Two questions regarding the purchase of Chinese brush paintings or drawings:
I am not an art fan and practically have no clue about this subject but have seen quite a few Chinese paintings which I like, makes IMHO a nice souvenir, too.
However I found them to be quite expensive, NT$1500 and above for a reprint and about 10 times of that for an original, final price depending on size and artist.
Don’t know any of the artists and don’t care if he/she is famous or not, just buying based on my “feelings” / impression.
So can anyone recommend some places to shop (prefer original painting, no reprints) or what to look out for? And what is considered a fair price?
My travel guide says the shop in the National Palcace Museum is supposed to be cheap but I tend to disagree, besides most paintings there didn’t appeal to me.
One exception however, not a real brush-painting but rather a drawing with a lot of gold (background) and very colorful figures on it. Not cheap at NT$9800 though.
So my second question is if that would be a good or fair value? It’s framed and about 2-2.5 feet (60cm) by 6-8 inch (15-20cm) if that is any help.
I just spent NT$2200 on a 5-piece tea set at the National Palace Museum shop that I saw last night in Tesco in a 7-piece version for NT$500 less.
I think the National Palace Museum shop is a tourist trap. Avoid it like the plague, and know that virtually everything it sells can be got much cheaper elsewhere.
There is a shop in snake alley that sells original Chinese scrolls. Lots of variety and not too expensive, still in the $1000 range depending on the size.
Also you can buy a lot of the same stuff that is offered at the National Palace Museum at the National Museum near the botanical garden for less $s.
Thanks for the advice. Been to the botanical garden / museum but they are all reprints and not so nice.
Knew the place in the snake alley and went back once more (playing tourist guide for some out of town friends), nice real paintings from 1000 upwards as you say - well, not too bad then actually. Saw two nice ones for NT$2000 each and consider to buy them but people tell me in China you can get those paintings for a fraction of that (~ NT200). Sure, I can’t fly there unless I want to start a business with that but I still think it’s too expensive here.