Are you bored with your home décor? Want to add some style, but not over do it? Think oriental. Lately, Asian inspired furniture has been setting home decorating trends. These amazingly mystic yet elegant antique pieces will add that needed twist to your home you’ll want to host parties every weekend. But before you actually buy any Asian inspired furniture, you must first learn how to identify genuine pieces from fake ones.
The first thing you need to know is that every Asian antique piece has a specific mark embossed. It is essential to understand the meaning of different marks in order to identify the style and/or the period a specific antique piece belongs to. Western antiques for example, use a factory logo or an artist’s monogram, while Asian inspired furniture has four or six Kanji characters Dynasty ”seal” marks to symbolize the Emperor and the period in which this item was made.
The vast majority of Asian inspired furniture found today at antique fairs are modern reproductions imported from Far East. But even though marks are not authentic, still there is no doubt of the high quality these antique items have. Chinese makers of antique pieces still use the same white translucent Porcelain technique as the one invented in 1st C BC. The tradition alone makes the Asian inspired furniture worthy of respect. So, if the age of the piece is not of great importance to you and if form and style is what you care for, then this should not be a problem.
For example, if you are a fan of antique Chinese glass, then look for items that have opaque form such as small vessels or snuff bottles. In order to make these items more attractive and eye-catching, Chinese makers use overlays in bright contrasting colours with folklore-inspired designs. Chinese are more popular for their unique Asian inspired furniture rather than for the clear glass production that entered the market recently.
Designers are crazy for bronze Chinese figurines and Asian inspired furniture mostly because of their unique form and story-telling nature. Chinese bronze figurines are nothing similar to the European ones. Usually they are in the form of funeral urns, incense burners or other religious and ceremonial objects. It is the form that makes these antique pieces stand out from the rest. And today there are too many replicas that imitate the form of a horse, lion and a bull that have had some meaning in the Chinese history.
Furthermore, if you want history in your home, look at some of the unique ornamental weaponry that survived over the years. Each of these pieces remind of certain periods and ancient Clans that ruled China in times past. Asian inspired antique pieces simply add that regal appeal and make any home come alive.