Collector Bookstore Notes:

A comprehensive layman's reference, with color photos of furniture & accessories, covering readily available reasonably priced items. Helps distinguish between real antiques and modern reproductions.

Publishers Description:

A new kind of antique Chinese furniture swept into the market in the early 1990s. It was Chinese furniture for people who were sure they did not like Chinese furniture, for people who were ready for new ideas about Orientalia, for people who couldn't afford the five and six figure prices routinely attached to classical Chinese pieces. This new variety has struck a surprisingly sympathetic chord with Western design, and the prices are still surprisingly low. It comes from 18th and 19th century China, the last days of the last emperors, and expresses a sense of creative freedom, vigor, and visual elegance not normally associated with Chinese furniture.

This book is the first to offer a comprehensive and compelling look at this new genre from the consumer's point of view. Hundreds of color images of the furniture and accessories, some shown in room settings, some with great detail, bring the beautiful designs to life. A guide to prices one can expect to pay, makes it a useful tool for collectors and dealers alike.

Because of a changing political and economic landscape in China, this late-Qing furniture has flooded Western markets, giving retail customers equal footing with collectors and keeping prices reasonable, for now.

But the quality covers a wide range, and it takes an informed buyer to navigate between the real and the not-quite-so-real. The information in this book will give the collector the bearings they need to make the right decisions.

380 color photos