Collectors and homeowners alike who love Chinese art and antiques will certainly find Chinese antique furniture pieces very alluring in that much effort and skill have been employed to the perfection of these art pieces. Fashioned to be both functional and elegant, Chinese furniture come in various shapes, and styles and their surfaces have developed a particular stain that coats them with a tinge of ‘classical’ colour that is constantly refined as they age through time, thus increasing their aesthetic value.

While indeed a daunting task, preferring antiques to contemporary or more conventional Chinese furniture pieces is more rewarding since antiques, aside from their inherent beauty, far outlasts their common recently-made counterparts. For you to make your purchase of antique items worthwhile, give yourself some time to do some planning which may include the cost estimate, and other considerations pertaining to your personal preferences as well as the existing decor of your house.

Although a great number of antiques are available in antique stores, items like Chinese antiques, Chinese cabinets, Tibetan and Chinese furniture are more unique and are rarely available in the market, making their presence more felt and appreciated should you ever happen to own one in your home. The most common Chinese antiques are chests, trunks, stands, shelves, tables, desks, beds, chairs, stools and benches. Porcelain vases and unique statues are also made available to go with your purchase as bonuses.

Cabinets complete your bedroom. Chinese antique cabinets are very popular all over Europe and Africa. Even more popular is the pricey Tibetan and Chinese furniture. Although Tibetan and Chinese furniture are once two different furniture types (as classified according to origin) they are nevertheless considered almost as one entity since Tibet’s eventual subjugation by the Chinese. Bearing more elaborate and sophisticated engravings and ornaments, the pure Tibetan furniture is very much expensive and owning even just a single piece of this one-of-a-kind art pieces will certainly improve the appearance of your home as well as the impression it (your home) leaves on people. Aside from aesthetic reasons, these furniture sets are also preferred in that their timelessness entails that their value depreciates really slow and adding them to your existing portfolio of assets will certainly increase the potential value of your property.

More and more people from outside of Asia recognize the intricacy of the designs of Asian furniture pieces. Tibetan and Chinese furniture are a much more recognized type of Asian furniture and as such, they can be quite expensive. Since other less-acknowledged Asian furniture bases also use almost the same materials as those used by the Chinese, opting for a more ‘generic’ Asian furniture label will not be much of a detriment, specially to those who are saving up a bit to buy real antiques in the future. The difference between Asian furniture and Tibetan and Chinese antiques will most likely have to do with the designs and styles of the furniture pieces while other miscellaneous parts (if any)will still be made of bamboo and silk, both of which are common natural materials also used in Chinese furniture making.

Chinese cabinets are literally available in thousands of styles. Styles in this case may mean the combination of functional aspects and certain aesthetic considerations such as size, shape, materials used, colour, design and the type of motif you have in mind.

What do you intend to use a Chinese cabinet for? If you plan on buying an antique one, do you do so just for show or simply because of personal preference? What about its functionality? Consider the room in which you plan to put the cabinet. What is that room’s colour scheme? Do want the cabinet to suit a particular motif? These are some questions you should ask yourself when you plan on buying (antique) Chinese cabinets.

Asian antique cabinets, specifically those of Chinese origins, come in a deep reddish wooden colour since they were made from Elm. Of course, there are those which are coated with paint to modify their colour, or lacquered to give them an artificial antique look. Pick a colour that matches well with the surrounding colours of the room where you plan to add these furniture pieces.

Different types of antique cabinets serve different purposes. Armoires are more appropriate for bedroom use as these types of cabinets are designed for keeping clothes. A curio or glass plated cabinet would serve a kitchen well as they are suited to keep plates and other items which are often needed in the kitchen. A filing cabinet on the other hand, is more appropriate in workplaces such as offices.

Having given the aforementioned things careful consideration, you can finally look into how much money you can afford these expenses. Buying Asian antiques like Chinese cabinets entails a larger sum of money to be spent. You can directly order or inquire about (Chinese) antiques online or from specialty antique stores. If you are a little short on money, you may instead opt for a reproduction antique which is simply an ordinary, recently made furniture piece that is made to look antique by means of lacquers and special paints. No matter the type of Chinese furniture piece… Chinese cabinets or not, make sure that it matches well both your personal preference and the setup of the room where you want to put it.

In an interior design, the quality of furniture pieces used inside a building affects its overall appearance as well as the impression it leaves on people. Many homes and business establishments will benefit from the use of furniture such as Chinese antique furniture pieces. Chinese antique furniture pieces are inherently beautiful in that they have been fashioned with a tradition of sophistication and discipline and have since been refined by time. They have been designed to last the ravages of time and thus they show little evidence of warping, cracking or even signs of regular wear and tear even after they have been kept for so long. Chinese antique furniture pieces have been engraved with many different symbols: gods, animals, fruits, flowers, or even inanimate objects or other earthly symbols. These symbols tell a lot about the Chinese culture and searching for the meaning of these through an online glossary will help you determine which style (or design) best suits your taste.

Whether you are planning on buying antique Chinese furniture pieces to add to your existing collection or to improve the interior design of your home or working place, know that there are many additional furniture pieces that span decades or sometimes, even centuries since their making. The exquisite craftsmanship put into furniture pieces like those from the Qing Dynasty for example, will surely delight you.

Keeping track of information relating to retailers or manufacturers near your place is one good way to secure an item for later purchase. As the aging of furniture is inevitable, some furniture pieces need to be refurbished to restore their fresh look and suit modern users’ needs. Beware of fakes. Look for features marking the difference between authentic and fake Chinese antique furniture pieces. Asking for a documentation which certifies the authenticity of the Chinese antique furniture you bought will protect you from frauds and will also provide you means to reduce import duty costs.

Telling real Chinese antique furniture apart from fake ones is not that difficult if you are equipped with the right knowledge or if you did considerable research on your target furniture piece before making a purchase and it is no different with a Chinese cabinet. Fake antiques or reproduction antiques are simple recently-made furniture pieces but are made to look as if they were antiques. Reproduction antiques are by no means similar to collectables. While collectables are not antique in origin, they nevertheless possess the potential of becoming antiques in the future if they are allowed enough time to “appear old”. In other words, collectables are less-than-a- hundred-year-old furniture pieces which are made with as strict a number of specifications as antique furniture pieces.

The first thing to do when examining antique furniture piece is to look at its overall appearance as well as its individual parts. Basically, identifying whether a furniture piece is a genuine antique or just a fake requires some amount of intuition. For some, simply taking a look on the surface of the item in question will suffice to determine its authenticity. Others have to examine the individual parts that constitute a furniture piece before making a judgment. As a general rule, the overall appearance of the furniture piece should be consistent with the time period in which it was supposedly made. Tool marks, texture/hue of the wood, and aging of the joints or screws should all be consistent with the age of the item. For example, if you are looking for an antique Chinese cabinet, the screws or bolts used in it should have already existed during the time it is said to have been made.

Of equal importance is taking a look at and being able to determine the type of wood used in the construction of the Chinese furniture piece. Different types of wood were favoured during different time periods and different geographical regions. For example, walnut was popular in Europe/European style. It was used for some Queen Anne tables and chairs. Mahogany was used a lot in mid-18th century formal furniture as well as in Chippendale styles. A vast majority of antiques were made from oak. It was a very popular wood in European furniture designs before 1700, and again in American furniture such as mission furniture in 1900 and in the Arts & Crafts period. Pine on the other hand was rarely used as their irregular shapes would render furniture pieces less presentable. Most Asian antique furniture pieces were made from Elm, and sometimes, from cypress wood, walnut or rosewood. Southern Chinese Elm was used in some antique Chinese furniture pieces while burl wood was used to make some parts of some Chinese furniture pieces. Plywood or particle boards did not exist when the making of antiques began so if you find an antique furniture piece made from these materials, think twice.

Knowing these simple rules and putting them into practice by scrutinizing each and every detail of an item before buying it will help you a great deal in differentiating between real and fake antiques. If you are a collector or aiming to be one, the ability to identify the authenticity of an antique item should be second nature. Not all of us are so finding an authentic Chinese cabinet can be tricky.