We welcome your comments, expressions of interest and questions about these items...
The Collector — Robert Maher
The Ceramics Whisperer...
Great collections are assembled over a long period of time and represent a variety of different intents. They commence with a desire, a chance meeting, event, or circumstance. In the case of Robert Maher, it was one or all of these and perhaps a genetic pre-disposition to collect..
Maher’s British grandfather discovered the beauty of ancient Chinese ceramics whilst stationed there as an engineer in the late 19th Century. His father continued this love of the arts of the Orient and could have been seen fossicking through the antique markets and galleries of Hong Kong in the 1950’s. Two decades later, Maher retraced his father’s footsteps adding to the family collection whilst formally studying Chinese ceramics and jade at the University of Hong Kong, earning a degree in Archaeology in 1972. He remains a life member of the Hong Kong Archaeological Society.
To pursue his passion and further his knowledge, Maher participated in excavations of Neolithic and Bronze Age sites and visited ancient kilns throughout China. His reputation and status grew as an authority on early Chinese material culture earning him privileged viewings of rare antiquities in the Beijing and Shanghai museums. His comprehension of the Mandarin language, spoken and written, proved to be a great asset in these encounters.
The vintage of Chinese ceramics in the marketplace is generally decided by expert opinion or if one is willing to vandalize a piece, then a sample can be taken and Carbon C-14 dated in a laboratory. As the commercial worth of an antique is judged partly by it’s beauty, influenced by it’s condition, certainly by it’s rarity and antiquity, then an accurate means of determining age preferably without damaging a rare porcelain, is highly desirable. To this end, Maher is currently researching Chinese glazes under high magnification. The hidden hallmarks, unique structures and intriguing bubble patterns are revealed under the microscope. To the masterful eye of Robert Maher, these elements combine to demonstrate a finger-print that could be a marker of a particular origin and specific period.
Maher intends to formalise this benchmark study through a Master of Arts programme undertaken at the University of Queensland.
“Regardless of one’s expertise and credentials, one of the great joys of collecting, no matter what the art or artifact, are the multiple facets, hidden layers and numerous intangibles in each and every piece. It requires all of the five senses, working in harmony to begin to understand and appreciate the individual characteristics and subtle nuances. With all this in play, and if any doubt remains over an item’s provenance, then one must be guided by intuition and personal experience.”
