The Old China Trade was the name given to the early commerce between the Qing Empire and the United States under the Canton System, spanning from shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the Treaty of Wanghsia in 1844. The Old China Trade represented the beginning of relations between the United States and East Asia, including eventually U.S.–China relations. The Maritime Fur Trade was a major aspect of the Old China Trade.
Antique Painting/Artwork Price Guide
The history of painting reaches back in time to artifacts from pre-historic humans, and spans all cultures. It represents a continuous, though periodically disrupted tradition from Antiquity. Across cultures, and spanning continents and millennia, the history of painting is an ongoing river of creativity, that continues into the 21st century. Until the early 20th century it relied primarily on representational, religious and classical motifs, after which time more purely abstract and conceptual approaches gained favor. [Read more…]
Antique Religious Icons Price Guide
The use and making of icons entered Kievan Rus’ following its conversion to Orthodox Christianity in 988 AD. As a general rule, these icons strictly followed models and formulas hallowed by Byzantine art, led from the capital in Constantinople. As time passed, the Russians widened the vocabulary of types and styles far beyond anything found elsewhere in the Orthodox world. [Read more…]
Meissen Price/Value Guide
Meissen porcelain is the first European hard-paste porcelain that was developed from 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his untimely death that October, Johann Friedrich Böttger, continued his work and brought porcelain to the market, and he has often been credited with the invention. The production of porcelain at Meissen, near Dresden, started in 1710 and attracted artists and artisans to establish one of the most famous porcelain manufacturers. [Read more…]
Limoges Price/Value Guide
Limoges had been the site of a minor industry producing plain faience earthenwares since the 1730s. The manufacturing of hard-paste porcelain at Limoges was established by Turgot in 1771 following the discovery of local supplies of kaolin and a material similar to petuntse in the economically distressed area at Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, near Limoges. The ingredients were used for the production of hard-paste porcelain similar to Chinese porcelain. The materials were quarried commencing in 1768.