HOW TO SPOT FAKE NYONYAWARE – A GENERAL GUIDE
- Ken Yap
- Apr 12, 2023
- 49 min read
Updated: May 4
Most importantly, learn to analyse & compare. Use logic & common sense. Always question. If in doubt, if your gut feeling ever tells you something stinks like smelly cheese, if you feel a piece is doctored or you're being lied to, always compare with authentic antique pieces, those in the Singapore Peranakan Museum and National Heritage Board's roots.gov.sg website being your best bets.
As far as simple common sense is concerned, as an example, can you imagine nyonyas cooking for their guests in the hot and humid tropical climate, immaculately dressed in their flammable delicate voile finery at the dining table, on stoves, barbecues, hotplates and so on, replenishing the flaming charcoal/candles/spirit lamps, liquids and ingredients as necessary? Are there any such archetypal table-cooked Peranakan dishes served at festive gatherings which are documented in photographs and writings galore? Theatrically flambéd with liquor in a specially-commissioned nyonyaware pan perhaps, like Crepes Suzette? Or self-cooked by the esteemed guests themselves, like fondue maybe? How many small fondue sets would be needed for a large celebratory tok panjang dinner party? Have you heard of many Peranakans who are cheese lovers? Or do you expect them to replace the cheese with some kind of belachan dip?
If they had hotpot or steamboat, would they replace the Chinese broth with perhaps diluted pongteh or buah keluak gravy, and would all the guests be placed around an enormous tok bulat like The Knights of the Round Table, standing up resplendent with their priceless jewellery and skintight kebayas, stretching out their arms to cook their own dainty morsels of raw food in a set procedure, customising their own sauces with a splash of this and a splatter of that, while sparks from the metal funnel and steam from the pot swirl around their perfectly coiffed hairstyles and luxurious clothing, and flies buzz around the blood of the raw meats and pong of the raw seafood? Would they eat it traditionally, with their bare hands?
Would you expect to see utilitarian cookwares such as pots, pans and woks proudly exhibited in the wedding bridal chamber? Would you splurge to commission a full set of such wares, customised with phoenixes and peonies on a colourful ground?
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If a piece of nyonyaware is offered for sale – especially if it's rare, super rare or never-encountered before - but there are no takers, if no museum or famous veteran collector with good reputation wants it, what does that tell you? If it does sell but the selling price is not phenomenally high, what does that imply? Is there anything preventing the consignor and his mates from bidding up the price behind the scenes or even buying it back himself to give the impression that it is desirable, and then reselling it at a later point in time, stating some lame excuse or bragging that it was from a former auction?
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Do porcelain enamels of the same type and on the same plane suffer wear and tear at different rates? When I wash the kamcheng cover below, will I wash the facial features selectively? Will the He-He twins and Liu Hai go blind first, followed by deafness, then their nose outlines disappear, eventually leaving only their mouths?
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Would you expect to see virtually identical nyonyaware marching out in different colourways, one after another, in practically the same timeframe?
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- ARTIFICIAL AGING AND LACK OF AGE -
A simple way to ascertain if an antique is fake is to check for signs of artificial aging.
In the case of say chupu lids, unless they have been stored for years in charcoal stoves, stuffed up sooty chimneys or drowned in jars of ink, why on earth would rims be stained to the point of being black? There is even less reason if the chupus were stored in their covered state, with cover rims resting on base rims.
What's to prevent anyone from cleaning them or gently bleaching them? Is it because black rims look more suitable and desirable, alluring and charming? Would collectors and experts ooh and aah while exclaiming how genuinely old the pieces looks because of the black rims... the darker the rims, the older the pieces?
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Signs of age must make sense, they must be believable. For instance, hard-to-reach places like teapot spouts, the interiors of the mouths of fu dog finials and the holes of lug handles should be dirtier and more stained.
In the case of these 3 antique teapots, notice that the spout on the leftmost white teapot used to have gold-gilt on the rim, much of which has naturally eroded through the years, leaving the smooth, pleasantly organic and natural white glaze. The spout rim is beautifully curved and does not look like it has brilliant white royal icing piped around it like correction fluid. Presumably this teapot was less used, as it is relatively stain free.
At the other extreme, the rightmost green teapot with a chipped spout has the greatest amount of stain, probably because it was used much more.
Most importantly, notice that the staining is relatively even. This is just plain common sense. Why should tea or coffee stain selectively, so that parts of the interior are relatively stain-free while other parts are so dark that they look as if they have been smeared with brown boot polish? Glazed porcelain has an even protective coating and texture: it is not coarse and porous in parts where tea and coffee stains soak in more.
Learn to walk before you run, or you may well end up a bogus expert with cheesy fakes and doctored pieces. There are logical and sound reasons why some pieces are deemed fakes while others get away with nary a word of criticism, and it is not due to spite or envy. Gold paint can never replace gold leaf and contemporary Vietnamese mother of pearl is no match for the genuinely old Chinese variety.
Claiming “I have one just like the one in the museum” doesn't always mean that yours is genuine. A piece in the museum merely means one less chance that you will get one. “I have one just like another collector’s” could mean that both are fakes.
Rare is rare, very rare is very rare, super-rare is super-rare, impossible is impossible. A fake ten years ago is still a fake now. If too many similar ultra-rare pieces start appearing, it is only common sense to be suspicious and circumspect: an increasing number of rare items simply means either they decrease in rarity and value, or there is less chance they are authentic antiques.
If there is one fake, there is one fake; if there are tens of fakes, there are tens of fakes; if there are hundreds of fakes, there are hundreds of fakes; if there are wagonloads of fakes, there are wagonloads of fakes. Even if there is just one fake amongst a whole collection of genuine antiques, there is still one fake.
Even if thousands of people swear blind the fakes are authentic antiques, it does not alter the fact that they are fakes. It merely proves that they are indeed blind. It does not depend on the amount of money one has, the size of one's collection, one's years of experience, the amount of pieces one has seen or handled, one's reputation, one's fame, one's popularity, one's titles or one's standing in life.
Consider the famous Getty kouros statue. The J. Paul Getty Museum bought it from a Basel art dealer for millions after testing and studying it for 2 years. Before it was removed from public display in 2018, the display notes stated "Greek, about 530 B.C., or modern forgery".
It is obviously far far easier and much, much faster to make coarse nyonyaware fakes than Imperial-quality ones. Far, far, far less sophistication is required, plus you can make just as much money by faking in bulk rather than spending extra time and effort in faking a single fine astronomical-buck item: 10 x $1 = 1 x $10. Yes, there are fake luxury items, but why else do you think there are also fake eggs, fake milk powder, fake oil and even fake rice?
- COLOUR SCHEMES -
All the nyonya colours mixed together do not Nyonyaware make. Here are three green cylindrical teapots with pink ogival panels. Notice the top and bottom borders match, they are complementary and echo each other; they do not comprise ridiculously-mixed motifs which do not gel, with try-to-be-nyonya colour schemes.
The ogival panels have distinctive shape and distinct arcs; they do not look like cow dung which has just been trodden on. They do not look like cotton wool clouds stuck on by preschool kids.
If nyonya colours and motifs are mixed wrongly, they cease to be nyonya and become instead a bad joke. For instance, in the case of green ground nyonyaware, what other colours would be suitable for the ogival panel besides the obvious pink and white? Would coral red look nice? Would indigo blue be appropriate?
Another simple tip: check to see if the legs of the phoenix are the same length, otherwise you could well end up limping your way to the bank, the victim of lame stories from a lame duck.
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Is it not suspicious to see border colours in nyonyaware which are not coordinated and do not make sense? Border colours should unite the top of the piece with the bottom of the piece, drawing the whole piece into an integrated whole. They should not stick out like a sore thumb, otherwise the piece could well be married (wrong top matched with the wrong bottom) or, even worse, a dud, a fake!
Have a look at these two genuine antique pieces:
In the case of the teapot, pale blue predominates in the neck and shoulder borders, the ruyi border and the lotus lappets at the bottom, while the pink on the lid cleverly reflects the pink on the base.
In the case of the kamcheng, a more daring colour scheme is attempted by the artist with a surprising yellow neck border, but the masterly juxtaposition and echoing of turquoise, yellow and pink in the other borders rounds up the piece into a harmonious and coordinated whole. The fu lion finial and simple lug handles are washed in a quiet brown so as not to distract from the artwork, while providing a subtle triangular frame for it.
- COLOUR DISTRIBUTION -
Colours should be distributed evenly. Here are four antique nyonyaware trays. Observe the distribution of colours: no one colour is clumped together. For instance, you don't get dark green bodies, tails, feathers, rocks and leaves all clustered in one big spreading blob.
The motifs all have breathing space and are not squashed together in ogival panels as if the phoenixes are struggling to fly or trapped in a jungle of foliage and peonies.
- ENAMELS & GLAZES -
Colours and enamels have to be believable.
Compare the following four colour schemes:
1) Does this look like the colours which all appear on a piece of antique nyonyaware? To me it most definitely does not and so I rummaged through my antique pieces to see if I could find something like it.
The dark blue is normally a dead giveaway in modern fakes: overly dark, synthetic, unnatural and artificial. Be wary too of purples, and intensely-dark blood-clot pinks.
Pay special attention to the ratios of the intensity and saturation of the colours. For instance, leaves should not stick out boldly like sharp, bright dark green marzipan cut-outs. Lighter leaves are more believable if depicted with a naturalistic pale watery hue.
Enamels and glazes must have a pleasant sheen, texture and depth, and not lie dead and flat: the 'glassy white'/玻璃白 of famille rose has a distinctive quality. Fencai infers powdery colours, but which are not milky, not washed-out, not mud-like, not jam-like and not jelly-like. Porcelain should not be dry, dull, lifeless or, as the Chinese say, 旱. It should not look like the pallor of a corpse as opposed to the glow of a living person with blood coursing through their veins. This goes for all the design elements and motifs, and all the brush strokes and artwork as well: they all, always, have life and, more importantly, they have soul.
Different cameras and lighting conditions, different workshops and artists, can only go so far to explain discrepancies in photos, but they will never, ever be able to turn the fakes in the photos into genuine old antiques.
“Organic-looking” as opposed to “synthetic-looking” is key if you want to avoid wasting your money on modern fakes. Antique pieces are not harsh-looking; they are lively, spontaneous, crisp and sharply detailed; not tortuously copied, not studied, not stiff, not contrived; they are well-balanced, rational, harmonious, coherent, integrated, coordinated, connected and ordered in all its parts. It must all make perfect sense. The Chinese word for this is 順.
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I have tweaked the following photos to show you what I mean by depth of colour. I hope you can see that these colours are anything but dead or flat: they do not look like speckled paint, jelly or marzipan. They have layers and a certain richness and complexity. They have a mellowness – a patina – which can only come from years of existence, even if they were never or hardly used. Fine scratches are haphazard and have ingrained discolouration. White areas have subtle hues and are not sparkling toothpaste-white. The colours, although contrasty, are 順 – pleasingly matching in tones and not jostling for attention. They “belong” and are in harmony with each other.
Here are a couple of videos which went viral some time ago, in which a principled and aggravated collector purposely destroyed 2 big, expensive kamchengs because he found out they were fakes, in a noble effort to educate and warn the public. I am in awe of him, I salute his integrity, I thank him most sincerely. He was rich enough to do so, brave enough to accept the truth and goodhearted enough to try saving others.
The thing that sticks out most in these videos, without even analysing the details, is the wrong sheen of the porcelain: it is dry, it is dull, it is lifeless. The Chinese have a word for it: 旱. It is like the pallor of a corpse as opposed to the glow of a living person with blood coursing through their veins.
Even with the most matt of the nyonyaware colours – coral red - which is a powdered glaze blown onto the body, genuine antique pieces have vibrancy and life, and unevenness as it was mouth-blown. Never flat and hard, never dead-looking, There are organically rich and complex layers. There are no strong, harsh blacks. Artwork does not remind one of printed plastic posters. I hope it is apparent in the genuine antique examples shown below.
Here is a totally unretouched photo of a broken antique cup. Can you see how the porcelain body is not dazzling toothpaste white? It is a natural and organic white; it is 順. Can you see how the coral red has richness, depth and life? Can you see the delicacy of the potting?
- #1 is a close-up of the broken antique coral red cup above.
- #2 is a close-up of another broken piece of genuine antique nyonya porcelain.
- #4 is a close-up of toothpaste.
And as for #3... well... I'll leave it up to you to form your own conclusions if it should be sent for scientific testing, or used to freshen your breath.
The rarest colours in nyonyaware are blue, followed by black. Dark indigo blue has already been shown. Rarer than that is light powder blue. An experienced collector had to wait a quarter of a century before he was able to acquire a piece.
This photo shows a variety of blues on genuine antique Chinese export porcelain, which of course includes nyonyaware. Notice that in all of them – no matter how pale the shade – the colour is tight and has substance, richness and depth. They do not look diluted, they are not wishy-washy.
Black is the rarest colour in nyonyaware, which as you can see from the photograph has distinct green tones due to the melding of the enamels during firing. Black nyonyaware is not the colour of shiny bat guano.
There is also a flat opaque black enamel in Chinese exportware, reminiscent of Japanese Yamatoku wares. You can see where the enamel has peeled off how film-like and flat it is, with no trace of green. When a bright light is shone through it, you can see how opaque it is. But – holy shit, Batman - it still does not look like slimy, greasy globs of bat guano.
Just one more thing. Look back at all the various depictions of peony blossoms. Do you see any spirals? Nay, they have botanically-correct linear textures, as with the petals of all flowers. Can you envisage any floral blooms with spirally-textured petals?
The difference between antiques and fakes is a bit like the difference between sambair belachan pounded with mortar and pestle, and sambal belacan whizzed up in an electric blender. Not many can tell the difference.
Do not deny the truth, which in the case of fraudulent fakes is absolute. "There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true. The other is to refuse to accept what is true." - Soren Kierkegaard.
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Here is something you can try yourself at home: separate the colours of antique and fake nyonyaware, and then compare and analyse them.
1) This is an antique nyonyaware mini chupu with a collage of its colours. Note that all the colours tonally match in shade and hue, and also the enamels look organic, not synthetic. The light brown ground matches the light blue border and neither is too dark nor too bright for the other. No colour in particular jumps out at you: the peonies and other motifs blend in with the background. The enamels are not dull, they have a sheen.
2) This is a collage of colours from a suspected fake piece of a similar form. Immediately, the ridiculously artificial-looking colours hit you in the eye. The shades of the different colours, the relationships between the colours, the ratios of the intensity and saturation of the colours, the balance, naturalness and “organicness” of the colours, are all obviously salah.
Here, note the difference between antique lime green and fake bright lime green which has no depth, no substance and is practically textureless. You can see this overly-bright green on fake nyonyaware as a ground colour, and also on the lighter-coloured leaves.
Here are a couple of antique lime green and pink nyonyaware pieces. Notice the mature colour scheme and the depth of the enamels: they have substance, they most definitely do not look like kiddies' watery-jelly. The artwork does not look cartoonish and has good detailing.
Here is an unretouched collage of antique pink-ground pieces of different designs taken with different cameras under different lighting conditions – tungsten, fluorescent, sunlight, shade, mixed, spotlight, even a scan. You will notice that in all of them, the different colours still blend and harmonise well, and no colour or shade in particular jumps out at you. The green leaves and pink peonies are not overly stark and dark, and do not look like pasted-on decals. They do not look like nyonyaware paintings done by schoolchildren with cheap poster paint. Dark blue does not look like caked fountain pen ink. There is no 20th. century batik saturated purple synthetic dye.
A fake does not become authentic just because it is paired with antique pieces or it is owned by famous people. In fact, pairing fakes with antiques only makes the difference between real and fake even more glaringly obvious.
“A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority.” - Booker T. Washington.
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Here is a collage of genuine antique pink and yellow nyonyaware pieces in various designs. In all of them, you will notice that the pink and the yellow are bright and strong, but not overly so. They are pleasingly organic rather than jarringly synthetic; they also do not look “dead”, like washed-out pink Milk of Magnesia and sliced processed cheese. In addition, notice that the enamels are painted edge to edge, with hardly any enamel shrinkage, so there are hardly any awkward white outlines. One easy warning sign to always look out for is white outlines, where there are ungainly white gaps between the enamels, but please note this is not an infallible method of detecting fakes. Other factors have to be taken into consideration.
Here are three antique indigo blue pieces. Again notice the glassy glossy sheen, the richness and the depth of the enamels: they do not look like smeared dull boot polish. Observe the brightness and liveliness of the colours, especially in the lotus lappets on the vase. The motifs do not look like coarse nyonya-coloured marzipan cookie-cutter bits plastered all over. The artwork is not cartoon-like. Again, notice the enamels are painted edge to edge.
Here are two pairs of genuinely amazing and fabulous – and truly beautiful and rare - coral red and indigo blue kamchengs in the Singapore Peranakan Museum. Note the gently sloping covers which do not look like hulking squarish coffin lids. Even though the ground colour is particularly saturated, note how it is tastefully offset by the subtly graduated pastel enamels of the peonies - delicate, smooth and velvety, like peony petals. No heavy-handedly thick black outlines. No jarring splodges of indigo and red ink here; no slathered boot polish passing off as porcelain enamel. All the coloured enamels are awash with life, not dull like cataracts, not dead.
Note also the fu dog finials and the lug handles: specific types of kamchengs should have matching distinctive fu dog finials and particular lug handles. Additionally, the fu dogs and lug handles have detailing and definition. The fu dogs are not blob-like and the mask-like lug handles are not just curved bits of clay like door handles or squarish mug handles.
It is only too easy for fraudsters to use photos like these as reference for their production of fakes. Or photos from books, or from websites. Bear in mind they will only look convincing from the angle of the photos, so most fakes will be photographed from the same angle to show just how much they look like the real thing. But the reverse, the marks and the parts which can't be seen in photos can and do vary and the copyists often get it wrong, or add on something from their own imagination which doesn't quite fit. Unless they have an original piece to copy from.
- ARTWORK -
Learn to spot blunders such as cartoon-like drawings, flowers with incredibly dark splodges in their centres, silly-looking birds with insufficient detailing, etc.
Old artwork does not look cartoonish and has good detailing. Always, always beware of cartoons. Human cartoons are the easiest to spot, especially those with simplified and coarse brush strokes, childish detailing, silly facial features and awkward limbs.
Make sure the drawings are logical - for example that centres of gravity are in the right place. Make sure proportions are correct - for instance that boots do not stick out like a long line, that trousers do not look like balloon-shaped pantaloons, that the waist is not dropped to the point where the knees should be.
I attach some well-painted human figures from genuine antiques for you to go cartoon hunting with. They normally appear on coral red pieces. Notice if nothing else the “lightness”, deftness and delicacy of the black outlines. The blacks are not flat and pitch-black like tar. The leaves of the trees and grass are gently washed with subtle colour, and not suggested by large smears of Ghostbusters green slime.
Notice there is fine detailing throughout: hair buns are not just black polka dots on bald pates. Ornamentation is logically more appropriate for costumes of ministers, gods and royal figures, but not so much for scholars, children and peasants.
Again I stress that genuine antique pieces have vibrancy and life, they are never flat. Brush strokes are never dead-looking. Everything has life and, more importantly, they have soul.
Unless you have a weakness for collecting fakes, beware of cartoon-like fu lion finials. The fu lions which form the finials on antique nyonyaware kamchengs may vary, but they all have one thing in common: they all look believable. It obviously makes no sense if they have baboon-backside faces with startled expressions and a thirsty look with tongue dangling out as if trying to lick a scoop of ice cream. Their limbs should be shortish like Pekingese dogs and lions. Even if they are on the long side, they should not be ridiculously long like black-faced Black Spider Monkeys.
They do not look like frogs.
Antique examples:
Likewise, lug handles on the sides of the body should sensibly not look like the profiles of chimpanzees, and neither should they look like cartoonlike doll-eyed dogs with large floppy pomfret-fish ears, nor should they look like balding, permed-hair Chinese aunties with Sinus infections and sore noses from blowing them too much.
Magnificent lion head lug handles are beautifully detailed and some have a Wang (王) character inscribed on their foreheads. As with any other Chinese character, it must be correctly written, with the central vertical line not extending beyond the top and bottom horizontal lines, otherwise it will be in danger of turning into the Simplified Chinese character for Feng (丯).
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Here are some photos of antique phoenixes within ogival panels. Notice that they all sensibly have 2 legs, their drumstick thighs look convincing, and they do not look like they're about to topple over.
Furthermore, the ogival panels have only one main band of colour. How many colours can you expect them to comprise of?
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Here is an authentic antique nyonyaware tray similar to the one featured on the cover of Ho Wing Meng's book.
Again, why is it genuine? To keep things at its simplest, notice the pink thighs of the phoenix: they look like chicken drumsticks, as expected. They do not look as if the phoenix is wearing flared cropped trumpet pants with frills like some China female acrobat.
Here is another antique nyonyaware quatrefoil tray.
And here is a modern reproduction dated circa 2010.
1. Do you see any peonies with only 5 petals?
2. Do you see any peonies shaped like a W?
3. Do you see any peony petals that look like Mickey Mouse gloves or, worse, the middle-finger sign?
4. Notice the way peony buds are depicted, even in the c.2010 version. Do peony buds look like pomegranates?
5. Are the leaves homogeneously large and bulbous like serrated Kaffir Lime leaves?
6. In the 2 antique versions, the branches flow; they are complementary and provide pleasant movement to the overall composition. They are not stiff, straight and angular.
7. Study the correct and appropriate proportions and spacings of the motifs in the 2 antique versions: there are no awkward blank spaces, the phoenixes do not look lost and imprisoned amongst the peonies.
8. Note the phoenixes are all flying free, not clumsily bumping into blossoms along the way. A small head crashing into a bigger peony must hurt... OUCH!
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Here is a genuine antique kamcheng lid, and you will see the tail feathers of the phoenix – logically - cannot be too splayed in such a cramped space as an ogival panel. On an offering dish with the phoenix flying free, however, one can expect the tail feathers to spread out more.
A standing phoenix should logically stand with splayed toes, with splayed toes on terra firma, preferably firmly anchored on solid rock or at least on a patch of grass or a branch... but definitely not floating in space. (They fly with curled toes.) Why be suspended in empty space, especially when you can stand on a branch close by?
Furthermore, phoenixes commonsensically cannot bend or curve their legs unless they have joints like knees. Can you envisage phoenixes with curved leg bones, looking like pliant metal shower hoses? Also, none should have long tongues; they are not anteaters, they do not yodel.
Please note all the antique examples below, of varying qualities from different workshops.
Likewise phoenixes, trees should also be firmly rooted and not hover about in space, evident in the 2 antique pieces shown below.
Notice also that birds - all kinds of birds - clasp the branch with their claws, rather than rest their legs across it. It might seem logical and petty, but all too soon in our blinded eagerness, simple and commonsensible things like this can very easily be overlooked.
Please further note that the truly regal fu dogs on this type of indisputably rare kamchengs do not scoot or butt surf along the ground in order to clean their anuses, leaving a long trail of poo. Any gilt details are delicately and daintily done, and do not look like coarse and scratchy gold paint.
It may miss the attention of blinded, greedy idiots, but it is only logical that fu dogs - especially the large and impressive ones - have ears, and there is no reason for them to have double eyebrows.
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Here are some examples of genuine antique nyonyaware featuring flying phoenixes. When a phoenix flies, it is only sensible to keep the legs as aerodynamically straight as possible. If she bends her legs too much, it would look more like squatting and taking a dump.
Phoenix claws should not look like a bunch of meat hooks, so that (with thanks to Lerine Yeo) "whatever you want to hook, you can hook"!
Furthermore, notice all the phoenixes have proportionally-correct thighs which do not look like little teteks, like awkward appendages. Phoenix legs – commonsensically and logically - emerge from thighs, which in turn are connected to their pink bodies. They do not ridiculously sprout forth from their backsides.
Are any of the phoenix bodies on antique nyonyaware rectangular, black & furry?
The devil is in the details: sometimes it's the small stuff that makes you sweat and sometimes people have brains in their kha chnoois.
Here's a selection of magpies and other similar blackbirds on genuine antique nyonyaware and Chinese export porcelain of the late Qing/early Republic period. Notice they are finely detailed and are not bloated. They have sufficient detailing; they do not look silly. They do not have laughable hairstyles. They are also not ridiculously big-headed. They look like they're meant to fly, not waddle. Magpies are not penguins.
Here are some butterflies on antique pink-ground nyonyaware. Even though it is an irrefutable biological fact that the eyes of butterflies are attached to their bodies and do not float around in blank space, you can see that sometimes, artistic license is taken.
Nevertheless, note the following:
1) The floating eyes do not look like they have multiple eye-bags.
2) The antique butterflies are gently washed with pleasing hues, not slapped and scratched on with a coarse brush. Most of the time, you can barely see the brush strokes.
3) Their bodies do not look like zebra crossings.
4) Their wings do not look like cylinders, tubes or pipes.
More antique butterflies, all subtly coloured, all delicately painted. I’d hate it if they were ashen matte and grey; I’d think they were moths, that some dead relative has come to visit.
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Here is a particular old style of peony painting which sometimes appears on antique nyonyaware. Can you appreciate the full, luscious, bulbous shape of the peonies, the organised clustered petals and the flow of the overall design? They do not look like amateurish stuck-on floral and leaf decals. Can you see how tight and beautifully-clumped the peony petals are with their nicely ruffled petal tips, while 3-dimensionality is suggested by subtle fading of the coloured enamel to the merest hint of white on the petal tips? They are not harsh and vulgar.
Observe the petals are appropriately wide; they are not shaped like a clutch of bulgy, bumpy, misshapen condoms. They do not look as if they're wilting downwards and neither do they have awkward gaps between them, as if someone has been pulling them out one by one while saying “He loves me, he loves me not”. The petals and leaves have life, they are not dull and flat. There is a delicate, tissue-like fragility and luminosity to them.
The peony buds do not look like elongated coffee beans or the man-eating Audrey ll plant in “Little Shop of Horrors” with its characteristic smirk. The pinks are pink and not magenta. Magenta is a character in “The Rocky Horror Show”.
The enamels all have texture, variety, substance and depth; the sheen varies depending on the amount of lead arsenate added. The yellow bits – which are more glossy - add a lovely contrast, brightness and sparkle to the blossoms.
Here is an antique coral red teapot. Again, notice everything is correct and organic-looking, all the design elements and pleasant-looking colours blend well.
Notice how the white highlights merge into the surrounding colours and do not pop out like sore thumbs. You do not see lots of white outlines and flowers drawn in the centre of white blobs.
The motifs are not uniformly delineated with thick black outlines like a paint-by-numbers kit.
Here is an uncommon antique pink nyonyaware globular teapot with another style of peony painting. Again the peonies are satisfyingly cluttered and 3-dimensional, drawn with a steady yet lively hand. The black outlines do vary and are not stiff and studied.
The pink ground colour, even though pale, looks organic and has tightness, texture and richness.
Notice especially how the white in the spout and on the rim doesn't dazzle like veneered teeth on a fake cheesy grin.
Here are variations of the peony bud on antique nyonyaware. Do you see any which look like lotus buds? Worse, do you see any which look like stunted jagung revealing some kernels? Worst of all, do you see any which look like monstrous cockroaches laying eggs?
Here are genuine antique examples of the In-Out Flowers-of-the-4-Seasons series. Do you see any pineapples in the chrysanthemum section? Do you expect to? Would you consider it an antique if you did?
In the case of fruits like the famous 'san duo' motif comprising the 3 lucky fruits of pomegranate, Buddha's hand citron and peach, one would expect the pomegranates with their characteristic seeds to look like pomegranates. They should be round, not unlike oranges. They should not be jambu-shaped, they shouldn't be cashew-fruit-shaped. Here are some genuine antique pieces so that you can see what I mean.
One would also not expect to see anything approximating hairy rambutans, stink beans (petai), or any other weird-looking fruits.
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I thought I'd write a little about the famous 8 Buddhist symbols in nyonyaware. The victory banner, sometimes referred to simply as the canopy, is usually depicted as below. There is cause for suspicion if it is depicted some other way.
Notice that each Buddhist symbol is usually separated by a bloom, normally a lotus bud, usually pink in colour. Each bloom or bud – which takes up the whole width of the border - is the same. They are simply spacers and so should all be identical. Added embellishments or varying colours within the same piece can be viewed with scepticism. In addition, if they are lotus blooms, they should have thick bulbous petals and not look skinny and spindly like water lilies.
Furthermore, do any of the canopies in the above examples of antique nyonyaware look like a hippy version of a Dr. Who Dalek with long sprouting hair?
With regards the Wheel of Law - another of the 8 Buddhist symbols - would you expect it to look like a pizza?
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Iron red bamboo is sometimes depicted on the sides or backs of antique Chinese export porcelain and nyonyaware. Notice that even with such simple strokes – as with calligraphy and all Chinese painting – they must have strength and movement; they must not be stiff; they must be “flicked” and not look like characterless uniform elongated teardrops. They also cannot look like lines, like mock-Chinese writing: H + or Xl + could never even begin to resemble bamboo leaves.
Also, the positioning of the leaves in relation to the branches must look believable, even if artistic license is taken into consideration, as shown in the following antique examples.
A few other things to look out for. They may sound commonsensical, but nevertheless can too easily be overlooked:
Black outlines must not look like they have been applied with thick felt pen. The Peranakans are not that fond of black, so any black outlines should be kept to a minimum lest it end up looking like a condolence card.
Ogival panels must look like ogival panels and not angular clouds.
It is only logical that phoenixes must not have more than two legs.
Peony petals are not grey in colour, unless they're mouldy.
The peony is a shrub or a tree, not a creeping plant with hooks and tendrils like the melon is.
Of course, this list is by no means complete and I have every confidence there will be more given the passage of time, as the fakers correct shortcomings, but make other mistakes.
I am aware there are various classes of painting and artwork, but can you imagine any level-headed, truly expert, connoisseurial, specialist collector investing in sub-par, substandard, inferior, low-grade or fake pieces?
If you want too much too soon, chances are you'll be disappointed.
- MARKS -
Marks must be correct: the Chinese characters must be correctly written and composed, with the proper strokes in the right order. Writing a Chinese character wrongly, with the wrong strokes in the wrong directions, with wrong proportions, wrong thicknesses in the wrong places, in an unsteady and unsure hand, with unstable composition, is just plain wrong and nothing, nothing can make it right. Many fakes feature wrongly-written Chinese characters, or the wrong mark altogether. Some feature hand-drawn marks when they should be stamped, and/or in a differing, usually darker blood-red shade. If the mark is wrong, the piece cannot possibly be right.
Here are two base marks for the same person - Chen Jin Qing (Tan Kim Keng) - a prominent Penangite. Besides the pink surname series, his name also appears on a few other designs. The stamped mark on the left features double squares. Note the orangish tinge of the marks.
Chinese characters are composed within a square format and a rule of thumb is that if there is more than one horizontal stroke in the character, the bottom-most one must be the longest, to give the character stability. If the top horizontal stroke is longer than the bottom one, the character will not balance, it will have no base for the character to sit on, it will be downright wrong.
Here's an authentic antique "Khoo Joo Bee" plate bearing the owner's maiden name. "Bee" means beautiful, the Chinese character of which is made up by a truncated 'goat/sheep' character atop a 'big' character. Note the ratios of the lengths of the horizontal strokes, and note well that the orangey mark is stamped and not handwritten. It was most likely commissioned for Khoo Joo Bee's wedding to Chung Thye Phin around 1900. [1].
Sadly, Khoo Joo Bee did not live to see her tua seh jit, her big milestone birthday. There are only two birthdays in a Chinese Peranakan's life which are important and celebrated: their first month, and after they have lived though the full sixty-year life cycle of twelve animals and five elements. Khoo Joo Bee died in 1924 aged only 45, fifteen years before her big milestone birthday. [2].
If any celebratory-birthday porcelains bearing her name and featuring a longevity-crane roundel coupled with other associated symbols such as peaches, chrysanthemums and plum blossoms (the flowers of autumn and winter) exist, the only explanation is if they were ordered at least 16 (sixteen) years in advance. Even if they were ordered when she was in her early forties, common sense dictates that she would have commissioned only one dinner service, with just the one, single design.
Her husband – the illustrious Kapitan Chung Thye Phin – also died before his milestone birthday, on 29th. March 1935, aged only 55.
Because they died so young, it does not seem credible that either Khoo Joo Bee or Chung Thye Phin would have had commissioned birthday porcelains featuring longevity-crane roundels, neither the white variety nor the coloured variety nor the rarer in-out variety.
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Here is the authentic Mdm. Xie Bai Xue square mark. Known in Hokkien as Mdm. Cheah Phaik Suat Neoh, she was the daughter of Cheah Chen Eok, the famous Penangite.
Please note:
1) The mark is stamped, not handwritten, and set within double squares.
2) The character on the left – "white" - is one of the simplest and most easily recognisable Chinese characters with its oblique stroke atop a horizontally-bisected, sharp-angled square. It does not look like some handbag icon.
3) Note particularly well that the character on the right correctly uses Traditional Chinese, and not Simplified Chinese.
Most Simplified Chinese characters in use today are the result of the work moderated by the government of the People's Republic of China in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1935, 324 simplified characters were officially introduced, but they were suspended in 1936 due to opposition within the party. A second round of simplified characters was promoted in 1977, but again it was poorly received; in 1986, the authorities retracted this second round completely. It was only later in the same year – 1986 - that the authorities introduced a final list of simplifications.
The "Table of General Standard Chinese Characters" is the current standard list of 8,105 Chinese characters published by the government of the People's Republic of China and promulgated in June 2013. (Source: Wikipedia).
So you can be pretty sure that if a nyonyaware mark uses Simplified Chinese characters, it might not be what you would consider an antique.
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Here is an authentic antique bowl featuring Madam Xie Bai Xue's alternative mark. Like her other mark within double squares, it is also stamped in an orangey-red colour .
Her name translates as "White Snow". Besides 'white' with its horizontally-bisected square, the 'snow' character features four distinct drops of rain.
Of course, if this stamp is replicated to a believable degree and one manages to get hold of some orangey-red seal ink paste, there is nothing – except one's conscience - to stop fake after rare fake after super-rare fake from being produced, flaunted and sold.
Here is a genuine antique Zhao (Chew) surname plate. Observe the varied hues and rich depth of pink tone and in particular the special, distinctive way the Zhao character is written around the rim. Note each and every stroke, even their lengths and where they join up.
Chinese characters must be written correctly. One stroke less or one stroke more could result in another word altogether.
Other pieces of the dinner service like spoons and bowls would of course match, closely; all the Chinese characters would be written in the same style and in the same way, and with the same strokes.
Notice also the quatrefoil border in the centre does not pop out at you, and neither do the butterflies. All the coloured enamels form an integrated and synchronised whole. The composition comprises very obvious concentric circles, contrasting and yet all merging, related and belonging. The same of course applies to the rest of the surname series, as you will see later.
Likewise, the butterflies also do not pop out at you. They are pale and pleasing, they are anything but harshly coloured. No brash reds. You will find that there is hardly any red or green on the primary butterflies of all the surname series, or any colour which would detract from the pink flowers and green leaves which flank them.
More about the various surname series in the "EXAMPLES" section below. You will notice that, as to be expected, because the surnames are different, the butterflies are also coloured differently to some extent.
Here are photos of the real “Xu Shun Chang zao” nyonyaware shop mark, both in a book and on an authentic antique plate. Immediately you can see the obvious contrast between the thick outer square and the much thinner inner square.
Again observe the colour and texture of the base: it has a richness to it. It does not have a brush-like texture. It does not look like plimsoll cleaner or processed milk. It is definitely not brilliant white, bluish white or purplish white.
The Chinese character for "year" – nien - usually the top left character in antique porcelain 4-character reign marks, is written and composed like this. Observe the way it is depicted and be suspicious and wary if you see it written or composed some other way, especially during the Guangxu period which saw the most production of nyonyaware.
The first stroke is the 'pie' on the upper left corner. A 'pie' is a quick, downward flick of the brush, thicker at the top where the brushstroke starts and quickly tapering to a point at the bottom where the brush is deftly lifted off. It is more aesthetically pleasing if very slightly curved but – horror of horrors – in no way can it look like an inverted C, as an inverted C will have to be purposely drawn that way and cannot be “flicked”.
Having said that, I must mention there is an exception in spurious Chenghua marks of the 19th. century on some examples of export ware, in which the Chinese characters are quirkily composed. In the example below, the "year" character is left-heavy. However, it is balanced by an elegant, strong and long vertical to the right.
Greedy and ignorant collectors could well be too easily razzle-dazzled by the sickly creamy yellows, the synthetic overly-saturated dark pink blobs and the Ghostbusters slimy dark green globs which proliferate in fake Nyonyaware.
- SHAPES & PROPORTIONS -
Shapes, proportions, composition and details must all “belong” and not look ludicrous. For instance, a kamcheng cover must be neither too flat nor too bulky for the body, and shaped accordingly.
The overall kamcheng shape must always be correct for the decoration it depicts, and the cover and base must complement and be in proportion to each other. Notice the pleasantly robust shape of the antique museum piece on the left, as opposed to the sadly sunken soufflé on the right.
Here's another comparison, this time of kamchengs with less globular lids.
Notice the antique green kamcheng on the left still has pleasantly balanced and complementary proportions, while the suspicious one on the right... well... shall we just say looks somewhat warped and in the process of melting?
Here are some more. When I look at the kamcheng silhouettes in picture A, I have no doubt whatsoever they are true, genuine, indisputable antiques from reputable museums and exhibitions. Even though of differing shapes – squarish, roundish, flattish – they remain unmistakably and properly kamcheng-shaped, with covers & bodies, fu dog finials and lug handles all in correct proportion and placement. No Pinocchio noses; no saggy buttocks, no severely Botoxed lips on either side.
When you look at the silhouettes in picture B, do you also see the same thing?
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Learn to differentiate between proper egg cups and fake wine cups masquerading as egg cups: the latter are too shallow and flared to hold an egg vertically.
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Believe what or who you will, there is no doubt fakes are getting better and better, and will continue to do so.
Before I get to the final category, here is a round up of what I have been talking about so far. Here are some genuine antique nyonyaware offering dishes. You will notice that – somehow or other – everything looks correct, pleasing and in its place.
1) Compositions are neither too sparse nor too cluttered.
2) The Buddhist emblems fill the borders nicely, with elegant ribbons unfurling, horizontally.
3) Peonies are the right size in relation to the phoenixes. Their petals are scalloped and do not look like clusters of popcorn. There are not too many flowers, so that the phoenixes remain the centre of attraction.
4) Enamels are organic and, even though thick, are not as thick and opaque as epoxy floor paint. You can see easily see the fine black details on the leaves and elsewhere.
5) The phoenix tails do not look like chainsaws. The tail ends do not look like cockroach nymphs. The filamentary feathers are fine and do not look like barbed twigs with white outlines.
6) The phoenix legs do not look like calibrated sticks.
7) The secondary wingbows are small, not sprawling like some infectious disease.
8) The beaks, combs and beards are not smudges but have fine detailing.
You may say I'm wrong, that there are exceptions (which I would tend to agree with), but I'd rather err on the side of caution anyday than to be conned.
- EXAMPLES -
Here are genuine antique examples of the classic double-pheasant Nyonyaware design.
These 2 examples are variations, which show both pheasants on rocks.
Another variation. Study the enamels on this pair of bowls, which sport the "Zhonghua Minguo" (Republic era) mark: they are bright, clear and strong, not milky in any way whatsoever. No Milk of Magnesia pinks.
This is the largest I have come across. Notice even with so much space, the motifs are not overly enlarged or crammed: there is always, always breathing space, and quite a lot of it in fact.
Coloured ground is very rare, but here are 4 examples in green, turquoise and celadon.
This covered bowl is beautifully penuh, but even here, there is breathing space.
Furthermore:
The important motifs – the pheasant, peonies and Buddhist emblems – stand out amongst the clutter.
Secondary elements like the rock are not overly detailed to the point of jostling for attention.
There is movement, variation, life and 3-dimensionality. The motifs don't look dead as if they've been carefully measured up and flatly stuck on at regular intervals like tjap batik.
Where is the vase? It is easily spotted in all the antique examples shown. The 8 Buddhist emblems are all present and all distinctly different: the vase does not look like the umbrella, the umbrella does not look like the canopy, the canopy does not look like the conch shell...
Notice in all the antique examples above that the pheasant's tail feathers do not look like they've been stuck together with super glue by some prankster, but fly freely. Outlines are perfectly rendered: they are lines, not dots. Is there any reason on earth why motifs should be dottily demarcated?
Lastly, it is important to note the standing pheasant should never, ever be caged inside an ogival panel or roundel, otherwise its partner – normally flying – will never be able to get back together with its love and they will live miserably ever after.
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This is a famous rare kamcheng at the Singapore Peranakan Museum. There is an associated example in The Art Gallery of NSW, accession no. 160.1988.a-b.
Observe the following:
1) The shape of the cover gently undulates and does not look like an unwieldy squarish coffin lid.
2) Colours are pleasantly subtle and and almost pastel-like, and do not look like brightly-coloured but dull Plasticine.
3) The artwork is painted on top of the white base before the background colour is applied. You simply do not paint white fondant-like enamel around coloured motifs like correction fluid.
4) Also observe the leaves. As with most of the leaves in antique nyonyaware, they are delicately outlined in black and defined with only a few deft, lively veins. The veins are not plentiful and do not look like narrow-lined foolscap paper \\\\\/////.
5) The tree trunks are logically more brown, black and grey, while branches are sensibly more green… you know, as in brown bark and green shoots? Furthermore, knotholes look like knotholes and not ears.
6) Notice also only the 8 Buddhist emblems are used as borders, while the lotus lappets around the base are narrow and elegantly simple in their design. The Art Gallery of NSW example (not shown) has a multi-coloured keyfret border on the cover and an 8 Buddhist emblems border on the body.
7) In spite of it being a large piece, it has a light feel to it and is not thick, dense, coarse or clunky. How much black, dullness and childishly bright colours do you see? Do the fu lion finials look like ludicrous cartoons licking lollipops?
Nyonyaware collecting is a bit like Bingo: it is not wise to just “eyes down” and recklessly lust after “unlucky for some” 13-inch kamchengs or you could well end up with a “full house” and nothing to show for it. There is a finite amount of authentic and desirable wares, and most are already in the hands of museums and pioneer collectors like the unrivalled Betty Mariette, Dr. Eunice Thio, Grace Saw, Peter Wee and Dr. Ho Wing Meng.
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According to Chinese legend, the mythical phoenix will only perch on the Paulownia tree. Although in Nyonyaware the phoenix is more often than not paired with peonies, there are some rare antique examples - like the above - which feature the phoenix under a Paulownia tree. This cartouche of a cylindrical teapot, also at the Singapore Peranakan Museum, shows the same motif. Just one look and you will understand why it is proudly proclaimed a masterpiece. And rightly so.
Of course, with so many detailed photographs abounding, there is nothing to prevent fakers from copying the unique artwork in this cartouche and transplanting it onto a brand spanking new piece, maybe of another form, perhaps with another Nyonya-esque colour scheme.
However, try as they might, they would never be able to replicate the sheer delicacy and subtleness of the original antique; the pleasant shading and gradation of the enamels, the light-handed and lively artwork, not even the proportions or the shapes of the heads.
Again, notice there is nothing flat or dullish about it. Observe the finesse of the Paulownia leaves. The lotuses do not have blood-stained tips. The phoenix takes centre stage, while the smaller birds are not injected with growth hormone.
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Here is 1 cautionary tale of 2 borders in antique Nyonyaware: a 3-sided (triangular) one and a 4-sided (square) one. Both are rare. Rare means rare. Fakes and irresponsible, dumb statements might be able to “commonise” them, but only if you allow them to.
Notice the Buddhist swastika is of a square format, so it follows logically that it is enclosed in a square in the latticed border. The triangular border contains floret halves.
Study the artwork of the the rest of the 2 pieces. The colours are “tight”, strong and textural. They do not look like splattered flecks and blobs of artificially-coloured kueh-mueh on a base of agar-agar.
Notice the fine detailing of the bird and the shape of its tail, which is sensibly fan-shaped and not shit-shaped. Have I already mentioned it is only common sense that trees and branches do not hover about in mid-air?
Be careful what you buy, or you could end up tiga suku with an incredibly stuck-up nose, and bloodshot fu-dog eyes.
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Here are some antique pieces in what nyonyaware collectors and dealers call the chongzhai, or insect pattern. Note the original chrysanthemum mark is not as spindly and sparse as those which appear in fakes.
I do not have an example to show, but you can see in the marks section of Peranakan Museum Guide that unlike regular shop and reign marks, the chrysanthemum mark grows with the size of the piece into a 2-blossomed spray on larger examples.
Colours in authentic old pieces although bright, are muted and pleasing; they do not jump out at you in stark contrast and poke you in the eye. Even though the newer fakes are beginning to tone down to more powdery (but still dead-looking) enamels, they lack sophisticated richness and mature depth, while artwork is in want of spontaneity, crispness, vitality and life. Shapes and proportions are wrong. The Buddhist emblems in the borders are 奀挑鬼命: too small and disjointed to fill the bands solidly, sometimes looking like a band within a band.
This is a fake plate which cost RM2,800 in Malacca around 2009. Look at the amount of ungainly white outlines. This fake chongzhai can fetch much more today. So, be forewarned: fakes can and do escalate in price quite quickly, especially when described as the real McCoy by the anything-but-coy. Another day in existence is another day older... but not necessarily wiser.
Here is an authentic antique chongzhai spoon to show you further what I mean. Chongzhai pieces are known for their complex, strong and saturated colours, while the pink often has purplish undertones. I hope you can appreciate that the design has order, the distribution of shades and colours has balance, the delineation is sharp, the motifs have a sense of composition, the whole thing is harmonious. It is not wishy-washy strawberry milk with erratic dark ink splotches.
Here are two antique small spoons. There is one magnificent wedding basin and a pair of in-out squat kamchengs in the Singapore Peranakan Museum, from the most amazing collection of all time, the Betty Mariette collection. Those who try to emulate pioneer collectors like her are doomed to failure and can only hope to be a pale imitation at best and a source of mockery at worst, and would be lucky not to end up with fakes.
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In honour of my best friend in the circle who has sadly gone to “The Big Man Upstairs”, I would like to post his analysis of the famous Singapore Peranakan Museum in-out chupu, a bequest of Tony Wee and Colin Holland (accession no. 1999-00655). I know he will appreciate my passing on this information to prevent people from getting scammed or conned.
Please note as the phoenix is flying, its pink body is logically stretched out, with its thighs and legs appearing hindmost. Even if its head is turned at the neck to face the other way - as on the chupu cover - the body can still be seen and is not scrunched up.
There is another version which has a light brown roundel on the interior base.
The phoenix eyes from this maker feature distinctive S-shaped slits and are unmistakable: concave nearer the beak, then convex. There are no purulent eye bags.
This is obviously a top-class item with seriously rich and none of your playschool colours.
Circles are deftly and confidently drawn.
There is no enamel shrinkage: the background gently abuts the delicate black outlines with no awkward white areas between.
Colours are organic, pleasing and “belong”, they do not jostle for attention. They weave in and around each other and do not appear as sparse flecks of paint.
The motif elements are likewise well-composed, filling the space fully but with sufficient breathing space. They do not comprise of bits here and bobs there, with chock-a-block straggly stems, scrawny leaves and the odd floral glob. This is particularly apparent in the sizeable flowers of the 4 seasons in the interior.
Lappets have some shaping at the top and are not flat.
The whole thing blends and melds and gels.
Inferior goods with unforgivable workmanship could mean shame, loss of reputation and loss of face for manufacturer, shopkeeper and purchaser. True connoisseurs and discerning collectors will not accept shoddy artwork and inferior quality.
Around 2009, fake in-out chupus appeared on the market, which had experienced collectors fooled, myself included. The first sold for RM14,000 and was swiftly followed by the second, which sold for RM17,000, and when a third appeared after that, everyone started to be wary. Well, almost everyone. They are still in production, although the quality has decreased. But yet they are still coveted and publicised, and offered for sale. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
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Have a look at this exquisite antique set.
I hope you can appreciate how gloriously rich and deep the colours are, how subtle the undoubtedly pink ground with its very slight tinges of salmon and lilac. They are not Bubur Cha Cha yam coloured. - The blackbirds are finely detailed and do not look like cartoons. Their heads are relatively smooth and not oversized, their feathers are not reminiscent of zebra crossings or Beetlejuice, their claws are dainty.
- Shading on the flower petals – especially the chrysanthemums - is gradual and blends into the background; the blooms do not stick out like blobs of sow bugs. - The phoenixes in the border cartouches have graceful tails and elegant claws.
- The cranes in the central roundels have well-defined black legs and claws, head detailing and tail feathers. They do not look like embryos.
- The boldly drawn lambrequin borders frame and add strength to the composition.
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Here are 2 antique examples of an associated nyonyaware design in which all manner of birds, butterflies, fruits and flowers of the 4 seasons are present – a very fine white bowl & plate, and a coarse pink plate. You will notice that the pink ground – even though it has a lilac tinge – remains pink.
Although it is not a foolproof way to detect fakes, squeeze tight your eyes and look at them. All the colours and motifs meld and blend together. In particular, the black bits and stronger colours do not pop out at you. Fakers have yet to accomplish subtle shading and blending.
Also note the phoenix tails do not look like bottle brushes, while the magpies do not have ludicrously big heads and thunder thighs.
Here is an authentic, antique, genuine Yap Ah Loy bowl. Please note the Yap surnames around the border, the circle and quatrefoil panel on the base are all finely outlined in iron red and highlighted in gold. G.O.L.D. gold.
Note the subtle blending of the almost watercolour-like colours and the delicate, sensitive detailing of the butterflies. While it is obviously not an Imperial piece, it certainly has finesse and liveliness. Why would the Emperor of China present an unrecorded set of porcelains to Yap Ah Loy, Kapitan Cina of a little battle-ridden town with mud and attap huts? Did Yap Ah Loy travel to China to pay tribute to him?
At any rate, whoever did the commissioning, wouldn't the expectation be for each and every piece to be of regular and superior quality? Would you accept a dinner service with pieces of varying qualities, artwork and colour? Would any workshop come out with such a wildly fluctuating dinner service?
Always remember, two similar pieces can both be real: one a real, genuine antique and the other a real, revolting, repulsive fake. So, take another close look at the real McCoy antique.
The Yap characters around the border are correctly written.
It is only logical that the 4 auspicious Chinese characters in the central quatrefoil panel fit inside entirely, and be written correctly.
The butterflies do not look like vulgar Beetlejuice Aedes mosquitoes with serrated vampire-bat wings. Observe the way they match the strength of the Yap characters, the way they stand out magnificently against a rich pink ground with lilac and salmon hues, not ashen and powdery against blah, washed-out, dried, blotchy calamine lotion.
The tails/apexes of the butterfly are sensibly attached to its hindwings.
The feelers of the butterflies do not intrude into other design elements.
Black outlines are subtle, light and delicate, and also continuous. They don't look like visual Morse Code, with dots here and dashes there.
The lambrequin borders are delicately orangish iron red in colour and daintily-shaped. How horrendous should they look like the fingers of a Pontianak.
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Here is a genuine antique Pan surname plate. Just take a moment to admire the quality of the pink enamel. It has depth, richness and substance. It does not look like patchy eczema caked with calamine lotion.
The motifs are delicately outlined and finely rendered.
Even though it has kiln grit, the footrim is neatly trimmed.
The mark is confidently drawn in a rich red; it is not stamped.
Please further note:
The black outlines are subtle, light and delicate. This is especially evident in the barely-there greyish feelers and legs of the butterflies.
Only the 2 flowers surrounding the central roundel are pink. This pink is not reflected in the 2 large butterflies. This provides a nice symmetry, with 2 pink flowers balanced by 2 more neutral, warm-coloured butterflies.
The flowers are pleasantly pink, not harsh and brash carmine. They also have fine textural detailing in the petals.
The secondary smaller butterflies around the border feature an array of sweet pastel washes of colour. They do not look like moths.
The quatrefoil panel in the central roundel is just 1 band of gold within 2 fine outlines.
The 4 mystical Chinese characters in the centre are not outlined.
Lastly, observe the way the Pan surnames around the border are outlined, particularly on the right-hand side, where the upper portion resembles more an Union Jack than an asterisk.
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Here are genuine antique examples of the Chen/Tan/Chan surname series.
Observe the particular, special, distinctive way in which the Chen character is written:
The horizontal bottom-most stroke on the left hand side is close to, if not at the bottom.
The W-looking bottom-most horizontal element on the right hand side is angular, sometimes to a 90-degree angle, to match the linear font of the character. It is not curved.
There are no polka dots in the character. There are plenty of squares and rectangles, but no polka dots in any Chinese character.
The 4 characters in the central ogival panel do not look like Hawaiian masks.
Again, the sophisticated depth and mature complexity of the pink ground are unmistakable, with tinges of orange and lilac. It's not just flat, matt pink; it is not greyish or ashen.
The whites are never glaring brilliant white. The butterflies and flowers are complementary and have equal emphasis. The flowers are pink, not red.
There are no heavy black scuff marks. Seriously, how sharp and abrasive must an implement be and what amount of force would it take before porcelain enamels can be scratched? Do the Chinese Peranakans regularly use steak knives to eat with and metallic scouring pads to wash up with?
If 2 wrongs don’t make a right, what do 3 wrongs make? Don’t end up like Madama Butterfly: conned by a fake marriage, cursed and disowned. And that’s just Act One.
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Here are some antique and super rare ladles. Look at the rims for a start - they have traces of evenly worn gilt and are not piped with whitewash. Look at the shapes - they really look like elegant ladles and not like doctored Late Republic period (or later) large Guangcai spoons decorated in Hong Kong or Macau, or rice scoops. Look at the lovely and pleasing glass-like sheen of the antique enamels; they are not flat, dull, limp and lifeless.
Look at the phoenixes on the pink ladles. Their heads are not the same size as their bodies and wings. Their wings are not so small and squished that you can't imagine them being used for flight.
In the old days, it took, what, half a century before all the designs and colourways of nyonyaware were developed. And now collectors are lucky if they can acquire just one small piece of each colourway, like a cup or a saucer or even a simple spoon. What are the chances you can end up with one of each colourway of each design of the super rare forms, regardless of how long you have been collecting for or how much money you have to burn?
The bible - the seminal book - on Peranakan jewellery, is the irreplaceable "Gilding the Phoenix" by Edmond Chin, published only about 20 years ago. As far as I'm aware, 300 were printed, but a quantity was destroyed due to water leakage. Try getting a copy now, try getting a few and see how long you will need. Bear in mind this is only a relatively recent, mass-produced book and not a piece of super rare century-old Peranakan porcelain.
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Here are genuine antique numbered nyonyaware porcelains, featuring either the Chinese numbers – (one), o (zero) or + (ten) in the centre of Xuantong reign marks. These marks appear on predominantly yellow phoenix pieces, or less commonly on lime-green peony pieces. If you find this mark on anything else, then you have either struck gold with an unique piece, or more likely than not fallen into a great big pot of brown shit.
It is only logical that name stamps are not made in bulk. Just how many and how many sizes are necessary to mark a whole dinner service? No matter what size the name stamp, the composition and proportion of the double squares, the Chinese characters and the Chinese numbers in the centre will all have to match, will all have to be in the same ratios. For instance, Picasso's signature in whatever size will have the letters all in the same proportion: you will not find an overly large 'i', an 'o' that is too small, etc. This is just common sense. (Likewise with trademarks like Milo). If you do come across a Picasso painting which features his signature with an overly large 'i' or an overly small 'o', you can be pretty sure it's a fake.
Also, one would expect the double squares of the name stamp to be comprised of straight lines and have equal contact with the porcelain base: if the thick outer square registers clearly, then so should the thin inner square, the Chinese characters as well as the Chinese numbers. Isn't this just logical? Even though the flatness of the porcelain, and the angle and pressure with which the name stamp is applied can result in bits which do not register properly, but how can that be the fault of the stamp? Would it have been carved with some bits jutting out too little, while other bits jut out too much?
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Here is an antique Nyonyaware tray with a very rare leaf-shaped panel. Please note:
The shapes of the peonies and the way they are depicted. The centres of the rounded peonies do not look like polyps in a colon.
The veins on the flowers and leaves have life and action, they are in sensible positions. They are textural and do not look like a set of standardised, regular lines. Fact: leaves have just the one central vein.
The richness, depth and complexity of the coloured enamels. As to be expected, the leaf panel stands out clearly and is the first thing you notice, not the borders, not the peonies. The leaf panel is stable, supported by thick, strong branches.
The natural and organic white on the outer border. It is not gleaming brilliant white. The white highlights on the peonies are likewise not shining white: they are of muted, organic, “soft” quality.
The natural wear of the brown gilt rim.
Of course, there will always be the-other-side-of-the-coin argument that there are different workshops, different artists and different qualities and, of course, you are always free to choose whom to believe. From your personal conclusion, the value of your investment and your reputation will become apparent in time, with all the accompanying consequences.
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Cheena gerks are new Chinese arrivals who generally like to lim teh, but real Peranakans descended from the old pioneers prefer to lim kopi-o. There is a world of difference between the new and the old.
Here are three genuine antique chargers. The one on the right - from the celebrated collection of the distinguished Betty Mariette - was considered by the Singapore Peranakan Museum as a “Nonyaware Star”. The piece on the left with a plain edge is in the wonderful Chan family Baba & Nyonya Heritage Museum in Malacca.
Even though of large size, the chargers are not thick, dense and leaden. They do not look like puffed-up roti canais or murtabaks.
Are there any other shape of nyonyaware plates besides round and oval?
Please note:
1) The Singapore Peranakan Museum version with the scalloped cartouches is matched with a scalloped rim, while the Baba & Nyonya Heritage Museum version with chamfered rectangular cartouches is matched with a normal plain rim.
2) The pink ground is very particular in that it has subtle hues of salmon-orange and lilac-purple.
3) Birds are portrayed in the cartouches, not insects. As such, I see this design as more related to the the four-seasons flowers series than the chongzhai (insects) series.
If I were asked to make a choice, I would rather be an exotically-plumed bird than the bugs which it devours, regurgitates and feeds to its eager, screeching fledglings which are yet unable to take flight.
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” - George Bernard Shaw.
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Make no mistake there is a plethora of fake Peranakan porcelain and fake Peranakan silver, fake jewellery with puny characterless stones and razor-sharp edges and spikes, fake batik with forged signatures, furniture and even, I heard, fake beadwork using old maneks. Buy at your own risk and listen to whomever you want – a cynic like me or a Pollyanna loudmouth – also at your own risk.
I would like to end with the following quotes from Sotheby's Nicolas Chow, as reported by Roger Schwendeman in his excellent article "Aljazeera – Can you spot a fake antique? China’s forged antiques market is booming!", posted on 28th. November 2015 in the ACF China website (©Roger Schwendeman / New Trade Group Holdings Ltd.):
- “Virtually 99.9 percent of what you see in the art world is wrong”.
- “Most of what we see … I get maybe 20, 30 emails jam-packed with images of porcelain landing in my mailbox, and all of it is fake”.
- Mr Chow goes on to say that many forgeries enter the market through “lower-end” auction houses, and that greed is fuelling the forgery industry – not only on the part of forgers, but also of collectors.
- “Replicas are legal. Trying to pass off a new piece as an antique is fraud” - Roger Schwendeman.
Sellers must have duty of care and obligation of disclosure. Honesty is a virtue far too often missing in business dealings. Full disclosure and transparency are often replaced by incomplete or misleading disclosures, in other words misrepresentations by omission.
Be wary if the seller insists you make up your own mind and come to your own decision while giving you scant if any information or advice when asked for. These are the signs of an irresponsible seller at best and a devious, money-minded, unprincipled and unethical one at worst. Feigning ignorance is not an excuse. It is not fair and reasonable to expect amateur new collectors to prove if an item is fake; the onus should be on the expert to prove that it is authentically antique, perhaps by providing photographs of a similar piece in a reputable museum for comparison. Even so, be careful, for fakes are usually copied from photographs of real antiques and so will look convincing from that angle and that angle only.
Mercenary sellers will often concoct lies, exaggerations and made-up stories. Pieces bought directly from descendants of famous personalities should likewise not be taken as automatically authentic and definitely not fakes, as there is nothing to prevent the descendants from conspiring with syndicates to cheat you into believing something which is not true. In fact, many descendants of the rich and famous do not like going around bawling their wares and selling their family heirlooms for fear of disrespect, shame and loss of face.
Auctioneers should be held even more liable than ordinary sellers to deliver the truth. They sometimes hire other experts to help curate and check the lots on offer. The public relies on the representations of auctioneers in their capacity as experts and so the auctioneers in return have the obligation to exercise the extra care and special skills of experts. The information and articles contained in their sales catalogues and announcements must be truthful, accurate and comprehensive.
Before, buyer protections included restrictions on the conduct of auctions, such as the prohibition of shill bidding. Shill bidding is where bids are placed by people with vested interests in an effort to drive up the price, like the seller himself, other auction participants in the room, bids over the internet via various accounts, telephone bids and absentee bids. You do not know who is actually bidding and the reason for their doing so. Today, buyer protections can include sellers' warranties of title and authenticity, obligations of disclosure and post-auction reporting. These protections form a substantial body of legal rights.
The oft-quoted caveat emptor (buyer beware) is not an excuse for irresponsibility. Shill bidding, misdescription, non-disclosure and misleading disclosure are examples of deception. Negligence and fraud follow not far behind.
The process of creating a copy is not illegal. Sellers can sell copies and fakes if they are truthful about it. Deceptively passing them off as authentic antiques is, however, fraud. [3]. Concealing the truth in order to make money is immoral, unethical, unprincipled, unscrupulous... and sinful.
The modus operandi of fraudsters can be as simple as first fishing for 'likes' and 'compliments', then releasing the fake for sale via auction houses, shops or planted in heritage houses, or via direct sale from the collector, or via middlemen, often accompanied by tall tales.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” - The Holy Bible, Matthew: 7.15.
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill.
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(Please also see my other article - “The 4-letter F word, parts 1 & 2” - at
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References:
[1] Seow, Jeffery. Personal communication. Malaysia: 2021.
[2] Yee Tuan, Wong. “Penang Chinese commerce in the 19th. Century: The rise and fall of the Big Five”, p.202. Singapore: Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2015.
Sincere thanks to Jeffery Seow and Dr. Wong Yee Tuan for their kind help.
[3] Godfrey Barker, “Let the seller beware: beginners and amateurs are owed a duty of care, too”, The Guardian News & Media Ltd. (20th. May 2004).
Jorge Contreras, The Art Auctioneer: Duties and Assumptions, 13 Hastings Comm. & Ent. L.J. 717 (1991).
Acknowledgement: With thanks to generous friends who kindly provided opinions, information and photographs.
Disclaimer: This article reflects my personal, objective, unbiased and impartial opinion, and is in no way meant to be defamatory to anyone or anything. My intention is purely to educate, guide, inform and enlighten. Please pardon my sense of humour.
© Ken Yap 2023