Page 24 - Dr Yip April 2017 Poprtable Treasures

doucai stem cup [“stem cup with designs painted in contrasting
colours”], then that single cup surpasses all those hundreds of
pieces!” It so happened that renowned Hong Kong ceramics
collector and Min Chiu Society member Ge Shiqiao was sitting
next to Yip at the time, so Yip turned casually to Ge and asked
whether he owned one of the cups. He said no. Was I mortified!
Thank goodness he is an incredibly generous man, or else he
might have thought I was singling him out on purpose! But this
conversation also revealed the collection climate at the time. Even
the top collectors were still in search of the higher quality pieces.
This led Yip to decide that it was unlikely he would be successful
on his current path of collection. “I felt like my efforts at collecting passionate about life, about art, and at the same time, have a deep
calligraphy, paintings and ceramics were pretty dismal. I didn’t have
anything particularly noteworthy, and so I turned to Ming furniture.”
This change led to the historic opportunity that lay awaiting him,
not too far ahead.
The biggest difference between contemporary collectors and
the generation that came before them is the difference in time – the
former has had their time compressed. In this short period, their
ideas toward collecting have yet to mature.
Capturing Opportunity at the Turn of an Era
“I started purchasing Ming furniture just as it approached
its Golden Age,” says Yip. This corroborates the words of Ming
Furniture author and renowned collector Wang Shixiang. In
describing his own collection of Ming furniture, Wang has called
it a fluke opportunity that presented itself in the early days of an
era. Around the 1960s, he says, a lot of furniture was gathered
at a place called Luban Guan in Beijing, being separated into
pieces and sold. He grew anxious as he watched the situation,
and started visiting every day and purchasing many pieces at the
price of the wood. Yip’s own story of Ming furniture collection is
also one of fortune and chance. “In the 1980s and early 1990s,
antique dealers of Hong Kong were active in buying antiques from
all over the world. At the time, there was great number and variety
of Ming furniture on the market, and the prices were modest. Hong
Kong was then the global trading hub for huanghuali furniture,
and before these pieces could drift off to far corners of the world, I
stepped in and swiped them up.”
In the eyes of Wang’s disciple Tian Jiaqing, three components
determine one’s success in collecting: ability, vision, and
opportunity. This so-called opportunity, to him, is a mix of chance
and fate, both of which aligned for Yip’s collection of Ming
furniture. In the early days of his collecting career, Wang’s book
Classical Chinese Furniture (Joint Publishing HK, 1985) had just
been published, and the public was only getting acquainted with
Ming furniture, with few true connoisseurs. This coincided with
the Reform and Opening Up on the mainland, and many good
pieces were coming on the market. This was a once-in-a-lifetime
golden age. Seizing the opportunity, Yip acquired many pieces of
huanghuali furniture over a short period of time. The late 1980s
saw a growing wave of global interest in Chinese antique furniture,
and seemingly overnight, countless collectors and connoisseurs
sprung out of nowhere, including domestic and international
cultural foundations. Supply quickly grew scarce, prices skyrocketed,
and imitations began pouring in. It was impossible for collectors to
be sufficiently cautious, and collecting grew increasingly difficult.
By the late1990s, the supply of Ming furniture was virtually non-
existent. Collectors were held at the whims of fate. Even today, it is
a rarity to encounter even a single piece of decent Ming furniture
on the market.
“After acquiring a collection of precious Ming furniture,
beginning in 1988, Yip gradually developed a deep interest in the
study of furniture. Like an amateur actor in a Beijing opera who
is eager to take a turn on the stage, he paid meticulous attention
to the union of theory and practice, often making special trips to
Beijing and having me accompany him on visits to the old address
of the former Luban Guan, and sought the knowledge of the old
guards still shepherding their posts, including Zu Lianpeng and
Wang Gengxiang, asking them questions about manufacturing and
craftsmanship, as well as technical knowledge. In some aspects, he
was already considerably knowledgeable”. Tian Jiaqing continues,
“People often mentioned him in the same breath as another collector,
Dr Ye Yi. These two doctors have a lot in common: both have
received superb Western educations, both are renowned physicians;
both are cultured collectors and appraisers with taste; both are
understanding and grasp of traditional Chinese culture and art”.
The experience of collecting ceramics and jade also
contributed to Yip’s understanding of a collector’s standards. A
consistent standard of “genuine and authentic pieces only; no
defective pieces” shaped Dr S.Y. Yip’s furniture collection. He says,
“My starting point is to strive for pieces that are in top condition.
One cannot be called a true collector until one is in possession of
a complete set of Ming dynasty tables, chairs, beds, and stools.
Earlier I had gone to Europe to see an elderly man’s collection. It
was nice, but the bed was missing. By way of explanation, he said
his house wasn’t big enough, and his wife wouldn’t permit him to
buy a bed. I thought this was funny. If space was the problem, he
could put it in storage. Wang Shixiang’s home was piled full with
furniture, so husband and wife slept in a Ming cabinet. Now that’s
a true collector”, Yip said, laughing.
Help from the “Queen of Huanghuali”
The fact of Yip’s thrilling collection is in part owing to the help
of another Ming dynasty furniture connoisseur. Nicknamed the
“Queen of Huanghuali”, Grace Wu Bruce is the renowned Hong
Kong furniture expert based in Hong Kong. Her eponymous gallery
in Central District is a must-visit for museum experts and collectors,
with Wang Shixiang giving it the Chinese name Jiamutang ( 嘉木堂
), meaning “hall of auspicious wood”. Today, this oasis of antiques
has become a symbol of Hong Kong furniture dealing, with the
number of Ming furniture deals in the past few years too numerous
to count. Naturally, Wu Bruce has served as a major source for
world-class furniture collectors. Many pieces from the world’s
two greatest private collections of Ming furniture—Yip’s Gong Yu
Shan Fang and Belgian Philippe De Backer’s Lu Ming Shi—have
come from her inventory. Gong Yu Shan Fang alone owes 90%
of its purchases from Grace Wu Bruce. Wu Bruce has also been
instrumental in helping Yip hold three Ming furniture exhibitions at
the Chinese University of Hong Kong since 1991, as well as a total
of over 20 worldwide exhibitions, in Singapore and Taiwan in Asia,
in the U.S., U.K. and Berlin, at city and national museums. Her role
in expanding the knowledge and appreciation of Ming furniture has
been far reaching.
In 1987, Grace Wu Bruce purchased a Ming huanghuali
clothes rack, which she sold to Yip three years later. In 2002, Yip,
in the midst of reorganizing his collection, auctioned a portion of
his Ming furniture with Christie’s of New York, and this huanghuali
clothes rack was successfully repurchased by Grace Wu Bruce. But
Yip couldn’t stop thinking about it, and repurchased it once again
from Grace Wu Bruce. This whole back and forth commotion of
buying and selling – and all between just two people! Grace Wu
Bruce remarks, “The biggest difference between contemporary
collectors and the generation that came before them is the
difference in time – the former has had their time compressed. In
this short period, their ideas toward collecting have yet to mature.
Many people start off regarding the endeavour as an investment.
This is very different.” Whenever the 2002 auction is brought up,
Yip’s face becomes clouded with complex emotions.