FAKE 19C CHINESE EMBROIDERIES/EMBROIDERED ANTIQUES

FAKE 19th C CHINESE EMBROIDERED ANTIQUES
(with 2008 updates)
By Nicole la Bay
\
You will find Nicole La Bay Chinese Antiques here:

After 6 years on okay and being a collector of antique Chinese embroideries myself, I've seen SEVERAL WAVES of FAKES!And from fairly primitive, they've begee very sophisticated.
This little guide should help you spot a few blatant tricks.
First, 19th Century may only mean the style, so always look in the items specifics window just above the listings, to check the date. If it says 1940, chances are the item was done in the past year!
Fakes can be:
1. Recent reproductions.
2. 1930s reproductions.
3. New items made with 19th C fabrics.
Items reproduced are so far: Robes, Rank badges, Bound feet shoes, Small purses, Vestsand Hats.
1. ROBES
19th century silks are ALL fraying, and have many other blemishes, including age spots, so all silk robes that look fresh are new by definition.There arenow excellent reproductions of embroidered Court robes that can be bought for $150 or so, and at that price are honestly an excellent bargain, as long as you know what they are.
2. RANK BADGES
Massively reproduced in Chinaafter WWII, mostly fromthe 70son, and now sold in the $0.98 range! They can beembroidered in regular satin stitch, couched metallic, or forbidden stitch, and are very well made.
2008 update: A new way of embroidering rank badges has appeared very recently. It seems the Miao minority is now embroidering them. These badges definitely have a Miao style! I've also seen a fake Korean badge embroidered in the same "Miao" manner. This would make sense, as Miao labour is probably cheaper, and recruitment of Chinese specialistsis probably getting more and more difficult.
VERY IMPORTANT!
BEWARE that in the 30s, and this is something that is very little known, China exportedfake rank badges to the US and the UK invarious shapes.
I'veobserved them very carefully: oftendone on thick black cotton,they have very simplifiedbirds andGreek borders. Theyuse a fairly "wooly" satin stitch, birds are red, cream sometimes, and all the same (the flycatcher).
Couched metallic badges exist with exactly the same birds, (or the goose.)
Theygee insquares and small roundels.
2 badges attached together which are absolutely identical (and not one split front badge and one back badge) are 30s reproductions. These pairs weresold as runners, as purses, or as trays.
Linings are often traditional thin teal silk.
These badges areantiques in their own right, and really look old for many of them,but they're not the original 19th Century badges.
Tip: Couched metallic threads in fakes are low quality, and age FASTER than 19th Century ones, so if you see the metallic part flaking, orvery tarnished,this isn't too good.
Back: Also, always try to have a look at the backing of the badge. The silk there should have aged with the piece, if it has survived, since it's extremely thin. ItshouldNEVER be fresh.
3. BOUND FEET SHOES
Thedarkest spot. At any time on okay there are abouthalf a dozenpairs of genuine shoes including items in stores, AT MOST. All the rest is fake!
Oldsilk shoes are nearly all in BAD shape.Or it's miraculous. Only thecottonones fare better. If the silk shoes look fresh, this means they've beenoverly restored, (meaning there is re-stitchingin the frayed areas) orthey're made with old fabrics that have been cut out.
Though fake shoes are all made in China, there areSTILL genuine bound feet shoes sold on okay Chinese sites, for whoever can recognize them! They're very costly and are alasmostly sold nextto fakes.
The most recent bound feet shoes fakes are ADMIRABLE in my opinionBut they're fakes. Meaning they have no value! So just purchase them for the beauty of the handicrafts.
Fakers want their shoes to look really appealing, and this is exactly where they're caught! Their productlooks too good to be true.
2008 update: Also, I noticed, in many cases, though everything looks good, there is something in the overall balance of the shoe, the ratio between length and heel height, which isgepletely awkward. Even with bound feet, noone could have walked with them!
Recently alas, I've seen a few of theseChinese fakes re-sold in the US, by buyers who had purchased them and found out about them.. So be aware that the fact they're from the US isn't a guarantee any more.
2008 update: RESTORATION:
I've seen heavily restorated lotus shoes on a Paris flea market recently. The shell was authentic, but different parts had been replaced.
Years ago, I had bought a pair of shoes from China also heavily restored (maybe 70%!)
In both cases, some of the cotton fabric used was from the 1960s. I'm not kidding.
My opinion is that it is better to buy shoes that look a bit dilapidated than shoes that are too refurbished.
There are no acceptable norms for restoration for this type ofantiques yet. Inevitably some work will need to be done on these shoes, like re-attaching the couched threads, etc. Beforethis begees clearer, I would suggest keeping the shoes as they are, with their loose threads, and just preserving them, like all antique silks, away from light.
4. SMALL PURSES
Fake purses appeared in the past year.Made with cut out pieces of embroidery, or freshly embroidered today by the Miao minority. Fading, age stains and particularly VERY damaged borders should tell you if the item is genuine.
5. VESTS
Court robes exporters alsocarry new "Xia Pei" vests. Same thing, very well done, and very affordable.
I also saw more simple vests with cut outs of old Miao embroideries in a store located in Belgium, so beware.
6. HATS
I've seen new hats embroidered by the Miao in the same store, (which only carries (delightful, I must say) reproductions, so this shows what a full bloom cottage industry this has begee).
2008 update: In this guide written in 2006 I was saying: "So, so far, one can say that all 19th Century Chinese hats on okay are good.." Well, of course the grace period is over. So caution here too.
Nicole La Bay

You will find Nicole La Bay Chinese Antiques here:


(c) Nicole La Bay 2006-2008