The Little Red Seal: Myths and Facts Regarding the Export of Antiques out of China

One of the most baffling things that confronts the novice collector of Chinese Antiques are the varieties of seals and certificates that one encounters with items being officially allowed to leave China. What these meant leading up to the 1990's and what they mean today diverge and neither are infallible. Sound personal knowledge of Chinese art is recommended, especially when considering the validity of more recent export seals.

An antique as defined by the Department of Cultural Relics of the People’s Republic of China is, very simply, anything before the founding of "New China" in 1949. Until the beginning of the 1990’s the business of exporting antiques was the sole domain of the Chinese government which was controlled via two primary outlets, the Department of Cultural Relics warehouses (which managed the wholesale export of large quantities mainly to Hong Kong and overseas Chinese dealers) and the Antique and Curios Shops, also managed by the Cultural Relics Department in most of the big cities (which sold directly to foreign tourists). The wholesale end was quite massive at that time. Antique carpets were sold in lots by the square meter, scroll paintings were sold by the kilogram and ceramics by the crate. The Government had a monopoly when it came to purchasing antiques from the local citizen who got very little compared to what it was sold for. As all items have had to be examined by the authorities to have no major cultural significance, they were affixed with either a red wax seal (accompanied by a tag with a code and description) or a simple a ink stamp. Broadly speaking, the red wax seal and accompanying “chopped” receipt from the Relics department affirming an age, were usually fairly reliable. To construe this as a guarantee, however, is a misconception as there was no available arbitrator should there be a dispute between the seller and the buyer: The government is ALWAYS right! An item with merely a red ink stamp simply indicated that you could take it out of the country even it was looked chipped old and dirty. That was then and this is now.

Under the reign of Deng Xiao Peng and his free market and decentralization policies, the government gradually released its grip on the antiques business. One of the first official venues to open was a ramshackle ensemble of buildings on the outskirts of Beijing metro area called Jinsong market. At that time, in the early 90’s, the process for obtaining an export certificate was very simple. You bargained with the vendor until you agreed upon a price and then he or she would go to the “Cultural Relics” office which was a single room with a guy at a desk and a bare light bulb over head. The vendor would slip the guy 20 RMB and voila, you had your export certificate. This was by no means any kind of assurance that the item you bought was genuine but if it was you could at least get it out of the country. Ten years later, what was once a “cottage industry” of just a collection of individuals selling things out of small shops has dramatically changed to a department store sized building. Throughout China, the “legitimate” privatized antiques business has grown into a multimillion-dollar enterprise with major centers in Beijing, and Zhuhai in Guangdong Province - furniture being their most significant export. The system as it was intended still remains the same however. As private companies, the items exported have to be sourced by the businesses themselves so the government makes no claim on the veracity of the claims made by these dealers. The only input the government has in the matter is to determine whether or not it meets the criteria that it has set for allowable exports. Their line in the sand regarding this is "nothing prior to 1795", which was the end of the reign of Qianlong during the Qing Dynasty, can be exported. The Cultural Relics Department, which must vet all these things whether genuinely old or new and smeared with mud, have wide discretionary powers to determine whether or not, even if after the end of the Qianlong reign, an item might still be considered of “national significance”. Such items might include famous 20th century painters, rare woods like zitan and huanghuali or imperial porcelain as the government itself has established it’s own auction houses which hope to rival the likes of Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

In general terms, a certificate of any kind may give you warm fuzzy sense of security but this under no circumstances will substitute a sound knowledge base in your areas of interest or the trust that is cultivated during a long term relationship between the client and dealer. In more specific terms, an export seal should be considered to be just that and not an authoritative seal of authenticity. Restrictions considered , seals approving export should not be construed as certifying the authenticity of an object which would by any reasonable measure be considered rare and early. A ge yao ceramic or zitan scholar's object with a red seal is not thereby certified to be a period example but rather permitted out of the country as a later, insignificant copy.