Asia Society Forum on Collecting Ancient Art in the 21st Century

I recently attended a 2-hour forum at the Asia Society in NY in which a panel of experts including museum directors and curators, art dealers, academic specialists, collectors, and a former officer with the Department of Homeland Security discussed issues relating to the collecting and displaying of ancient Asian art. I found the discussions incredibly informative and have already found a summary of it and a video of the entire program posted to a website.

KOREAN ART SOCIETY

For readers of my blog interested in learning more about Korean art, I urge you to join the KOREAN ART SOCIETY, based in New York City.

S. J. Rozan Mystery Novel features intrigue about fictional Contemporary Chinese painter

As a fan of mystery novels in general and S. J. Rozan's Chinese-American detective Lydia Chin and her partner Bill Smith  in particular, I was delighted to read her newest novel, GHOST HERO, whose storyline featured mystery and intrigue surrounding a fictional contemporary Chinese painter. It is set in NY City, just before the start of "Asian Art Week," an annual event each March, which I generally attend. I thoroughly enjoyed it! On S.J. Rozan's website, I was pleased to see a page with links to numerous resources for the study and appreciation of Chinese art in general that she describes as the GHOST HERO COMPANION GUIDE.

Wall Street Journal Article on Chinese Art Market

The booming Chinese art market continues to make the news. See the recent Wall Street Journal article (Friday January 13, 2012), "Art's New Pecking Order."

New Publication on Later Japanese Buddhist Visual Culture

“The Visual Culture of Japanese Buddhism from the Early Modern Period to the Present,” Religious Compass 5/8 (2011): 389–411, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00294x.  This is an online journal available by subscription, that publishes summaries of recent research with extensive bibliographies of the topic, mainly sources in English.

Scams Abound in the Chinese Art Auction World

Today, National Public Radio aired an insightful story about wide scale scamming by Chinese who sell and bid at auction for their country's art: In China's Red-Hot Market Fraud Abounds
Among the scams described are fakes selling for huge sums, auctions being used as conduits for bribes, and refusals to pay for high priced goods won at auction by bidders. I think it made some excellent points and closed with a great one: "One major issue is that Chinese auction houses are not responsible for the authenticity of the goods they sell, as long as they issue a disclaimer. But the problem is that the fakery is endemic. In all too many cases, the art is fake, the bids are rigged, the experts are crooked, and the bills are never settled. It's difficult to know what is real, aside from the corruption."

All this makes it hard to trust the validity of Chinese auction results, which I need to use as comps when doing appraisals. Therefore, I always check to see if objects similar to those I am appraising have sold at auctions in the West (which are also inundated by Chinese buyers, so that can be problematic too) and what prices are for these things in private galleries.

Another Record Chinese Sale!

Sotheby's Hong Kong sale of Chinese art from the renowned Meiyingtang collection on October 5, 2011 set another record for porcelain, this time for Ming blue and white wares. A beautiful meiping shaped vase from the Yongle era sold for HK$168.7 million (US$72 million). For more on this see the Oct. 7, 2011 article at Reuters: Ming Vase Smashes Record at Mixed Chinese Sale
A related article on the current Chinese art market appeared in the Wall Street Journal today: Art Market: The China Factor

This article advised readers on what are more affordable alternatives for would-be buyers of Chinese art than those that sell for record-smashing prices. But while the article accurately notes what types of art fit into these less pricey categories, buyers still need to be wary if their intention is to buy art as an investment, which really is a gamble. There is much fine quality art available for low prices because it is not the height of fashion or whose prices are in the doldrums due to economic factors and there is no telling when the situation will change -- I am thinking especially of the situation for JAPANESE ART, and in particular, most types of screens, scrolls, lacquers, and ceramics, which are all great buys today.