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Not what she claims to be!

2012.91.125, fake Tang dynasty figurine
Eason Eige collection; photo by B. Bernard

The lady shown above is supposed to be from the Tang dynasty, but we're dubious. She may be old, but not that old. The damaged paint and traces of dirt most likely occurred when she was buried in the ground, briefly, to add an authentic-seeming touch.

Whenever something is valued, someone will create and sell counterfeit versions to the unsuspecting. The goal of this page is to warn you that if you collect ancient Chinese ceramics but aren't an expert, you should be prepared to be cheated on a regular basis. Besides, careless collecting can encourage illegal looting of ancient sites. The best (and easiest) way out of these dilemmas is to enjoy antiquities at museums, instead of trying to create a collection of your own.

If the museum thinks that this lady is a fake, why did we add her to the collection? As part of the University of New Mexico, the Maxwell Museum trains students in archaeology and museum studies. It's helpful to students to be able to compare fake antiquities to real ones, so they can learn the difference.

How common are fakes? According to an article by Maris Gillette, "Eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in Jingdezhen between 2003 and 2006 revealed that copying and counterfeiting dominated porcelain production."

By clicking on the photos that follow, you will see more items that we think are fakes. In a sense they're genuine—they were made in China—they're just not all they're supposed to be. When such pieces were made, possibly generations ago, they may even have been sold honestly, as replicas or pieces that paid homage to earlier artistic traditions. But inevitably such pieces are bought on the assumption that they're much older than they are.

Click on a Photo to Continue

Reference

Gillette, Maris, 2010, Copying, Counterfeiting, and Capitalism in Contemporary China: Jingdezhen's Porcelain Industry. Modern China Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 367–403.