The Antique Chinese Embroidery in America and J.C. Morgenthau Co. in the early Twentieth Century

Abstract

Accompany with the attentions in the international antique collection and auction market on Chinese embroidery, the knowledge of judgment, estimation, and evaluation is urgently needed to restore the historical imagination and the pursuit of aesthetic modernity. Researches of Chinese embroideries are mainly focused on the description of the history, pattern, stitches, styles and genres. Very few researches are about the market requirement and characteristic of collection and auction in the earlier stage. This article studied the auction catalogues and some historical documents of J.C. Morgenthau Co. in the early twentieth century. The situation of the antique market was outlined through classification and the dating records of the Chinese embroideries. We also found that the embroidered paintings had long been given more attention than the other embroidered art the similar as today. Further and more research works are needed for the potential market of the other historical Chinese embroidered art.