Most of our older furniture originates from long-standing family homes in the towns and villages of the Chinese provinces. Our local Chinese contacts obtain any unwanted furniture and articles of historical interest by going from home to home and village to village asking to buy any older unwanted items. These old pieces are sent back to the carpenter’s workshop in Beijing and with their years of experience and attention to detail are brought back to life with traditional craftsmanship and materials, and still retain all the character, charm and historical markings of bygone years. Some pieces can be as old as 150yrs or more and we date each piece as accurately as we can. Most furniture pieces are classed as ‘restored’ antique, which means we can import some of the older pieces. We offer these beautiful items of furniture to you at face value, for their pure elegance and visual appeal rather than for their antique value. It is still intriguing to know most items have a history and have been lovingly owned in long established family homes from the past. Some from as far back as 200yrs, well into the last Empire, Qing Dynasty which collapsed in 1912.
On occasion, we may offer some genuine antiques in their original state (unrestored) if we find them in exceptional condition. These can be anything up to 150yrs, again from the Qing Dynasty, through the Chinese Revolution of 1911 (The Xinhai Revolution) and through the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949 right through to the modern day. To imagine that some of these gorgeous unique items have existed and even survived through all that modern history is just astonishing, given that most things of value had been destroyed by the communist regime.
We will also be stocking a few nice replica pieces of furniture which are newly made in the old Chinese style, which are each handmade in solid wood to a very high standard of workmanship from our good friend Mr Li who has his own family run carpentry business on the outskirts of Beijing. His work is exceptional. All his furniture is made by using Chinese old traditional mortise and tenon carpentry. There are no nails or screws used to join these pieces of furniture.
To enhance and beautify your furniture we have the pleasure in offering some beautiful brass and bronze sculptures from well-known Chinese Artists along with some paintings, pictures, statues, Chinese traditional tassels and other homeware in the Chinese traditional style.
