4/4 Treasures of Chinese Porcelain
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 พ.ย. 2013
- • Treasures of Chinese P...
First broadcast: 11 Oct 2011.
In November 2010, a Chinese vase unearthed in a suburban semi in Pinner sold at auction for £43 million - a new record for a Chinese work of art. Why are Chinese vases so famous and so expensive? The answer lies in the European obsession with Chinese porcelain that began in the 16th century.
In this documentary Lars Tharp, the Antiques Roadshow expert and Chinese ceramics specialist, sets out to explore why Chinese porcelain was so valuable then - and still is now. He goes on a journey to parts of China closed to Western eyes until relatively recently. Lars travels to the mountainside from which virtually every single Chinese export vase, plate and cup began life in the 18th century - a mountain known as Mount Gaolin, from whose name we get the word kaolin, or china clay. He sees how the china clay was fused with another substance, mica, that would turn it into porcelain.
Excellent documentary! While the Bainbridge Vase sold for 43-million pounds the buyer refused to pay the auction house fees and in 2013 the vase was sold to another buyer for 25 million pounds/US$35 million. Then in 2018 an identical vase was found. It sold to an unanmed buyer for US$ 19-million.
Wow 😳👏
Lars: Best documentary on the history of Chinese porcelain ever and I thoroughly enjoyed it, more than a few times I have to say. Thank you for making the actual trip
to Jingdezhen and through the Meiling pass while suffering through the heat and humidity of southern China with good humor, you are a truly inspirational host to the
great story on porcelain.
Just wonderful!
This is a great documentary, this is what made the BBC the gold standard in documentaries.
Ordinary people can still collect beautiful china. Decide what you like and look for it on eBay and in antique shops, even thrift stores. Buy what makes you happy. I just bought a Japanese plate showing the pink light of dawn on a snowy field. $18, and it brings tranquility just to look at it.
Love these Brit docs where the adventurous host goes on some Colonial, Kiplingesque, Tarzan-type trek. Fun, entertaining, and educational. Wish more television was like this.
Such a GREAT documentary, no political slur or stereotypes, just pure documentary gold, LOVE IT!!!
Much as i enjoyed watching the rarest collection of chinese porcelain and a free tour to its origin, i also enjoyed Lars, sense of humour...😀😀😀
The British make the best documentaries!
Because you only know English.
This was an excellent video- covered the whole nine yards front to end...who knew? I found bits and pieces of Blue China in the sea off the shore of Nevis, West Indies as a teenager, snorkeling in front of what used to be a plantation. I learned when the slaves revolted, the threw all the China onto the rocks at the shore front. Always wondered why they would do that. Now I understand. China was more valuable than I could comprehend at that age. I totally get it now.
Great story. These are the experiences in life that make it great. Treasure hunting and interesting unexpected funds.
I'll feel a tad nervous walking about in a cramped space like that , carrying a 43 million pound vase.
I was half expecting someone to knock it over for a laugh
Fabulous history lesson and superb porcelain documentary, I have watched this before and never tire of the story of the hardship and artistry and skill involved. Thank you so much for this.
Well presented. Fascinating history of our humble dishes.
the guy was so excited to sell that vase he broke his hammer
Victor HAMMER? It’s called a gavel, just in case you don’t know.
@@chrishoo2 Why the passive agressiveness? I'm sorry I don't know everything about everything.
No it’s a hammer, hence ‘under the hammer’, so Victor you are correct.
Chairman and judges have a gavel.I say this as an auctioneer of 40 years
It's a tradition to break the hammer in record breaking sales
@@chrishoo2 well that was embarrassing. getting schooled nonetheless by a real auctioneer. rofl. good burn milly maggs.
5:37 you can see how much he is sweating and tired with travelling but I think he enjoyed the experience:))
Oh this documentary was superb indeed. I love the blue and whites of the Dutch and Chinese but that yellow number could change one’s mind. Lars it was wonderful following your re enactment of the journey for shipping in such humid conditions.
4 / 4 Christmas Day 2020, Amazing Story, and I had no idea what it took for these items to come to market!
Great Documentary. I learned a bit
. Ill watch this again. Lots of valuable information.
What a wonderful documentary! Thank you for posting it here.
The only thing that I think would have improved it would be if it were posted as one film rather than in 4 parts.
Forty. Three. Million. Pounds. Writing this from my prone position on the floor, looking for my jaw.
Beautiful documentary . Thanks
I recommend Canton provincial museum porcelain section. Hundreds of porcelain all design and made for European consumers, mixture of western and eastern images
This was a brilliant doc - thanks for uploading.
Lars.
Thank you. Thoroughly enjoyed this account of porcelain's journey to the west.
DerekG aka Portobello.
BBC at it's best , Keep on!
wow, love it, so impressive documentary
If that porcelain truly belonged to Emperor Qianlong, then it was stolen from the palace at some point and sold to a buyer. Perhaps from 1900s during the ONE ENTIRE YEAR pillage of the Peking (present time Beijing) (forbidden city included) and neighboring cities by the Eight-Nation Alliance [ forces consisted of approximately 45,000 troops from the eight nations of Germany, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Austria-Hungary.] after they took over Peking driving out the Qing royalties. Many porcelains and valuables we're auctioned after it was stolen from the palace, then shipped overseas to the highest bidders. The gold that was plated on the palace doors were also scrapped off by the soldiers from the Eight-Nation Alliance. It was truly a humiliating time in Chinese history. That's why many Chinese billionaires are buying back those antiques to make up for the humiliation endured during that time in Chinese history.
dui de
Now, that's why I call revenge! Much better than bellyaching about what went wrong in history as some people do. Hen hao!
Yep, that's the way it goes.
Great ending! Thank you!
Fascinating stuff. Thank you for the up load.
Thank you so much for this fascinating documentary. Greatly appreciated.
Beautiful
Fabulous Documentary! TY
Excelente documental!
Thanks for the video!
Una Obra de arte maestra, esta maravillosa producción de la BBC que nos permite recorrer el maravilloso Arte de la porcelana China. ¡¡Congratulations!!
Thank you Lars I just loved this series . I will certainly never look at china the same way again.
Thank you so much, great story
Amazing!!
What I hate about being an artists is that you have to deal with extravagance, great documentary bro.
A great video
Great well researched and entertaining documentary. This is my third viewing.
Ik heb genoten van deze documentaire alleen jammer dat het niet in het nederlans is 👍
Thank you for creating such an insightful look into the world of porcelain... However, I have no idea why the moderator would choose such a hideous piece of pink porcelain to take home. With all he had to choose from I was really shocked he made such a poor selection. AAA+ Video
👍😷👍
Hi , actually he knew exactly what he was buying ! quite smart for a foreigner . The two colors that were imperial china were yellow and in rare occasions pink . The shape of the vase goes back to the song dynasty which is revered in China and even now is worth more than say blue or red . The way to produce transparent pink China is a closed secret and i am guessing it is a natural process used here. The shape of the vase is difficult to pot . Everything about it says class . I cannot judge the transparency or the fineness of the glaze but i expect our English friend knows exactly what he bought !! Smart guy .
Yeah, it appears to be an Ikea special !
omg so inspiring
wow, I wish that my umbrella pot is a sleeper like this!
how causally the guy who handled the 43 million pounds vase! guess that number has not sunk into his head...
He couldn't understand how a vase that had been valued at 800 pounds, had just been sold for 43 million..😏
“The Chinese saw them as humble petitioners to the empire.” Nope, there was a reason why they can only go so far. They couldn’t trust the white man. And the 3 Opium Wars and the secession of Hongkong to England proved that their fears were well founded.
a petition for what? i didnt understand that
Good job no earthquakes
masterclass
It is utterly disgusting to think a family was given 800 pounds for a vase that would be sold for 43 million.
I hope that didn't happen. I hope they got a share. If not, they'd be justified in burning down the auction house.
Emil Sørensen I imagine that sort of thing happens quite often. Most auction houses carry high quality replicas.
Very good documentary. I enjoyed that. 43 million pounds. Crash ! Auctioneer drops it.... jus' kiddin'.
It would come out of his meager paychecks.
wow
5:52 we just gonna ignore this? 😂
I understand the fever. I have the same fever for Wedgewood Fairyland Lustre and high Art Deco. Out of reach price, located halfway round the planet, and calling to me.
I just deslike how all the images on China had a dark yellowish effect on to let things more exotic or even dirty...
Hollywood movies do the same. Good point.
Man, I am so afraid that the guy might drop the plate, 8:40
I did not watch the whole series. Only bits, as I have no much interest in porcelain, lovely though these objects are. But I like history and I feel there is a very significant event this documentary leaves out. Yuanmingyuan. The loot and destruction of the summer palace in 1860 which is one of the biggest crimes against civilisation ever. Anyone saw this in this documentary please point it out.
The Edison lighthouse???
China gave England, silk, porcelain, brocades, etc. and England gave them opium hah!
the pink vase you purchased is modern? because today you can't ship antique porcelain out of China it is against the law, maybe in 2011 it was different?
it's modern today but in 100 years the XYZ Auctions would be calling out: one million! two millions! three millions!...anybody? SOLD! yeah!
Great presentation! Beautiful china and history, however, whoever paid 43 Million pounds is nuts !
The thing must have been bought by a billionaire, and its value might have doubled by now..
Why there are a lot of imperial porcelain found in Indonesia?
How excruciatingly dull life must have been in those days to be lusting over painted dirt bowls! lol haha
خۆزگەم بەو کاتەی کە ماڵەکانمان بەو فەخفوری و توحفیاتانە ئەڕازانەوە ئێستاش هەندێ لەو شتانەم بە دیوارەکانما هەڵواسیوە .
and this day, ppl want chinese cellphones, drones, 5g
This redish pot is about 100 dollar in value
43 million pounds and the guy with the jeans and the scruffy long hair moves out of the way but still collides with the man carrying 43 million lbs of rare porcelain.....omg.
westeners had anamatronics(mechanical dolls).
Yes. But that is a dying art. Hopefully someone revives it like how French type Tapestry is being revived.
这个滤镜我真的是无语了
你给穷人一个碗，不如给他一碗饭，你给富人一碗饭，不如给他一个碗。
Give the poor a bowl of rice and he will be grateful for the rice, give the rich a bowl of rice and he will be grateful for the bowl .
I want my Chinese Vases back !!!!!!!!!!!!!
11:50 Due to the lattice design, raised reliefs of the sea motif and the underglaze colour, it seems more like a contemporary vase produced in the 1980s. I don't think the Ming nor Qing dynasties had any vases of this type w lattice work. I'm certain Chinese art dealers must've been in utter disbelief that a contemporary vase could be resold for £43million...probably why this auction house suddenly came out with another similar copy that they sold for a bit less £18m...
No, it is an 18th century vase. These latticed (reticulated) vases date back at least to the ealy Ming dynasty, possibly earlier.
www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/a-rare-zhejiang-celadon-reticulated-vase-china-5878269-details.aspx
@@SteelDriving Well I certainly wouldn't consider myself an expert on this subject despite studying quite a bit of Chinese art as a hobby, but I would say that that Christie's vase is not Ming dynasty but looks more indicative of the 19th century, however, I would have to examine the seal, but the photo of the seal is not on the site.
The very interesting thing about the first reticulated vase at Barneby's is that the Qinglong seal is enclosed in a double square, which makes it highly suspicious that the seal is apocryphal. The video doesn't show but the reticulated vase encloses another smaller vase inside, and this type of design was not prominent during the Qing era, but in the 1960s-1980s when there was a demand for antiques that were also functional and not for show only. It also has raised reliefs of the sea design and the raised reliefs were not yet produced in the Qing era, but a design that came into prominence after the 1950s.
To my knowledge, the reticulated Barneby's vase was not sold at the auction price of 43m and later it was sold to another collector for half that price, which was sold again for around 19m recently at Sotheby's last year.
It really is a lovely vase that encompasses the ideals of the Qing era with 1950s design aesthetic and 1980s art market, but definitely having it labeled as Qing is ultimately more profitable than simply an apocryphal vase made as an investment to shift around large amounts of capital around the world. ;)
@@PtolemyXVII my friend the seal will not tell u much , seals are only indicative or made in reverence to the period . Seals are only one clue to the puzzle and authenticity of the object .Believe me i have made many mistakes in 50 years of collecting
I AM ... THE COLOR YELLOW.
☆☆☆☆☆ V EVENTS ☆☆☆☆☆
A good way to launder money. Not unlike paintings.
5:03 state sponsored drug deals, just like what's kim doing now
.
Why is the guy fishing in a koi pond, that's really stupid
£43 mi!!ion????
ugly vase
I cannot be too poor to own something I don't want, if it would cost nothing I would not want it, God the logic !
Kirsch Rot the mentality of a peasant you have there.
Right, a lot of people would agree with you on that :D
Qianlong wasn't one for aesthetics, I'd say he was more of a show off.
There's a Qianlong vase in the Palace Museum in Beijing called 瓷母 "Cimu" (the mother of porcelain) and it looks downright "ugly". Yet it's one of the most prized vases in the museum not because of its aesthetics, but how it's a collection of ALL the glaze technique, or something like that.
Aesthetics is not always what is prized, like the documentary has said, sometimes the story behind a vase is more valuable.
Qianlong is just a really well known emperor.
Why aren't you honest and say that the best pieces were stolen from China .
Also you need to explain where the word porcelain comes from and therefore talk about Marco Polo who was the first to introduce porcelain to Europe thanks to trade with arabs and not at all with China . You need to also explain that the word porcelain(not China) is italian in origin, coming from the word porccelino , which means little pig, but in that case is the name of a seashell as the Italians who first saw porcelain thought that it looked and felt like the seashell they call Porccelino di mare , or Little pig from the sea .
You also forget to mention that the blue and white design is not Chinese at all but Arabic as the pigment chinese used was imported from Iran where it had been used for centuries and even the Chinese referred to it as Muhammad Blue . You don't even talk about why Porcelain from Jingdezhen became popular during the Sung dynasty rather than celadon , which was WAY more favored by th Ming's emperors .
You are deliberately forgetting A LOT of facts in your documentary . Making it about England and Europe when actually , Europe was the last market to ever discover porcelain, Arabs (well most of the middle east, and northern Africa) , Indians, Japaneses, Koreans, all knew Chinese porcelain long before Europe discovered it . and if it wasn't for the Italians, the Brits would have never found out about it .
Damn if you are going to make a documentary, do your freaking homework . England or Britain is the smallest market of porcelain and was for centuries, the Chinese couldn't give less of a damn about that small island filled with smelly, filthy savages and barbarians .
It was a British documentary about the British love for Chinese porcelain It didn't need a world historical context. It was clearly a 60 minute documentary about the impact Chinese craftsmanship had on British homes. If you want to share your knowledge with the world why not make your own programme for your own market? But if you do, try not to assume people watching don't already have an understanding of the historic context and global trade of the time. People like to be entertained rather than lectured (or ranted at)
@@LazyDaisyDay88 My own market ? I am British .
I just think that documentaries , especially those based on historical event, should give an honest version of history with at least an attention to giving credit to the origin of things . And, as a Brit , i also believe that history should not be embellished or selectively reported (read : deliberately omitting important parts of it), for the sole sake of entertainment .
You can be entertained and accurately educated at thee same time without feeling like you are being lectured or ranted at .
Very informative, but calm down, man.
@@morganolfursson2560 I agree, well said. That will put him in his place.
@@LazyDaisyDay88 thank you for responding clearly and concisely and politely to an intellectual bully
5:50 I was really enjoying this doc until this moment, when the presenter--completely unneccesarily--uses the phrase 'the ch*nk of china". This is clearly intentional--the slur is well known, & I suppose the presenter & producers believe they're being clever by incorporating the slur into the doc in an 'innocuous' way by referencing other meanings of the word. No reason whatsoever to use the word, & yet here it is. Absolutely disgusting & racist.