Treasuring antique furniture involves appraising and appreciating it, collecting it and using it.

"Consumers ought to cultivate a cultural awareness of the value of antiques and not understand price only," holds Wang Chen-hua, a scholar of architecture. If we only admire carvings and not the whole piece of furniture, it's like encouraging dealers to tear furniture apart.

In addition, if we don't enjoy the marks of time on an antique that give it character, then the dealers will naturally repair all old furniture so it looks spanking new. "If antiques are badly damaged and can't go without repairing, then repair what you must," Wang Chen-hua says, "but just repair what's on the surface, not what's inside. Give future scholars opportunities to do research,"

One enjoys an antique, generally speaking, by admiring fine workmanship, a well-reasoned structure, the luster and grain of beautiful wood. Is it of magnificent appearance, at once stately and full of energy? Is the workmanship of its embellishments wise--outstanding without overwhelming its basic shape? Are its lines smooth and pleasing to the eye?

If you're aiming to get some real expertise, you're going to have to spend a lot of time reading books and perusing actual objects. It used to be there wasn't much available to read, only Ching Dynasty Furniture published by the National Museum of History. Later the antiquarian Wang Shih-hsiang wrote such books as Treasures of Ming Dynasty Furniture and Research on Ming Dynasty Furniture. And there is a quarterly published by the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture in Renaissance, California. All of these are of much help.

Liu Liang-you of Chinese Culture University suggests that those interested in collecting antiques need to obtain some related knowledge. At the very least you've got to understand wood if you're not going to get cheated. In order to research antiques, he has collected samples of woods produced in different places.

A dealer in Taiwan cleans up and waxes an unpainted window carving from the mainland.

One should only begin to collect after gaining an appreciation for antique furniture. "True collecting is for research, so that the value of furniture can be brought to light," Liu Liang-you avers. "Many collectors have a system in what they collect, such as by specializing in Tingyao porcelain or the Ming furniture of Shanxi." People without an academic interest or great financial resources can at least collect a few pieces of Ming or Ching furniture. But without logic behind one's acquisitions, collecting furniture will be no different than buying a piece of land.

What's more, don't be greedy and don't overdo it. Only collect what you truly like, and don't pay a sky-high price because you decide there is some piece you simply just can't do without.

"Good collectors won't allow their love of what they collect drive prices so high that ordinary people can't buy them," says Wang Chen-hua. "Everyone should be able to afford cultural artifacts." And there is another reason to refuse to pay sky-high prices: it will prevent dealers from going to the mainland and taking by hook or by crook what they shouldn't in order to make a staggering profit.

With trips to the mainland and chances to look at antiques there, scholars often face "the greed test," points out Wang Chen-hua.

He himself has resolved definitely not to buy. A few experts in the Academia Sinica have made similar resolutions. "Otherwise, it would be too easy to become a fanatic," he says.

Another reason for reining in one's acquisitive ambitions is that in this day and age there is no need for houses full of antique furniture. A few pieces properly placed are enough to add flavor.

John Kwang-ming Ang, a consultant with Artasia, points out that a single carved shutter on the wall of a foyer already gives a distinctly Chinese flavor. Going on to add antique Chinese furniture may be overdoing it.

Only extremely fine steel wool can be used on antique furniture;sandpaper and electric tools would damage it.

What antiques should be selected for the home? Teng Kun-yen and John Kwang-ming Ang are both keen on Ming furniture, for its abundance of types and suitability to modern life. The northern furniture that was placed on a kang--or platform over a brick oven--is very suitable for the tatami rooms that many Taiwanese have. In the Ming furniture made in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and further north, fine strips of rattan were used for the seats of chairs and highly flexible fine hemp for the surfaces of its beds. They're quite comfortable to sit or recline in--unlike most Ching or Taiwanese furniture, which is stiff and unyielding.

And with the exception of the meikuei--or rose--chair, whose back and arm rests connect at sharp right angles, most Ming chairs--such as mandarin hat chairs or round-backed armchairs--are well suited to the human body, and when one sits in them one's back and arms all rest very comfortably.

Why should modern people used to sinking into sofas and stretching out on spring mattresses find it necessary turn back the clock anyway? For furniture that will often be sat or lain in, select modern or Western styles. The dining table needn't be an antique either. "There's no harm in using a glass dining table," Ang suggests. "You won't be so nervous when eating, and then you can use armless mandarin hat chairs around it. Under the glass table the elegant lines of Ming furniture are that much clearer."

If you decide upon a Luohan daybed for your perch in the living room, John Ang suggests going small. "In the past, the proper etiquette for dealing with a guest was to have him lie down and take a few drags from the opium pipe," says Eslite's Gillian Ni. "Modern people don't smoke opium. A large bed isn't appropriate for the living room."

In matching Chinese and Western furniture, you've also got to pay attention to color. Why not use carpets, sofa cushions or curtains with an antique flavor? And the patterns shouldn't be too busy or else it will be too distracting. As for the walls, it's best to use white off-white or light gray to show off the beautiful lines of antique furniture.

Finally, you can use an antique in a way it was not intended, but don't--especially when using religious artifacts--get into the realm of the ridiculous. John Ang says some antique dealers recently imported some religious weavings from Tibet. In a decorating magazine he saw them placed on sofa cushions. "Holy Tibetan artifacts have become something to put our fat asses on. This is behavior disrespectful of other people's culture."

A window carving hangs on the wall over an amply cushioned Luohan bed. Two vases of flowers complete the scene. From this angle, it looks both classical and comfortable, （Photo of the Living Space Exhibition, cosponsored by Eslite and Artasia.）

Though it might sound cruel, it's true: While the flow of Chinese antiques to Taiwan may be poor luck for the mainland, it's also a rare opportunity for the Chinese of Taiwan.

Experts often say that antiques have life. If you buy the right antique, it will constantly emit a kind of spirit, and become at one with you.

In our modern lives today, besides the food we eat, how much of our clothes, architecture, transportation, education and entertainment is really Chinese? Surface objects can have an effect on our habits and even our attitudes. As antique furniture has come to Taiwan and entered our lives, has it not served to change us without our knowing?

In order to make his home suitable for Chinese antiques, one antique freak who has just recently caught the bug, has been looking for books about Chinese architecture and landscaping. he hat only just realized the beauty of traditional China. "Before I heard the phrase 'revive Chinese culture' and I thought of it just as a slogan," he says. "Now it goes without saying, for I'm always thinking about how to do it!

With an antique furniture making the journey to Taiwan, let's hope we can provide it a good home and fulfill the original owners' expectations.

[Picture Caption]

p.88

A dealer in Taiwan cleans up and waxes an unpainted window carving from the mainland.

p.89

Only extremely fine steel wool can be used on antique furniture;sandpaper and electric tools would damage it.

p.90

A window carving hangs on the wall over an amply cushioned Luohan bed. Two vases of flowers complete the scene. From this angle, it looks both classical and comfortable, (Photo of the Living Space Exhibition, cosponsored by Eslite and Artasia.)

p.91

This round-backed Ming chair and six-legged washstand both have beautiful workmanship.