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Denver, Colorado
Published September 12, 2004
303-297-2947 | 303-722-2545
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FINDING THE VALUE
20th century export or old school offering?
Experts take cues from craftsmanship
Author: Dana Coffield
Edition: SUN LIFESTYLES
Section: STL
Page: L-06
Just because a piece of furniture is heavily carved with Asian-style images doesn't mean it's an authentic Chinese antique.
CaShi Gallery co-owners Steve Thurston and Carolyn Shaver agreed to evaluate an elaborately carved chair acquired at a Denver estate sale and explain how it fits into the world of Chinese antiques. For the purpose of comparison, they brought out a sleek, 18th-century Southern Official's Hat Chair:
The carved chair is extremely heavy. Although the owner knows the piece was originally purchased in about 1904 in San Francisco, Thurston says its weight helps confirm its age. Old-growth wood that would have been used by furniture makers a century ago is extremely heavy.
Looking at the seat's underside, Thurston says that the chair likely is carved from pine. The back of the chair appears to be carved from a solid piece of wood, but the arms - large dragons with orbs in their mouths - are pieced together. The carving appears to have been done by a master craftsman.
Screws hold the arms to the seat. Though the novice collector might be scared off by this, Thurston is quick with the reminder that "the Egyptians invented screws."
The presence of glue, nails or screws don't necessarily mean the piece isn't old, he says. The thing to look for, he says, offering the arm of the official's chair as an example, is how the pieces fit together.
The arm rails on the official's chair link to the front and rear stiles in careful pipe joints. On the arm, the grain runs horizontally, but the wood is turned in such a way that at the joint it appears as though the grain changes direction as it flows into the stile.
The stiles are milled from a single piece of wood that passes through the seat to create the legs of the chair, which is an early construction technique. "The craftsmanship is quite fine," he says.
Thurston also considers the finish on the dragon chair. Though the wood is stained very dark, it has a lively patina. The orbs in the dragons' mouths have a golden glow, and use has worn the finish from the dragons' heads. "On a new piece, you would look at the dark finish, and it would be flat."
Likewise, the official's chair, which is made from Tieli mu - a type of hardwood - has a warm, velvety patina, and the wood still looks very similar to a slab of unfinished Tieli mu that Thurston has in his workshop.
A few things bother Thurston:
First is the chair's "sit-ability." The back is extremely straight, which leads him to believe that its sculptural qualities were more important to the maker than its utility. Chinese chairs made for use by Chinese people are typically very comfortable. "I think that the Chinese invented ergonomics," he says.
The next issue is the complicated hodgepodge of dragon parts that make up the arms and back of the carved chair. But Thurston can't make out an entire creature. "If a Chinese carver is going to carve a dragon, he's going to carve the whole thing."
Thurston concludes that the chair likely was made in China for export to the U.S. It is technically an antique, but it does not reflect true Chinese styling. Instead, it was manufactured to meet the American interpretation of Chinese design.
"If you stand back, it's fine. It's dragons, and it's fun," he says. "It definitely reflects the taste of the day."
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