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I am interested in possibly purchasing this jade horse sculpture. The dealer (on the grounds of the Forbidden City) tells me that it is from the Qing Dynasty and offers a certificate of authenticity from the Chinese government. It is about 12 to 14 inches high and 14 to 18 inches long weighing at least 30 or 40 pounds.

Can someone please advise? Although I really like the piece, I'd hate to be fooled into buying something fake; but how can I be sure? Also, how much should I expect to pay for it?

Thanks very much in advance.

nice carving, but definitely not jade, and therefore one questions the certificate and age of the horse, right?

Ernest

Thank you very much for all of your very prompt and timely replies. I had purchased the item for 30,000 RMB under the condition that I can cancel the transaction prior to shipment to the US. Hopefully, I will not experience any problems in cancelling the purchase.

I'm so glad I found this site and I've learned a good lesson that I will pass on to others as goodwill.

Cheers,

Sincerely wish you good luck in obtaining refund and stopping shipment. Would you be kind enough to post your experience here whether good or not?

Thank you.

Culturally wrong for anything but modern. This style of caparisoned Tang horse standing four square on a plate base is a funerary image, copied straight from the ceramic originals found and made for tombs. I would doubt anyone in pre-modern China would want one in their home (Which still accounts for why tomb figures in general are not collected by Chinese still - it is non-chinese who fuel the market). There is no way this is QIng in dating.


Anthony M. Lee
Asian Art Research

Interesting unforeseen beneficial by-product of new spam vet policy. There are 4 replies to this post, all are obviously independent, not having seen the others due to vetting delay, I believe.

Therefore none was influenced by any other.

Forbidden City eh? Appears like spinach jade, for this size, anything under US 50,000.00 at that venue is likely new. Government certificate most likely says ok to export.

Sorry I'm skeptical, perhaps a little over-statement. But anything early Qing of that size under price I said will be bought by local collectors or museums. Unless you are very knowledgeable about the Chinese antique you are looking for, best to not try and find an antique bargain in Beijing. There are tens of thousands of local collectors seeking the same every day.

Buy for comfortable decorative and momento value, you will be happy when you look at it later.

Thanks again everyone... Everything turned out fine; transaction cancelled and lessons learnt.

D.W.

That shop is an absolute menace and it is a sad indictment on the Chinese Government that it issues certificates of authenticity on new fakes.

I recently was shown one of this shop's certificates on an allegedly Qianlong mark and period vase, complete with a written provenance that it came from an old English (or European) collection. Both the vase and the provenance were fake.

Best advice is don't buy antiques from China.

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