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Authentic or reproduction?

 

Finding ceramic Mao busts original to the Mao Period is a real problem, mostly because they have been made continuously in Jingdezhen.using the same moulds and the same clay in the same factory spaces. The images you see here of the making of Mao busts were taken in Jingdezhen in 2020. Recently Jingdezhen has undergone a lot of changes and it may become easier to distinguish the most modern versions of these busts from their vintage counterparts, but between 1976 and today thousands have already swamped the market which has made us very cautious about the ceramic busts we buy to sell as authentic to the Mao Period.

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What we do

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The ceramic busts we have are mostly acquired from households rather than dealers. Their private owners attest to their authenticity and sell them to us often with other objects or ephemera that are easier to authenticate. More modern copies often give themselves away with the glaze that has been used, but those made in the 80's and 90's are difficult to spot without testing, the cost of which makes them impossible to sell. Relying on our visual inspection and their provenance is our best practice for assuring the busts we sell were not made yesterday. 

 

Explore more Mao busts

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See more in our online photograph album, or email us for details