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Collector of Ming and Ching Imperial Porcelain
Andrew Yu
(Chief Consultant of TREASURE-AUCTION.COM)
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Enjoys discovery|Experience of collecting|Antiques and Investment
Expertise in Ming and Qing Porcelain Ware
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The enjoyment of discovery
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Mr Andrew Yu, the chief evaluation consultant, is a well-known antique collector, as well as being an expert antique evaluator. He has practised as an evaluator for ten years and more, becoming involved through his deep interest in antiques, but the story really begins with his father.
"My father was also an antique collector, he loved calligraphy, porcelain ware and such like objects and was deeply versed in the arts. My home background has been a significant factor in my love for antiques and objets d'art."
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Andrew Yu's family was far from wealthy at the time, but he had already developed an appreciation and love of antiques, so that when he graduated from Zhong Shan University in 1964, he started research work on Ming and Qing porcelain wares at the Beijing Palace Museum in 1965. When life pressures brought him to Hong Kong from Canton, he abandoned his career as an evaluator of antiques and studied to become a hair designer. He maintains that art is all about beauty;
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in hairdressing just as much as antique evaluation. He goes on to say that in reality art is without boundaries, it stems from the world of the senses.
Perhaps it was his research into evaluating antiques which developed in him an indomitable spirit, and so when it came to studying hair design he didn't think twice about travelling to the U.K. and France to study with great designers such as Vidal Sassoon and Alexandre. On his return to Hong Kong in the late sixties he set up the salon 'Seville', a first of its kind, which was awarded several prizes in many major hair design competitions, and for several years in a row was the official hair designer for the Miss Hong Kong competition.
While developing his skills as a hair designer, at the same time Andrew's interest in antiques had not waned; on the contrary his interest in collecting was even greater and his collection was growing. "While studying hair design in the U.K" he says,"I came across some major auction houses for the first time. At that time buying and selling art objects was the domain of Westerners. At that time while I was in the U.K., I discovered that the auctioning of Chinese export porcelain ware was more expensive than Guan ware, and that they reckoned that the overseas upper-classes were not able to evaluate accurately which is not the case actually. As a result there was a lot of very beautiful Guan ware flooding the market back then which were sold for far less than export porcelain."Andrew points out further that the sixties and seventies was the golden age for antique collectors, not only Europe but also Hollywood Road in Hong Kong was full of priceless beautiful artifacts which were there for the taking depending on one's eye and scholarship. As for Guan ware, they fetch a price that is several hundred times more than export porcelain nowadays.
Towards the end of the eighties Andrew while still working as a hair fashion designer continued apace with his first passion, getting together with some friends, he set up the first Chinese auction house for objets d'art.
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The experience of collecting
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One of the pleasures derived from collecting is antiques tracking down and excitement of discovery, and he has some good stories to tell about his experiences collecting.
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One of the pleasures derived from collecting is antiques tracking down and excitement of discovery, and he has some good stories to tell about his experiences collecting. Once Andrew was visiting a doctor, when he saw a Qing-Yong Zheng era double-ringed, rouge-red figurine vase which he liked very much and wanted to buy. As this red vase is rare, and it being the first time Andrew had come across one, he wanted to buy it. After careful examination, he decided to purchase it,
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Andrew's Qing dynasty Yong Zheng Ruby Red Vase |
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confident that it was genuine. The doctor however set an unusual condition for selling it, which was for Andrew to purchase all the antiques in the house in exchange for cash, the asking price for the vase being quite low. This Andrew found a bit disconcerting but did in the event trust his own judgment, going ahead and buying all the china to obtain this vase. At a later date Andrew invited a well-known international antique evaluation expert to assess this precious vase, this expert dismissed it out of hand as being a fake, although he had never previously seen a similar red vase. Andrew was naturally disappointed, but never wavered in trusting his own judgement. Sometime in the 1980's his teacher, chief curator of the Palace museum, happened to be visiting Hong Kong. Andrew took this same red vase for him to evaluate. Mr Geng was astonished to find that they were genuine, being so convinced of this that he lent his signature as proof. At a later date the same antiques expert as before visited Andrew to look at this red vase again, and agreed abashed that it was indeed extremely rare objets d'art. Andrew had not only proved himself right, the value of the vase also rose considerably.
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 Qing - Yong Zheng enamel glazed hexagonal Gu |
Another unforgettable story was the time back in the 1980𠏋 when Andrew saw in an auction catalogue a three-in-one item including a flower vase and incense burner, which the auction house had evaluated as being Qing; the three-in-one set was going for �1,500 to �2,000, which was a very low asking price. Andrew took note and without further ado bought it because he recognised that these were Qing-Yong Zheng enamel glazed hexagonal Gu (wine vessel) come incense burner. The value of a Gu far exceeded the asking price. Later on in 1995 the same auction house was auctioning a similar hexagonal Gu with the asking price estimated at HK$4,000,000. Today a similar three-in-one objets d'art would generally be valued at more than HK$20,000,000.
These are stories for only two of the many pieces Andrew has in his collection. Tracking pieces down may on the surface appear
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easy, but in reality Andrew's success is due to years of experience with antiques,"to have one's judgment proven right is better than betting on the horses or winning the lottery" he goes on to say. This is Andrew's greatest joy collecting antiques.
It is worth noting also that at the time Andrew had recourse only to black and white catalogues current at the time to make his decisions, this lent an impetus to setting up an electronic auction web page with friends. One of the advantages of setting up auctions on the net is that it is possible from colour photographs to view the shape and materials of the item on display clearly from a variety of angles. One is also better able to gauge the going prices making auctioning even more transparent. On a cautionary note Andrew insists, however, that if bidding on the net, care should be given to examine a company's background and reputation in order to avoid fakes and ensure genuine purchases.
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Antiques as an Investment
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As well as being involved in auctions, directing net auctioning, and being chief consultant of the collectors evaluating group, Andrew has acted as antique investment consultant to company funds and private collectors alike, systematically evaluating and purchasing for the client. He maintains quite categorically that antiques are a good investment. A recent example is that of a Qing-Yong Zheng enamel wine cup which was worth HK$4,000,000 at the beginning of the nineties, but which now has increased in
|  A Qing - Yong Zheng enamel glazed cup depicting the poem "Moon on the green bamboo" |
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value to HK$17,000,000; a very definite increase in value. As mainland Chinese are becoming richer they increasingly want to buy back Chinese antiques and objets d'art, and Andrew predicts that the value of Chinese antiques will increase dramatically in the next ten years.
Andrew explains further that investing in antiques should not be difficult, as long as some basic guidelines and principles are followed:
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(1) Degree of rareness: Every period has its speciality pieces, such as the Sancai current in the Tang Dynasty, the pottery of the Han Dynasty, the porcelain of the Ming and Qing. One should understand which are the typical examples of a certain period when collecting antiques.
(2) Differentiating between genuine and fake: This depends on experience, scholarship and eye, and when one falls short in any of these areas then it is judicious to ask the advice of an expert. An expert is able to tailor investment, catering to individual antique investment needs, just as one would refer to an expert for share investment advice.
(3) A system for recognising special qualities: The artifacts from each era can be categorised according to special qualities, the Ming dynasty have theirs, the Qing dynasty have theirs, and familiarising with these systems make it easier to gauge the true value of these objects.
(4) A sense of timing: To be in the forefront in realising the qualities and value of artifacts will bring good investment returns. At present, for example, the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming artifacts are not particularly highly valued, but if one is able to select and purchase rare and precious items, then prospects are exceedingly good.
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In-depth knowledge of Ming and Qing Porcelain
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Andrew himself has a predilection for Ming and Qing porcelain ware, which is why he elected to specialise in these areas when studying at the Palace Museum. Andrew explains his personal strong liking for Ming and Qing wares because during the reigns of Kang Xi, Yong Zheng, and Qian Long, research into improved production methods such as glaze color, porcelain matrix, duration of heating, and scripting reached its zenith, outstripping previous periods by far. Although blue and white porcelain was produced during the Sung and Yuan dynasties, the results at the time were not of a high quality, however with constant improvement during the Ming dynasty, it came more into its own during the Qing
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dynasty. It is very easy to distinguish between copies and genuine articles of this period. China wares already flourished during the reigns of Xuan De, Yong Le, Cheng Hua of the Ming dynasty, but reached a zenith under the reigns of Kang Xi, Yong Zheng and Qian Long, Andrew is at pains however to emphasise that only during times of national stability when people are at peace is art able to flourish fully.
Of the many items collected by Andrew, his favourites are three-dimensional vases and cups. He explains that he enjoys collecting wine cups due to their rarity and collector value. This due to the fact that when the emperor had a banquet a place would be laid per table with large, medium, and small sized plates and bowls however it was different for the wine cup of which only one was laid per table. Andrew emphasizes however that everybody has different interests, likes and dislikes, and so cups, plates, bowls and vases all have their value, which make it impossible to generalise.
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Enjoys discovery|Experience of collecting|Antiques and Investment
Expertise in Ming and Qing Porcelain Ware
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