Q&A with Antique Expert: Lark Mason
BY HELEN BU
From Artnet.com's Art Market Trends Column.
Lark Mason is an expert in the field of auction and antiques. He is the author of Asian Art: Including the Arts of Islam, an acclaimed art history guide, and translator of two groundbreaking works on Chinese furniture. Mason spent 17 years as an Asian Art appraiser on Antiques Roadshow, and worked for 24 years at Sotheby's New York, where he served as a generalist, senior vice president in the Chinese works of art department, and director of online auctions. In 2003, he started his own business, an international Fine Art and antiques auction site called iGavel.com.
Helen Bu:On you profile for the PBS series, Antiques Roadshow, I read that you started out in the antique business at an early age. What fascinates you about this industry?
Lark Mason: I became interested in antiques at an early age because of the association of objects with history; not in a dry sense, such as in a book of dates and events, but in a real, physical, tangible sense. The idea of an object, created a generation or more before I was born, having value to someone, intrigued me. I wondered why someone went to the trouble to create an object in the first place, how that object was used, and then why it survived. It fascinated me that objects without a practical use have value. I discovered that objects tie the living to generations that are past, and in the process tell us something about them and about us. Objects also are repositories of skills that have changed and in some instances disappeared. Understanding these processes led to an appreciation for ingenuity and craftsmanship that became the basis for learning the difference between objects made at different time periods and locations.
HB:You are most renowned as an expert in Asian Art and antiques, especially Chinese Art. Was that always your main focus? What brings you into this field?
LM: My interest originally was not with Asian or Chinese Art but with swords, militaria, and early books. During college, my interests changed as I opened an antique shop selling American country and English 18th-century furniture and decorations. I realized after my first year that I needed more experience, which led me to spend a year at Sotheby's Works of Art Program in London from 1978 to 1979. It was there that I first was exposed to Chinese Art. I remember my first encounter with Chinese Art in the British Museum; I was amazed at the quality and perfection of porcelain created during the early Ming dynasty. Later, I was close to overwhelmed at the Perceval David Collection in London. The ceramic shapes and colors created by the Song potters were as new and fresh today as when they were created over 800 years earlier. After six years as a generalist appraiser for Sotheby's in New York, working with all types of arts and antiques, I finally landed in the Chinese department, where I stayed until 2003.
HB:I know that you've had the opportunity to work with Wang Shixiang(Chinese, 1914009), who is reputed as a Chinese culture master, in translating his book, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, back to the 1980s in Beijing. How was that experience? What were your impressions of Wang and Beijing at that time?
LM: Beijing in the late 1980s had more in common with the pre-World War II period than today. It was a time capsule. The building boom had yet to start, and Beijing was still a city with neighborhoods full of Ming and Qing buildings. Every day, I tried to bicycle through different parts of the city. I arrived at Shixiang's courtyard house around 9 a.m. and we sat across from each other working on a dark, polished zitan painting table. To one side was an open window looking out on the courtyard with a variety of ragged plants and a banana palm, and the other was framed by stacks of books and his collection of crickets. We worked across from each other for six months. Each day around noon, I went back to my dormitory and retyped my notes and had lunch, and then I would ride my bicycle back by 3 p.m. We would work for another three hours, and then he and his wife would often share dinner with me. He was a fantastic cook and delighted in sharing recipes that had been favorites of the court. Seas of commuters filled the streets each morning and afternoon, but then the streets were completely empty by 8 p.m. There were no cars except those near the few western hotels. I remember the first time I heard flocks of pigeons flying overhead with pigeon whistles attached to their bodies. It was an amazing sound. That world is gone and I was privileged to experience it.
Lark Mason Associate
HB: In 2003, you left Sotheby's and started your own business, iGavelauctions.com. Why is it solely online? What differentiates it from other online platforms? What are your thoughts about the future for an online art marketplace?
LM: I actually have two businesses. iGavel is an auction platform that is used by independent auction houses whose sales are hosted on the iGavel site. In addition, I own Lark Mason Associates, an auction house that uses the iGavel platform. Lark Mason Associates regularly sells on iGavel and focuses on Asian Art. The difference between iGavel and other platforms is that all of our bidding is online, allowing us to implement policies that most auctioneers cannot. We publish the reserves so that everyone knows the minimum amount, we offer a two-week bidding window, we offer a consistent experience for all users of our site, and we provide plenty of information to make a decision, including guaranteed condition reports and lots of photographs. We also have live exhibitions so that people who wish to view items in person are able to do so. Auction houses with a combination of live bidding and an Internet component leave the online bidder at a disadvantage to the bidder in the salesroom. Our service keeps all bidders at the same level, and, as a result, we end up with a higher percentage of retail-type buyers participating in our sales than is the case with other auction houses.
