Saturday, January 31, 2015

Vitage suibans and flowerpots in China



During my trip to China last year, I visited a couple of antique shops. They were located in touristy places so the prices were probably a little higher, but in China one can haggle even in the government owned shops. Their merchandise was mostly vintage rather than antique. Below are images of a few porcelain suibans I saw in one of the shops. This kind of container is traditionally used in China to grow flower bulbs. To me, the two in the top row looked somewhat unusual. The one marked with a single asterisk was fan-shaped with a price tag of about AU$618. The one marked with a double asterisk was only AU$309.

Below is another interesting porcelain suiban which was on sale for AU$740.

This trip also made me aware of the traditional Chinese flowerpots. Some of them were as exquisite and elegant as the one shown in the image ‘A’ below. Image ‘B’ shows a celadon pot with a hefty price tag of AU$1030. Image ‘C’ shows another flowerpot selling for AU$740. 

Quite expensive considering these ceramics are only 50-100 years old.

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