Chinese Artifacts and 21th-Century Global Consumerism: An Example of Ming Dynasty Chicken Cup

• In Event: "Selling” Art and Artists: How the Art Market Influences Behavior of Artists, Art Collectors, Museums, and the Production of Art Works

Abstract

On April 8, 2014, a Ming Dynasty chicken cup from a European collection was sold to a Chinese collector at the Sotheby's Hong Kong for HKD281.24 million, breaking the world-record price for the sale of Chinese porcelain. The staggering price shocked the world and all major journals covered the story. People then started wondering how this could ever happen.

Chinese art has been desired outside China since antiquity. Porcelain was one of the most popular items transported along the Silk Road from China. After the Age of Discovery, Chinese porcelain continued to be one of the most sought after items among European aristocrats and wealthy merchants. Those beloved Chinese porcelains from the past have become antique collectables in the 20th century. With the invention of telecommunications and airline services, the trade of art works has gone from local to international.

When it came to the 21th century, high-speed Internet and mobile devices have brought people of the world even closer together. Globalization brings name brands to almost every corner of the world. In the meantime, China, as the world factory, produces new multi-millionaires whose wealth can compete with their Western counterparts in auction houses.

This paper discusses the 2014 chicken cup sale through investigating the value of the artifact, the impact of globalization, and the rise of Chinese economy. The intricate combination of these 3 factors contributed to the realization of the sky-high price of the Ming Dynasty chicken cup in the 21st century.

Author

• Kuo-sheng Lai, National Palace Museum