Chinese Porcelain Plaques, ca. 1930
Watch
GUEST:
These are four Chinese ceramic panels representing the four seasons. My wife's parents bought these from an antique art dealer in Pasadena, California, probably in the early 1960s. They came with some documentation which indicated that they were from a period of the last Chinese dynasty, and ended up in England sometime in the early 1700s, they think.
APPRAISER:
Okay. They have terrific decorative value, and they represent the four seasons. The winter season here. Autumn.
GUEST:
Autumn.
APPRAISER:
Spring. And over here is summer. And it's a very subtle, very understated scene in each of these panels. Very serene, very peaceful, very beautiful. These are actually panels that date from the 1930s.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
These are not Kangxi period panels, nor are they even from the Qing dynasty. This is from what we call the Republic Period in Chinese history.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And I know that based on a couple of different features in the porcelain, one of which is the design. It's very distinctive Republic-style porcelain decoration.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Following on that, then, what clues do we have to pin down a time and a place and a maker, and that's in these marks, as you suspected. This really reveals the true origin of these panels. These marks are all different, are they not?
GUEST:
Yes, they are.
APPRAISER:
They are, but they say the same thing. In a couple of different ways, these indicate the painter of each of these panels. And the gentleman's name was Wang Yeting, and Wang Yeting was a celebrated porcelain painter and designer in his own day, and today as well, he is regarded as one of the finer decorators of this style from the Republic period in Chinese history. Have you had any indication or any suggestion of their value?
GUEST:
My wife's parents purchased the four panels for $400.
APPRAISER:
$400, okay.
GUEST:
In 1960-ish, early '60s-ish. My wife and I had these appraised around 1990 at $3,200.
APPRAISER:
The market has changed since 1990. There's a good market for these currently. The Chinese decorative art market, as you may know already, is a very robust market right now, and it's being driven in large part by Chinese buyers, the Chinese economy, the prosperity in China. These four plaques together, if they were to come up for auction, I think a reasonable estimate range would be $15,000 to $25,000.
GUEST:
Okay, that's very nice.
APPRAISER:
If this entire collection, if these porcelain panels did indeed date from the Kangxi period...
GUEST:
And what date range would that be?
APPRAISER:
That would be the late 17th, coming into the very early 18th century. You mentioned this was the Qing dynasty. This was early Qing dynasty, Kangxi. If these were from that period, the value would certainly be in the hundreds of thousands. But as I said, they didn't quite exist, not in this form, not of this type. But if it were just that old, I think the value would be considerably more.
GUEST:
Well, that's interesting.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
