My Lladró and Chinese Porcelain Collection

Posted on 2024-08-26 Edited on 2024-09-26 In Art and Collectibles Disqus:

My Lladró and Chinese Porcelain Collection.

Preface

A collector who deeply enjoys the process of searching and acquiring, having the following philosophy:

“I own nothing in life. This is all rented out to me. Even the air that I breathe must be exhaled. So I try and enjoy the ride while I am on it”.
“Live, and Let Live”.

Introduction

Although the title of this blog is ‘Lladró and Chinese Porcelain,’ my true preference lies with Lladró, and I now focus exclusively on collecting Lladró pieces.

Honestly, I initially embarked on my collecting journey with Chinese porcelain. After some study, I decided to focus on collecting Jingdezhen export porcelain from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, a period that, while not too distant, still bears the influence of the late Qing and Republic eras. Most importantly, there are relatively few counterfeits from this time. However, as I deepened my knowledge and collection, I found myself growing weary of the extensive effort required to authenticate Chinese porcelain. The prevalence of counterfeits in China is daunting. By a fortunate twist of fate, I discovered Lladró, and I was immediately enchanted. Lladró pieces can be easily verified through their official database, and some of them also hail from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Additionally, it’s sometimes challenging to find an Lladró piece from the 1980s online, which subtly underscores the stark contrast with the market saturated with counterfeit Ming and Qing Chinese porcelain.

I now have both Lladró and Chinese porcelain in my collection, and I’ve discovered that combining them occasionally results in a surprisingly harmonious and beautiful display.

Chinese Porcelain

没有沉醉于中国瓷器太长时间，很快就知难而退了。总结有如下几点原因：

虽然所有的画片都秉承“有图必有意，有意必有寓“，但艺术性很局限。

画片采用传统美术，内容寓意大体有三种，有采用谐音如蝙蝠、佛手瓜借同“福”字，成为福在眼前之意；有的取其形象之寓意，如缠枝莲、石榴、葡萄成为多子多孙、延绵不绝之意；还有就是人物故事，如三娘教子、荷（和）仙盒（合）仙等等。总体就是在瓷器上画个吉祥话，而这些吉祥话像叫花子乞讨前站在他人门口的那段毫无情感的祝福一样，飘过每家每户，传承百年千年。。。
传统美术，包括写意中国画，形式过于简单，价值不高。

当作者用毛笔蘸水墨将作品画在薄薄的宣纸上的时候，我估计他自己都没有信心他的这个大作能保存完好到流芳百世，而事实确实如此，绘画技艺无法传承并总结成学科，进步缓慢，就像再多的五千年也无法实现文明。而且他们只好借助书法的手法，鼓吹一气呵成，短频快，靠墨色的浓淡，来表达出的作品… 但作品缺乏更多的细节和严谨，这样的作品的价值就很有限了。
窑工整体文化素质不高，没有审美。

古代窑工大多穷人，没有上过学，更不可能学过艺术，而通过口口相传的手艺的结果就是，整体水平一直处于农业社会的初级审美，欣赏大红大绿，胖娃娃抱鲤鱼的年画，毕竟劳动人民还是喜欢朴实扑面而来的美的，就像我是歌手、好声音一系列音乐节目里，以飚高音为荣的审美。
醉心与古代文明，不求进取。

当今世界，科技高速发展，人们教育水平全面提高，但因为制度的局限性，导致盲目自大，把中医当救星，把低俗当传统，埋头仿古造假，毫无发展现代艺术之进取心。

所以，对于收集中国瓷器，我在开始之初，就把目标定在5、6、70年代的出口创汇瓷，毕竟西方的审美已经超出农业审美很多了，而且这个时期的年份本来就浅，价格不会太贵，但如果造假它们还得用矿物颜料，这样成本高、利润少，估计它们不愿意费这劲，但这些只是我的猜测，谁知道现实中它们会不会丧心病狂到蝇头小利也不放过…..：

上面都是我收集的三隆款瓷器，也就是诗词的落款，不是说底款（底款一般都是乾隆年制寄托款，而在当时，落这种寄托款的是只销往海外的，所以国内收藏一般只能通过回流的方式获得）。“三隆”有人说是景德镇游隆盛、游隆昌和游隆顺三位大家的作品，也有人说“三”是八卦里面“乾”字的简写，也是乾隆皇帝在自己的诗词下喜欢落的款式（二钤印），所以可以理解成寄托款。我比较支持后者，在50年代和解放初期，很多民国时期的景德镇手艺人齐聚一起，为新中国出口创汇群策群力，而落三隆款的要比落“世宁”款的要更精美一些，更有升值潜力。

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My Lladró Collection

Continuously Updated List of My Lladró Collection

1. Lladró 5396

I’m drawn to Lladró for the incredible details in each porcelain piece—the expressions on the faces, the delicate embellishments on the clothing, and the lifelike gestures that bring them to life.

2. Lladró Limited Edition figurines based on Norman Rockwell paintings

In 1982, Lladró reproduced seven of Norman Rockwell’s famous paintings in figurine form. These stunning, three-dimensional Norman Rockwell Lladrós did not show up in any Lladro catalogs until 1998 and were never distributed through authorized Lladró dealers. Some time before 1982, David Grossman of David Grossman Designs of New York approached Weil Ceramics – the exclusive distributor of Lladró porcelains in the United States at that time – with the idea of Lladró reproducing Norman Rockwell paintings as figurines. Weil Ceramics contacted Lladró who agreed to produce seven of the Rockwell Figurines. They are: Court Jester, Daydreamer, Springtime of ‘27, Summer Stock, Love Letter, Young Love, and Practice Makes Perfect. They are between eight and twelve inches tall and slightly more colorful than most Lladrós. Each one is done beautifully, and the attention to detail is unbelievable. These figurines were to be Limited Editions, limited to 5,000 each. They were distributed through David Grossman Designs to David Grossman’s dealers. But during the early years, the public appeared to find these figurines to be too expensive for the average collector, and therefore the sales were very slow. When Mr. Weil of Weil Ceramics passed away, his wife decided to sell the Weil Ceramics warehouse in New Jersey to Lladró. That’s when Weil Ceramics ceased to exist and Lladró USA was born. Also at that point, the association between Mr. Grossman, Weil Ceramics, and Lladró ended; and Lladró discontinued production of the Norman Rockwell figurines. At that time, however, there were still a number of undistributed pieces on the shelves in the warehouse and in the Lladró factory in Spain – produced but not yet shipped. Today, we believe that at least 2,000 of each design were probably manufactured, but where each piece stopped production between 2,000 and 5,000 is a question for which there is no answer. The markings on these pieces are a little confusing as well. The first ones to be produced were numbered on the bottom by hand and a Certificate of Authenticity issued. The ones still on the shelves or not yet shipped were marked only “Norman Rockwell by Lladró,” with no numbering. In some cases, the Norman Rockwell has been removed. Also, no flower appears above the name of Lladró on any of these pieces, causing many collectors to doubt their authenticity. But be assured – these are authentic Lladró figurines.