[Covet]: Sh'nese Antiques
By Sarah Hammer, Aug 10th, 2009 | In Shopping
"Covet" is a celebration of the mass accumulation of commodities. Basically, it's just seeing purchase-worthy stuff around Shanghai and sometimes purchasing it.
Item: The appearance of taste, sophistication, and a rich inner life through the ownership of authentic Shanghainese antique furniture.
Store: Bai Sher -- 866 Yan'an Lu, near Shaanxi Lu
Costs: Varying items -- lamps (200rmb and up); boxes and chests (100rmb and up); drawers, desks, chairs, chests, armoires, tables, and more (100rmb and up, up, up).
We're taking a respite from the usual "Covet" column regressions into juvenile wish fulfilment, to feature a store with interesting and unique items that you might actually want to purchase.
The first thing that strikes you when you enter the two-room Bai Sher antique furniture shop is the smell. A small store housing a jumble of oak, teak, wicker, and pine furniture, Bai Sher exudes that classic old time-y Grandma's attic smell. Ah, the musty scent of bygone class, authenticity, and elegance. And just like an old attic, if you spend some time poking through the random collection of items therein, you're sure to come up with interesting pieces worthy of rescue.
Culled from Shanghainese homes, the majority of Bai Sher's wares are furniture, but they also have an assortment of unique lamps, ceramics, and glassware, as well as a few singular items (an antique fire extinguisher, metal fans, a much beleaguered barber's chair in the veranda out front, and antique wood and iron tricycles).
Bai Sher's stock is mainly Shanghainese (with a few items from Tianjin) and is from the 1920s - 30s -- lots of thick and serious oak and teak. The whole time I was poking around in there I kept thinking of that famous scene in Empire of the Sun with the main character staggering past all those Shanghainese antiques abandoned in the desert. They have an abundance of art deco-style furniture, with the requisite Cultural Revolution-era antiques as well. The English-speaking staff is really nice and helpful, and Bai Sher also maintains a blog right here, if you'd like to stay up-to-date on new items that come into the shop.
In addition to an antiques store, Bai Sher is also a pottery and ceramic workshop. They're open to the public daily from 5pm until 10pm, and its 50rmb for one hour. When you finish your masterpiece you let it set for a week and then return to decorate it free of charge. The picture below is the workshop in the back:
Bai Sher is at 866 Yan'an Lu, facing the Yan'an highway on the north side of the street just east of Shaanxi Bei Lu. They're open every day from 12pm until 10pm.
Hassle free ticket purchasing and delivery for Shanghai's cultural and concert events:
roar28, Oct 13th, 2009
checked this place out the other day and it seemed quite overpriced, particularly for lamps, etc. perhaps they've increased their prices in the past couple of months?everythingwy , Nov 10th, 2009
I just been there last weekend, the shop is full of lovely and cool stuffs! Bought a pair of old majong earings for my girl friend.The owner is very nice~Please sign in or register to comment