McTear's Embraces the Chinese New Year

 A Happy Chinese New Year to you all from McTear’s… we are now on the year of the horse!

 This is the year of the horse. Those born within these years are recognised as energetic, bright and intelligent. It is believed those born in the year of the horse have excellent communication skills and enjoy being in the limelight. This year, they will encounter the Year of Birth. It is believed they will offend Taisui, the god in charge of fortune, so their finances may fluctuate. For those not born on a horse year, the year ahead will bring health and prosperity. It is said to be an excellent time to travel, as the next 12 months will bring good luck. You are advised to mingle with the locals, savour authentic cuisine and discover somewhere you have never been before.



 It is traditional in the Chinese New Year to have a clean house to sweep away the bad luck from the previous year… a perfect job for McTear’s Clearance service to help! Also, the colour red is big! Traditionally, doors and windows are all painted and decorated in red which is considered a lucky colour. They also believe that no cleaning should be done in the first few days of New Year, as you risk sweeping away your good luck- well there is a very good excuse not to clean!

 It wouldn’t be a holiday without food, of course! There are festive foods associated with abundance and good fortune, where families sit down and share their food to embrace togetherness. They eat noodles to symbolise longevity and a happy life, dumplings to promote wealth in the upcoming year, lettuce symbolises prosperity and a fresh start, clams which are considered lucky because of their moon-like shape and also the family shares a whole quail or chicken to suggest unity and family togetherness and a whole fish, which in Chinese sounds like the word abundance. Also, mandarin oranges are used as gifts and decorations as they are considered as symbols of good fortune and abundance as their golden colour represents money and fortune in the coming year.

 Another important tradition is to give out red packets of ‘luck’ money called leisee to children. The Chinese New Year is a great time to get together and celebrate Chinese culture, which is beautiful, artictic and filled with great values.

 McTear’s has a specialist department dealing with works of art from China, Japan, Korea, India, Persia, Iran and many other artistically rich nations. From Shang bronzes to Meiji ceramics and woodblock prints to Iznik dishes, Chinese and Japanese objects d’art in particular are more popular than ever at McTear’s, with demand regularly driving prices above estimate. The weekly Interiors auctions include examples of Asian export art and modern items, while finer and rarer examples can be found in the specialist sales, attracting buyers from China, Japan, the Middle East and the USA, as well as Europe. McTear’s have dedicated Asian Works of Art auctions every ten weeks, keep yourself up to date here, and embrace the very unique and traditional styles.

The next auction is on Tuesday 4th March 2014 at 10.30am, for more information click here.
For more information on buying or selling Asian art at McTear’s please contact the specialist:
Magda Ketterer
magda@mctears.co.uk