 1999): 43-54.
Chang, Qing. "Genuine or Forged: Methods of Identifying Forgeries of Chinese Buddhist Sculptures," Ars Orientalis 36 (2009): pp. 79-109.
Clunas, Craig. "Connoisseurs and aficionados: the real and the fake in Ming China (1368-1644)," in Why Fakes Matter: Essays on Problems of Authenticity, edited by Mark Jones. London: British Museum Press, 1992, pp. 151-156.
Fu, Marilyn and Shen Fu. Studies in Connoisseurship: Chinese Paintings from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection in New York and Princeton. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973.
van Gulik, Robert Hans. Chinese Pictorial Art as Viewed by the Connoisseur. Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1958 (rare but authoritative)
Kerr, Rose and Jon Ayers. Blanc de Chine: Porcelain from Dehua. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.
Page, Amy. "Spotting Fake Chinese Bronzes." Art & Antiques 2/2 (Feb. 18, 2002).
Stuart, Jan. Worshiping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2001.
Stuart, Jan and Chang Qing. "Chinese Buddhist Sculpture in a New Light at the Freer Gallery of Art," Orientations April 2002: pp. 29-37.
Wilson, Ming. Chinese Jades. London: Victoria and Albert Museum Publications, 2004.
JAPANESE ART
"Chinese Forgers Take Aim at Japanese Market." Taipei Times, April 4, 2009. Regarding Chinese copies of Japanese netsuke. Available online at: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/04/04/2003440165
Clark, Timothy. Ukiyo-e Paintings in the British Museum. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1992. See especially section on forgeries in the chapter: "The Study, Collecting, and Forging of Ukiyo-e Paintings," pp. 36-46 and the appendix on fakes, pp. 233-240 (with illustrations).
Cox, Rupert, ed. The Culture of Copying in Japan: Critical and Historical Perspectives. London: Routledge, 2008.
Graham, Patricia J. Faith and Power in Japanese Buddhist Art, 1600-2005. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2007. Chap. 8 discusses forgeries of Buddhist painting and sculpture.
Graham, Patricia J. Tea of the Sages: The Art of Sencha. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1998. Discusses Japanese copies of Chinese ceramic wares, basketry, and metalwork.
Nisemono, honmono, kobijutsu kantei (Forgeries or originals, judgment on antiques). Taiyō (The Sun, monthly magazine), special issue #190 (February 1979). In Japanese only.
Uhlenbeck, Chris. "Collecting Ukiyo-e Prints: Issues of Quality, Condition, Rarity," in The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints, edited by Amy Reigle Newland. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2005, pp. 366-376.
Wilson, Richard L. The Potter's Brush: The Kenzan Style in Japanese Ceramics. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2001.
Extensively illustrates and discusses issues of authenticity of ceramics by Kenzan.
USEFUL WEBSITES
Schneider Japanese Cloisonne, the personal website of Fredric Schneider, a passionate collector of cloisonne and author of an authoritive volume on the subject.
James Cahill.info. The website of James Cahill, the renowned emeritus professor of Chinese painting at the University of California, Berkeley. His posts include an article and musings about the nefarious forger Chang Dai-chien.
Gotheborg.com. An excellent database of Chinese and Japanese ceramics, with marks.
Viewing Japanese Prints. On issues of authenticity in Japanese prints (editions, Meiji recuts, deceptive copies, imitations), see specific sections of the FAQ and TOPICS page of the web site
Watanabe Publisher Seals. For examples of seals for modern Japanese prints published by Watanabe Shōzaburō
Explanation of tests & equipment for dating of artifacts:
Smithsonian Institution
Getty Conservation Institute
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