Know any books on fakes?

Do you know of any books that cover on such topics as identifying fakes and reproductions of Chinese ceramics. The only reference that I have which has such a section is "Sotheby's Consise Encyclopedia of Porcelain". However it only covers the very basics with a few pages and covers both Contenential and Chinese ceramics. I would love to get my hand on a such a book that is dedicated to the subject. I've tried Amazon.com and other but had no luck.

No, but maybe we could write one?

There are a few attempts to write some on this subject but I truly believe it would be very hard to write a good book which not causes more problem then it solves.

I have been walking around the city of Jingdezhen, and there are, lets say 100 kiln heaps in the area, dating from the last ten centuries. The variations that occur inside the "genuine" material are so great I think it would even be hard to define in words what is to be considered "genuine" and "fake". And this is only Jingdehen.

I think one way to go about would be to define what is genuine in every group of pottery, and then everything else would be fakes. The first part of this, is really what they are trying to do in most books on ceramics.

I still understand what you mean, and would also be happy to find a book that describes the most common fakes.

Maybe I will try to do something of that sort on my pages. Do you - or anybody else reading this, have any suggestions about where to start - please email me :-)

Thank you for your interest.

Best regards,
Jan-Erik Nilsson

REPLY:

I guess a good way to start is by time period or dynasties. From the early on all the way to Qing. I'm sure that there are many characteristics of ceramics from one dynasty to another that set them apart. People should look at there characteristics to try to confirm a piece to that period.

Things like having far too crisp and deep patterns on a Song YingQing dish that might cause suspicion in the eye of a collecter. Or a Ming bowl with a Hong Wu mark that looks like it's blue pattern was stamped instead of painted.

I quote this from "Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Porcelain" which has a small section devoted to fakes:

-Faces, Fingers, Flowers, Factory Mark: Are all the details consistant with the period.

-Overfill: Is this decoration too much of a good thing?

-Reason: Why would anyone fake this?

-Glaze: Are the color, texture, firing faults, thickness, consistency, and the tightness of the body correct for the period of the piece.

-Era: Is the style of the piece consistant witht he period?

-Rough Treatment: Is the wear/scratches/chipping consistant witht the age and function of the piece? Could it be articicial?

-Ingredients: Are the body, weight, color, translucency, thickness, shape, form, method (casting, moulding, hand-modelling) correct?

-Enamel colors: Did the factory/country use this palette at the time? Do the colors have the correct density/surface appearence? Do they sit on the glaze/body correctly?

-Is the price right?

It's stange that this book tells me this list of things to check but completely ignores that part about about how to put it to use. Example, I see a Tang Dynasty ewer that I like...and I use the advice on the glaze to check the piece. Problem is, how do I know what I'm looking at!! I can't tell if the shape, glaze, thickness, and consistancy is right or not because I have no idea what a "right" look is!

Of course when it comes to much older items from Han back to Neolithinc age, it's a whole different thing. I think fakes from those periods are easier to make as the pieces are much more simple. Yet at the same time, the market for fakes from those periods might be small or non-existant sice even genuine pieces are not worth as much as the B/W and other pieces from Ming and Qing dynasties.

The only person I know that has written a quide to authenthicating Chinese ceramics is Anthony Allen from New Zealand. But his book covers only from the mid 18th century onwards. Thanks. Hope you have the time and resources to make a special area for your site dedicated about fakes and how to weed them out!

Thank you for your suggestions, I will do some thinking on this.

Thank you for your interest.

Best regards,
Jan-Erik Nilsson