Long before vintners in California Napa Valley were sealing wine bottles with cork, Chinese artisans were using cork for the popular past time of carving miniatures. 

This art form has its origin near Fukien, China, where cork trees are plentiful. There, skilled artisans would spend countless hours using very sharp, small knives to cut and assemble thousands of tiny slivers of cork. The next step was to glue them together in a glass and black lacquer shadow box to produce exquisite, three dimensional miniature landscape and village scenes featuring tiny bridges, tall pagodas, lakes, birds and pine trees. 

Craftsman who practice this art are far and few between now; there seems to be little interest among the younger generation in China. 

On a recent buying trip to China, we were fortunate to locate a few, particularly rare large cork sculptures. Each one has slight variations that reflect the artisan personality. 

Porcelain plaques are a rare art form, produced only by a handful of elderly master craftsman in Ching-Te-Chen, near Shanghai. The production process is extremely difficult. First, flat panels of porcelain must be rolled out and painted with multiple layers of enamel design, each of which is fired at different high temp-erasures in a kiln. 

While it may sound easy, think about putting a flat sheet pan into a hot oven for baking. The pan instantly warps from the heat, but flattens out when it cools. 

Porcelain is not as forgiving as metal. So when it is fired at upwards of 2200 degrees, there is no way to correct buckling or warping. The quality of the piece depends on the skill of the artisan and luck. More that 80 percent of pieces made have some defect, very frustrating odds for any craftsman. 

During our last buying trip to China, we located an old collection of porcelain wall plaques in various sizes. While many of the original wood frames were destroyed in the massive floods that swept through China last summer, the porcelain plaques themselves are works of lost art. The crude wood replacement frames can be easily refinished or replaced. 

Stop by our showroom for a glimpse into China past. A porcelain plaque will make a stunning addition to your home or office.