Fake Chinese ceramics cast shadow over art boom

By James Pomfret

JINGDEZHEN, China (Reuters) - On a quiet hillside lying in the eastern fringes of China's famed porcelain capital of Jingdezhen, a team of potters sweat in a secret kiln, molding wet kaolin clay into knockoffs of antique Ming and Qing wares.

"This bowl I would give 85 points out of 100," said the boss of the guarded kiln complex, holding up a reproduction Qing dynasty bowl and placing it beside a near-identical prototype -- a broken original pieced together from 280-year-old blue and white shards from the reign of the Yongzheng emperor.

"The auction houses and buyers often can't tell the difference," he added, running his finger over the smooth glaze and telltale blue Yongzheng reign mark on the base of the bowl -- the finest copy of a now discarded batch of lesser fakes which could fetch over $100,000 in the open market, he said.

The jet-setting Jingdezhen ceramics trader who spoke on condition of anonymity is a small link in an increasingly global chain of top fakers, dealers and collectors who've extended the reach of the secretive multi-million dollar fake ceramics trade in recent years, riding the crest of China's art market boom.

"A large number of fakes are finding their way into auctions everywhere," said Anthony Lin, a former chairman of Christie's in Asia who now runs his own Oriental art dealership.

CERAMIC LAUNDERING

Since the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), some of the finest porcelain ever created has come from the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen in southern China, including translucent monochrome celadons, rare Ming Chenghua wares as well as the exquisitely colored and decorated Qing enamel "famille-rose" ceramics.

Even in the Qing period (1644-1911), potters were making knockoffs, so called "houmenzao" or back-door copies of Ming masterpieces.

While fake ceramics are nothing new, the trade has become increasingly globalized as China has opened up and prospered.

Teams of potters in elite kilns, sometimes backed by foreign dealers with the know-how and distribution networks to plant fakes overseas in old family estates or country auctions, have upped the deceit to a new level over the past decade.

"In France, one of the areas where this has really hit the business, there's a laundering of these fake ceramics because traditionally France has always had a large number of private collections ... and in the old days that was where all the great finds and discoveries were made," Lin added.

The increased ingenuity, reach and resourcefulness of the fakers has raised the risk of investing in Chinese imperial artwork, which now sells for millions in auction halls worldwide.

"It has spoilt the whole industry, because people have no confidence," said Kaiyin Lo, an eclectic Hong Kong collector of Chinese art including ancient jades, calligraphy and ceramics.

Prices for fine China are now at historic highs.

A Qing enameled "swallows" bowl sold for nearly $19 million in 2006, making it the most costly Asian artwork ever auctioned.