Everything Asian

There are any number of reasons, some personal but all valid, for embarking on the quest for an Asian Art Collection.  Some do it because they love the idea of perhaps discovering an unknown treasure that can be bought for $2,000 and sold for $20,000 or even $200,000. Others want to decorate their reception room or dazzle clients. Still others collect because they like the little round faces of the children on the vase or the ivory carvings of laughing monkeys. Whatever your reason, you have chosen a good place to start. The articles excerpted here are from a book entitled Collecting Asian Art.

This information is intended to help you build your successful Asian Art collection experience on a solid foundation. You will be lead into galleries, museums and auction rooms. You will “search the shadows” of the ancient Oriental cultures. You will find that the items you see, hold in your hands and acquire are more than collectibles. They are pieces of immortality.

The background you need to begin successfully acquiring the kind of items you want is what is needed for your Asian Art collection. You will find more advanced knowledge about using your Asian Art collection as a sound investment, finding the right appraiser, selling your collection for the right price in books on this subject.

You can also jump-start your learning curve by visiting web sites frequently to search upcoming and past international fine arts auctions. Online and hard-copy catalogs are repositories of valuable information, complete with photographs, description, size, estimates and-for past sales-prices realized. You will learn how to use this data to track markets, predict upswings in various categories and know when the time is right to get in on the ground floor of a category that is becoming wildly popular. Occasionally, you will see that even experts can be baffled when an object that has been valued by all the standard criteria exceeds estimate because it has become the passion of two or more collectors. And you will file this information away for future reference. In most instances, though, you will find that most estimates are right on target. Catalogs and web site listings comprise the most current information you have in gauging the trajectory of your Asian Art collection.

The art of collecting begins with the purchase of one or two items. Where you may have begun by purchasing a jade carving of a mountain because it looks good in your cabinet, you will soon discover that 500 years ago, a Ming emperor had this particular mountain carved for the table of his revered scholar to provide a more spiritual setting for his scholar’s writings and hopefully inspire the poem that would immortalize the dynasty. The more you look, the more you will share the viewpoint of the original artisans who saw their work as a piece of eternity. As a buyer, you will choose carefully. As an owner, you will care for them accordingly and, well cared for, your Asian Art collection will last practically forever.