Frequently Asked Questions

Value and Authenticity
Commissioning an Art Appraisal
Post-Appraisal Services
Appraisal Fees

1. Value and Authenticity

Is My Art Worth Anything?
The only way to know the value of your Chinese art work is to commission a formal art appraisal. (Please read the Content of Our Art Appraisal for more details.) A professionally-written art appraisal will answer most of your questions, since it will discuss the artistic aspects of your work, its historical value, and its current value on the market, and refer to comparable items currently on the market. This kind of research and analysis puts you in a good position to decide whether to sell your art now or whether to hold onto it. In recent years the market for Chinese art has been volatile and unpredictable; advice from our Chinese art specialist will equip you with insider's knowledge you need.

Is My Chinese Art Work Authentic? Can You Authenticate It for Me?
Ultimately, neither we nor any other honest appraiser can guarantee 100% the authenticity of your Chinese art (although not all appraisers will admit this). Even the successful sale of a piece of art does not prove its authenticity. It is important to understand the inherent limitations of any art appraisal before paying for one.

Is My Art Worth the Money I Will Spend on an Art Appraisal?
The simple truth is that you cannot know with certainty whether your art is worth the money you will spend on an art appraisal, so you must be prepared for at least some uncertainty. Commissioning an art appraisal from an experienced, highly trained professional is the only way you can find out with assurance what your object is worth. Owners are sometimes disappointed to learn the fair market value estimated in a report, but ubiased, expert analysis will ultimately help you, not matter what the range of figures provided for your art. An honest, carefully-calculated fair market value will prevent you from wasting your money, time, and energy in pursuing (and paying for) an unrealistic or unsuccessful sale.

As professional appraisers, we are required to analyze objects according to objective standards and weigh our judgments following professional guidelines. Whether you use our services or those of another appraiser, we urge all owners to make sure that a professional appraisal, using standard techniques, is conducted by a qualified appraiser.

Can You Give Me a “Ball Park Number” for My Chinese Art?
It would be dishonest and unprofessional for us to provide even a ball-park figure for how much you might make by selling your Chinese art object. A dependable estimate requires close analysis of the object, research in Chinese-language sources, and a thorough study of comparable objects recently sold on the market. This research cannot be conducted unless you are prepared to pay for an appraisal. If you ask for a quick estimate, you are likely to receive what you are seeking: a careless, unprofessional guess that shortchanges you. No matter how many objects an appraiser has seen and no matter how experienced s/he is, a dependable appraisal can only be made after research and study.

Don't be fooled by offers to do a quick appraisal based on a quick viewing, years of experience lacking in formal education, and intuition. The Chinese art specialists at WEI YANG CHINESE ART have Ph.D.'s and many years of experience in the field. They take seriously the obligation to analyze your art closely, study its history, and conduct thorough research on qualified comparables on the current Chinese art market.

2. Commissioning an Art Appraisal

How Can I Have My Chinese Art Work Appraised? Where Should I Start?
This is how a formal appraisal works: After reviewing photos you send, we will recommend an appropriate art appraisal package based on your Chinese art work, the purpose of the appraisal and the goal of the client. With the client's approval and payment of 50% of the appraisal fee, we then conduct the various types of research. Sometimes we need further photographs, and we always ask the owner to fill out a custom questionnaire. Once we receive these items from the owner, we are able to complete most appraisals within two weeks. The final appraisal report is sent to the owner after we receive the balance of the appraisal fee.

How Do I Know Which Art Appraisal Package to Choose?
A Summary Appraisal is for clients with high-end Chinese art objects who want to know more about their object and its possible standing in the market place. It helps them decide what to do (sell an object, and where to sell it; hold onto an object for future appreciation, etc.). This kind of report provides a reasonable amount of information, but not in great detail, in a form that can be shared with third parties.

A Self-Contained Appraisal is the gem of our professional consulting and appraisal services: it is comprehensive, informative, and provides the highest level of detail about both aesthetics and the marketplace. It is designed for those who want to understand the nature of their art work, its cultural background, style and aesthetics, as well as its potential value and its most appropriate market place. The current Chinese art market is complex, and if you need professional help in dealing with it, this level of appraisal is probably right for you.

Most assignments in this category concern high-quality art not well attested in the usual sources: it might lack a track record in auction or sales, it might be difficult to document in the historical record, or the artist or workshop that created it might be hard to assess. The Self-Contained Appraisal offers the best of both worlds: our Chinese art expert conducts extensive research on the artist or workshop and analyzes your art work in its historical and artistic contexts, while our knowledge of the market is used to propose a value conclusion that makes sense in the real world. This level of appraisal report equips you with the information you need to appreciate and present your art work with the knowlege and confidence of an expert. The fee for a Self-Contained Appraisal varies, depending on the nature of the assignment, the scope of research, and the time needed to complete the assignment

If you need further assistance with the sale of your Chinese art object, a Comprehensive Art Appraisal will meet your needs. Our Chinese art specialist will provide you with a market analysis, selling strategies and a list of auction houses for the sale of your Chinese art object. Please read more about the Levels of Chinese Art Appraisal provided by WEI YANG CHINESE ART.

What Do You Mean by “Customized Appraisal?”
A customized appraisal package is designed to meet your individual needs. If you have additional appraisal needs not covered in the standard appraisal packages posted at our website, we are happy to prepare a customized appraisal report that answers your specific concerns. Sometimes we recommend a Customized Appraisal Package for those who own more than one Chinese art object, or for people who are unable to take photos of their object, or those whose object needs to be seen in person in order to complete an appraisal. We encourage our clients to discuss their specialized needs with us; we promise to suggest a package customized to your requirements and we pledge not to pressure you in any way. We are dedicated to educating our customers, taking them step-by-step through the appraisal process, and approaching every job with integrity, patience, and courtesy.

Can You Conduct an On-site Inspection of My Chinese Art Object?
Yes, on-site inspection of objects is one of our standard practices. However, this method involves some extra charges beyond the fee for the art appraisal report. If you are interested, please explain your concerns, and we are happy to make a detailed proposal explaining the procedure, the timing, and the fees. Sometimes our clients ship or personally bring their objects to us for on-site inspection, and sometimes our specialists travel to the owner's location.

Why Do I Need to Respond to the Appraisal Questionnaire?
If you decide to proceed with an appraisal, it is important to respond to the questionnaire we designed for your art work. The questionnaire asks about any details you might know concerning the provenance (the history of ownership) of your Chinese art object, including how the object entered your possession, as well as its recent history since then. All of these details are important to help our Chinese art specialists judge the provenance of the art work and its current condition, and to document these facts effectively in the appraisal report. These factors have a strong influence on the fair market value of the art work. Our Chinese art specialists are often able to help owners better document their art work and thus increase the object's value.

How Do You Conduct Your Art Appraisal?
Normally after a brief exchange of correspondence about the art object, we prepare a custom questionnaire for the owner. The owner answers the questions and also sends us high-quality photographs (usually digital photos sent by e-mail attachment, but prints are also acceptable) according to our specifications. As a first step, we depend on copious photographic documentation of the object, either provided by the client according to our specifications, or taken by our Chinese art specialist if the client wishes us to inspect the piece in person. Secondly, we conduct research on the history of the particular kind of object, utilizing the best scholarship in Chinese, Japanese, and European languages, in order to understand the genre of the piece, its content, style, and likely provenance. Third, we conduct a thorough review of the current market for this kind of art work, utilizing a variety of sources, the most important and sizeable of which are records (written in Chinese) of recent sales and current offerings in the Chinese-run auction houses and galleries worldwide. In suggesting a date and proposing a value, we always provide a few comparable pieces and discussion of their similarities and differences from the piece under consideration.Then we study the current Chinese art market and prepare the final written appraisal.

A formal art appraisal report conducted by WEI YANG CHINESE ART will explain to you what you own, estimate the likely performance of your art in the current Chinese art market, help you to appreciate your art, and answer other specific questions you may have. We can also tailor the report to your specific appraisal needs, whether you concern insurance claims or valuation, sale, museum donation, or estate distribution.

Can You Appraise My Chinese Art Work by Photos?
Yes, we can appraise your Chinese art object if you supply us with high-quality digital photos or prints. Many objects do not require an on-site inspection in order to be appraised. If this method suits your need, after we review the initial photos of your art work, we will give you specific instructions about how to take a complete set of photos for appraisal research and how to respond to a custom-designed questionnaire. We treat each Chinese art object, whether we inspect it in person or through photographs, with equal respect and attention.

What Kind of Photos Do You Need for Appraisal Research?
-One photo of the front of the object, showing the top and bottom of the object.
-One photo of the inscription and seals on the object, if any.
-Individual photos of all important artistic details, including the close-ups of the main image, plus any damage.
-Individual photo(s) of the back of the object.
-Other photos, as specified in our directions, based on your specific object.

Furthermore, the photos should be in as high a resolution as possible. If you are sending many large files, it is also more convenient to burn them on a CD and send it by U.S. mail rather than by e-mail attachment, since it will take you a long time to send large files and will take us a long time to download them.

How Long Does It Take for You to Complete an Appraisal Report?
After you send us 50% of the appraisal fee, the questionnaire, and the requested photos of your art object, our Chinese art specialist will begin research and draft the appraisal. It usually takes us ten days to two weeks to complete the appraisal. At that point we will write to you requesting final payment, and once we receive it, we will send you a hard copy of the appraisal report via US mail (or a faster delivery method at your cost).