Yet Another Article on the Flood of Fakes from China

A friend just alerted me to this article from the China Daily USA, "'ANTIQUES' are not as old as they look," that I had previously missed. I can't say this too often--basically collectors need to BEWARE when buying antiquities with no provenance because most are likely to be recently-made fakes produced throughout China (the article even helpfully includes the map below of where certain types of arts are produced).

Tips for Preserving Asian Hanging Scrolls

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco has a nice guide online offering basic guidance on preserving hanging scrolls. Access it here.

My new book on Japanese Design can be pre-ordered on Amazon

My new book on Japanese design is now available on Amazon.com at a discounted price (regular price is $24.95). It will be released in the USA on September 30.  Because Amazon is so important to book sales these days (even more than brick and mortar bookstores), I have been urged by my publisher to encourage potential buyers to pre-order the book so as to raise its ranking.
I am very happy with the design of the book and hope all my readers will be too!.

Another Chinese Art Auction Record Shattered with Tiny "Chicken Cup"

The Chinese art market can't seem to falter--the recent Sotheby's Hong Kong sale (April 8, 2014) set another milestone record price for Chinese porcelains--$36 million dollars for a miniscule porcelain "chicken cup" Read about this sale here.

CT Loo, Famed Prewar Chinese Art Dealer, Son of a Peasant Opium Addict

The Financial Times has an interesting article today: CT Loo: champion of Chinese art ... or villain?

Among the many famous pieces he sold to museums worldwide is this mural at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, that I and my friends who studied at Kansas have studied and admired for decades.

St Louis Art Museum Loses Bidding on Chinese Art

An interesting article (in which I was quoted) about the sky-high Chinese art market.
The St. Louis Art Museum recently attempted to bid on a Yuan dynasty (14th century) porcelain dish at auction in New York. Not too surprising to me that they failed, alas. See the article here.

AFFORDABLE ART AT ASIA WEEK NY - MARCH 2014

The Art Daily just published a good overview of dealers' & auction house experts' recommendations for what to buy at Asia Week this year that is affordable. When reading it though, remember that these are the recommendations of the people who are trying to sell you the art. Still, their recommendations are, for the most part, wise. BUT they leave out two important facts: there are a LOT of fakes out there of many the types of art they are selling, so its always BUYER BEWARE (that's why provenance matters), and many types of affordable art (such as Japanese scrolls) are easily damaged by exposure to light and so should not be continually displayed and kept out of sunlit rooms.