Just two hours after opening, many exhibitors at Art Antiques London had already made sales. Collectors at Art Antiques London were sure of the authenticity of the pieces on display because of the rigorous vetting process.
“We don’t have to convince them,” says exhibitor Fusa Kikue Shimizu, referring to the buyers. Shimizu runs J.A.N Fine Art, which specialises in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and South East Asian works of art, and primarily has international clients. “Only when I left Japan, I realised how important the Orient is,” she recalls, looking back to when she first started dealing.
Many of the objects on display are museum-worthy pieces, including the Japanese screens from Erik Thomsen Asian Art. It takes a process of many months to make a Japanese screen. The colours are often made of a unique blend of minerals including sea-shell powder for white, and malachite for green.
“Forty per cent of our screens are bought by museums, around 30 per cent by screen collectors, and the rest for decoration in their home,” says Thomsen. Some of his collection is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
“New York is just like London, it’s a focal point for people to come; we see a lot of international clientele,” explains Thomsen. However, he also recently met some clients in London who do not travel to New York.
Since the fair incorporates the International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, which is now in its 32nd year, many extremely rare pieces of porcelain can be found throughout the fair.
Exhibitor and fair organiser Brian Haughton has several objects of porcelain from the German manufacturer Meissen on exhibit. He sold five of them in the first few hours of the fair opening.
The 16th Century Meissen pieces are particularly charming, with decorations copied from the Far East. At that time, the excitement of China was moving over to the West.
“In those days, porcelain was more valuable than gold, because they were given as diplomatic presents to other royals.” says Haughton, looking at a 16th Century teapot adorned with golden oriental decorations. “They wanted to be just as grand as the Chinese Emperor.”
Today, Chinese collectors are as keen as ever to invest in art and antiques. “Chinese collectors aren’t only just buying Chinese works of art, they are now deciding that they want to know about other areas in the West, and they are actually buying English porcelain and great paintings. It is a good way to invest because there are less and less of these items, fewer of them are left each year.
“They are always the first in the door. China is a huge market for us,” Haughton says.
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