The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-21
FIELD FOR ART swINDLERS.
Clever Cheats in Selling Oriental
Ceramics.


Ceramics.
From the New York Evening Post.
The most inviting field to-day perhaps,
for the INSCRIPTIONS business man is in
the trade of Chinese and japanese an
tiques. There is hardly ever the posi-
bility of detection in the frauds perpetrat-
ed. Antiques that were formed by
cunning Celestial twelve months ago are
sold at enormous prices, and no one can
dispute their claim to be antiques because
the date of their manufacture has never
been registered.
To understand how extremely difficult
1t is to come into possession of a verita-
BILE antique, it is necessary to go into the
atelier of the Chinese or japanese artist
In his native country. One hundred years
ago and earlier the japanese and his
neighbor loved art for arts sake as well
as for the profit in 1t. He conceived and
executed vase of beautiful form, and
then he broke the mold. That single vase,
whose creator could easily be told from the
peculiar handiwork, has become valuable
from the fact that IL is the only one of its
kind, and not because IL is more beautifuI
than those of later date Art connols-
seurs agree that the more modern artists
in fact, the artists now living and pro-
ducing-do infinitely finer work than their
forbears did, both in design and work.
manship. The early artists never regis
tered dates Because of this fact, buy
ers of antiques are at the mercy of the
dealer, and he in turn is at the mercy OF
the modern native Japanese and Chinese
artists But his business interests will not
permit him to make this confession.
I'VE absolutely cannot rely upon any
thing that is told US" said a buyer. Il
go to Yokohama, Toxic, Koba, and other
art centers every year. In the first-named
city, about ten years ago, j visited a large
native art store.
''The proprietor, among other things,
showed me stone lantern, on one side
of which was this inscription in Chinese
characters: Presented to Temple i'm MA
l looked the lantern carefully over and it
did look its Us years. l bought it, not
because l believed its story, but because
the price asked was reasonable. Before
parting with 1t the owner told me the
roundabout way by which 1t had fallen
into his hands-a pretty tale, which, of
course, did not believe.
well. i'm the course of my stay l came
across another merchant. AT this par
ticular time l was looking for antiques.
began to deplore the fact that he had moth
ing sufficiently old. The next year / Wis
tied him his store teemed with antiques.
| grew suspicious, and questioned him
sharply, but his self-composure never de-
serted him. / got no satisfaction what
ever from investigating. The natives Qre-
serve their secrets, and traitor AMONG
them in their dealings with foreigners is
unknown. became convinced that they
met our demands for antiques by manu-
featuring them.
II have handled Japanese and Chinese
art goods for twenty-five years. To-day
l cannot tell between a piece made $50
years ago and piece made fifteen months
ago. These people are wonderfully clever
imitators, and know how to give the SEM
blance OF age 20 their wares when II Is
desirable to do so. Not long ago l han
died two pieces OF blue Hawthorne China
ware, one OF which was said to be made
in 1900. while the other was made within
the last five years. In material, weight,
design, workmanship and marks, due, per-