Fake Antique Furniture from China

Introduction to the Fake Antique Furniture Industry
(Fake antique furniture has the same basis and purpose as fake antique porcelain and other fake antiques.)

Genuine and fake antique furniture

With the Chinese government enforcing export restrictions for antique objects since about three or four years ago, the flow of antique furniture, along with other antique cultural objects and relics out of China has virtually come to a standstill.

Yet, in stores and online Chinese "antiques" are still offered directly from China, and in quantity. While some may have left China before enforcement of the export ban, those that are offered now for export from China itself are certainly suspicious. Usually they fall into one of the categories below. There existed a gray zone since before the export ban was strictly enforced. Some of the items from this period can be considered antiques.

• Vintage (less than 100 years old)
• Largely restored
• "Multiplied" furniture (only minor part is antique) *see below
• Reproductions made to look antique (fake antique furniture)
• New

(See explanation below for details.)

Basic outline
As with other Chinese crafts furniture making relied largely on manual production by craftsmen until far into the 20th century. For this reason it is often difficult to detect any differences between real antique and vintage furniture: the same working methods and materials were used, the only difference may be that newer furniture is in a better condition than antiques.

With some woods, especially hard woods, it takes experience to recognize whether furniture has an age of 100 years or only 50. The patina may already be there, but some usage signs of the older furniture can still be missing or less pronounced.

As the export of antiques that are over 100* years old is now restricted, the market has already shifted and many collectors have a greater acceptance for vintage handmade furniture.

*Revision:
As to the time of this writing (2021) this maximum age rule for the export of antiques is now reduced to only 50 years. Thus, basically you cannot get any real antiques from China anymore.

The difficulty of telling antique and vintage furniture apart has resulted in a situation where customs sometimes rejects  furniture for export even if it is not in the restricted age range.

Many Chinese websites are touting antique furniture. Basically, these furniture items all fall in one of the above mentioned categories. Mostly they will be reproductions, but some of those exported in the previous couple of years, before the ban was enforced, may fall into one of the first four categories.
The main difference between reproductions or fake antique furniture and antiques often isn't their appearance, it is the manufacturing methods, or sometimes the wood type used.

Today, machines and electric hand tools are used to mass produce batches of the same piece of furniture with the same structures as those that were handmade in the past (which were often unique without any similar item). Seeing a number of the same or very similar items often points to newly made items. In old China (until the 20th century) furniture was made to order, even the wood was sometimes supplied by the client, who would have planted the trees long before the need to use their wood arose. A a carpenter or woodworker was engaged specifically to make furniture to order at the client's place. Most furniture pieces were unique and no two chests would have had the same size, doors, drawers, etc..
The existence of a series of the same furniture means always that an item is not antique.

Explanatory Details:
Look for these characteristics when buying antique or vintage Chinese furniture.

• Vintage
  Obviously, this furniture is less old than antique furniture, but has some age, and probably usage signs.
  With Chinese furniture it may be of similar quality and workmanship as antiques. Machine production of the same items started only later in the 20th century.
  
  
• Largely restored
  This type of furniture consists often of cupboards, chests, etc. The front side, doors or drawers, or all of them may be old, but when you check the interior, including side and back boards, shelves, etc. you may discover that part or all of them is newly made.
  Such furniture can be completely different from the original, assembled with some old carved or painted front boards, doors or drawers to make it look old.
  With drawers often only the front board that is visible is really old, all of the rest that is inserted into the chest is new. Mostly the hardware is new too.
  
  
• "Multiplied" furniture
  This method for making antique furniture is best explained using a set of chairs as an example. Chairs originally often came in sets of six or eight. Over the years some of the chairs would fall into disrepair or suffer irreparable damage.
  To produce six chairs from two or three usable chairs, or their parts, the wood workers would disassemble the chairs and then reassemble them using a number of new parts for each, so that each chair has both new and old parts. This shall give the appearance of restored antique chairs, while the number of chairs now is increased with the help of the newly made parts. The result is that several more "old" chairs are offered for sale.
  
  
• Reproductions made to look like antiques (fake antique furniture)
  In China various methods are employed to make furniture look old. We do mention just a few. Wood workers everywhere in the world use methods to give new furniture or reproductions an old look like antiques. However, in China fake antique furniture is sometimes treated in ways that are obviously  intended to deceive buyers. Judge yourself whether these methods would fall under deceptive practices in the west.
  
  To give the wood an old or used look, it is rubbed off with a rag or tea cloth, wet with tea sediment. Such rags are usually used to wipe tea residue off tea wares, utensils and pots that are used for preparing tea. The tea residue may give the wood a darker, old look.
  Sometimes dirt or dust is smeared on for the same purpose. Tea or other liquids may be poured over furniture to simulate actual use.
  Furniture is also exposed to sun or rain for prolonged periods, to give the wood an aged, weathered look. (Antique furniture faking at its best!)
  
  Usage traces may be added by scarring the wood, creating an artificial patina, and scratching in order to indicate long use. The following is going a step further. As traditional Chinese houses aren't very tight and rats could enter, old furniture was sometimes gnawed at by rats.
  Some antique furniture fakers will intentionally imitate the gnawing traces/damage of rats. It is also said that some fakers keep woodworms to actually "infect" the furniture and make it look like wood with "old" worm holes.
  
  
• New
  New furniture made to look like antiques often looks also appealing. However, often a wood type that is less costly or of inferior quality is used, compared to the originals of the same type.
  Sometimes traces of machine tools can be found. Old handmade furniture never show traces of rotary tools, and sawing traces are irregular. These traces can be found underneath or behind furniture items, because the surface of wood is usually not worked with the same care as the surfaces exposed to people's eyes in normal use.
  

Average quality antique furniture that is original may sometimes be recognized from the condition of the wood parts on the back or bottom. But also the legs of chairs may show that they were completely made by hand. For example, the front and side faces of the legs may be worked nicely, having a straight face, but the less visible back of the legs are not square at all, or uneven, as the original cut wood face of the tree.
It should be noted that much of the older furniture was not made in workshops That is the carpenter or cabinet maker would have made it on location at the clients place, with would furnished there.

From Fake Antique Furniture to Porcelain Age Faking

From Fake Antique Furniture to Home page