Friends of the House: Furniture from China's Towns & Villages (Peabody Essex Museum Collections)
By Nancy Berliner
A rather thin book for the money Excellent as far as it goes, this 100-odd page book is actually a reprint of an exhibition catalogue rather than a literary or reference work in its own right. The text is informative but - apart from a couple of introductory essays - relates only to the specific pieces referred to in the catalogue and the exhibition it describes (at the Peabody). It is not intended to provide a guide to the criteria you should look for when buying antique Chinese furniture. If you are interested in Chinese furniture this is the book Most of the Chinese furniture available today - if one is not buying at auction- will almost certainly be that bought from rural villages and towns in China. The furniture will be old, dirty, and gernerally pretty rough before a dealer/reseller cleans it up and then sells it to you for too much or as something it is not. This book can tell one so much about the furniture they are likely to purchase. What woods are used and is the wood the dealer is purporting the furniture is made from consistent with the wood available at the time the furniture was supposedly made. Is it really zitan (probably not) or just stained rosewood. There are many books on Chinese furniture, some good and some bad. This one is good.
