Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. > China & Taiwan
Chinese glass - is it collectable?
mrs vulture:
Hi, is Chinese glass not considered as being very nice for some reason, I'm still new to collecting glass and just buy things I like, although it is always nice to find a piece you like AND its worth something too!!! Cheryl.
glassobsessed:
Much of the Chinese glass that has arrived over here in recent years has been mass produced cheaply, is of fairly low quality and tends to lack originality. If you like something and it looks good to you, then that is all that matters as far as I am concerned. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I would guess that some Chinese glass makers will adapt and start to produce work of higher quality in the future (there are some already) and hopefully they will produce glass that is influenced by there own culture rather than copying once successful designs from Europe and elsewhere.
John.
mrs vulture:
Thanks for your reply John, it makes a lot of sense what you are saying, Instead of just jumping on the bandwagon copying others they ought to be able to produce something new. Cheers Cheryl
Paul S.:
trouble is Cheryl, there is nothing new under the sun, its all been done. Glass has been around for the past four and a half thousand years since its beginning in Mesopotamia - occasionally it gets refined a little or the colour changes, but basically there is almost nothing new that we can make (not in the arts at any rate). Perhaps this is why some people turn to dead sharks or urinals (just go to the Tate Modern any day to see what passes for art). John's comment re the Chinese material (in recent times) lacking in originality, can be applied equally to the Victorians in Europe in general - they were probably the greatest copyists of all (hence the rise of outfits like William Morris and the pre-Raphaelites who wanted to get away from rigid copying of former centuries). Tastes change - we want something new - hey presto we create art glass (back to conceptual art of sharks and urinals again, because we can't think of anything new to make).
What has wrecked the quality Chinese glass has been commercialism - our fault not theirs - we want cheap goods - they can produce them. If you look at Chinese glass prior to the C20, some of it is truly mind blowing - makes the Dilly Ducks look positively boring. In fact, if you think of Chinese inventions i.e. paper - gunpowder - porcelain, then I don't think that we cud really accuse the Chinese of being un-original - at least not for most of their existence.
But as we have said, just buy what you like and enjoy it. My problem is that my pockets aren't deep enough to buy what I like! Paul S.
Anne:
Cheryl, not all Chinese glass is bandwagon-stuff... you might like to see these: http://www.liuli.com/E_index01.htm and Max's piece of Liuli glass here:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-2112 and another top glassmaker here: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/22/content_402327.htm
You might also find our Chinese board of interest as it shows both the bandwagon stuff and the better stuff: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/board,26.0.html - enjoy! 8)
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