Page 7 - A Time and A Place Catalogue, Jorge Welsh

Foreword

This November we celebrate our 30th Anniversary. It was in 1986 that
we bought our very first work of art, a Chinese export porcelain meat dish
from the Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, decorated in famille rose enamels.
Those were different times, the art market was much more localised moving
at a much slower pace and, with few exceptions, not as supported by serious
research and academia as it is today.

As we look back on what has been a most interesting time for us and our
team, not only because of the extraordinary works of art we have handled,
the projects we have been involved in, the relationships developed with
collectors and academics and so many other aspects of our activity,
we realise how much we owe to so many that have supported us in
all sorts of ways with their expertise, loyalty and friendship.

The art market has evolved tremendously, now incomparably larger and
more complex than in the 80s. It is now a truly global market, with active
collectors and museums collecting in a much more informed and eclectic
fashion and benefiting from serious information readily available, not only
online but also through the enormous number of publications, conferences
and other forums. Galleries active in this global market also operate in a
different way, with a much closer relationship with academia and some with
a presence in different locations, either through their own galleries or through
their participation in international art fairs. Leading fairs, such as TEFAF,
have also evolved into more sophisticated events, with rigorous vetting
by top experts and offering the highest quality of works of art available.

Of course we too have moved with the times; in the early years
we concentrated purely on Chinese export porcelain, but this quickly
evolved into the much wider field of cross-cultural works of art produced
in Africa and Asia which illustrate the interaction between Western, African
and Asian cultures. These hybrid objects, produced between the 15th and early
19th centuries, continue to fascinate, not only because of their artistic and
technical qualities, but also for the documental and historical relevance they
hold. We now operate from two galleries, one in London, since 1996, the other
in Lisbon, since 1998, and we have a full time research team and a publishing
division that has so far launched over thirty-five reference publications in
our field of expertise. Since 1998 we have also held special exhibitions and

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