ANTIQUES – Antique Dragons Are Roaring Good Fun

In the old English epic, “Beowulf,” the title hero sets out to slay the evil ogre, Grendel.
Along his way he comes upon a fire-breathing dragon sitting atop of a huge pile of riches. The dragon’s advice to the young Beowulf is to abandon his quest and “find a pile of gold and sit on it.” Some of today’s collectors are finding their own pile of gold to sit on. And guess what it is? – Dragons.
These collectors know the value of dragons as a crossover collectible, appealing to more than one group of collectors. You can find dragons on all sorts of things – porcelain, pottery, bronze and other metals, jewelry, furniture, textiles, and even glass.
Dragons are also cross-cultural, found in art and literature around the world. In English culture we see them not only in Beowulf, but in the legend of St. George, and in Scotland’s Loch Ness monster.
The first people to draw dragons were the Summerians, about 5000 B.C., but dragons are a part of cultures across the globe from the Innuits in the Arctic to the Aztecs in the Americas, and from Africa to the Orient. The Germans, Romans, Egyptians and Greeks wrote about dragons, and they can even be found in the Bible.
Why are dragons so universally known? According to a recent article in the science section of the New York Times, it’s because early man found the skulls and even complete skeletons of dinosaurs. As recently as about 250 years ago, even the most educated men believed that dragons existed. The less educated held to a belief in dragons well into the 19th Century.
Mostly, we identify dragons with Asian cultures, where they are, despite their ferocious appearance, usually peaceful beings who bring luck and good fortune.
In China, where the dragon is a sign in the zodiac, it is described as having some of the best parts of many of nature’s creatures — a deer’s antlers, a camel’s head, a rabbit’s eyes, a snake’s neck, a crocodile’s body, a tiger’s paws with an eagle’s talons.
By the way, dragons with five toes are fairly rare and are called Imperial Dragons because they are associated with the aristocracy. Look for them embroidered on textiles, especially robes.
The Japanese use the dragon a great deal in decorative arts, probably more than the Chinese. Dragons appear in applied relief (moriage) on Satsuma tea and coffee sets from the 1920s and ‘30s. You can also find them in gold luster on such sets, or as figural handles. Dragons molded in relief and rubbed with black umber are the standard decoration on Japanese tokaname, red clay terra cotta wares.
Appraisals: Bronze vase, Japanese, 6-inches high, dragons in relief ($295); Dragon Ware moriage tea set for eight, grey and black ($325); Japanese tokaname (carved terra cotta) umbrella stand ($750-1,000); Tokaname vase, long neck, 9-inches high ($395); Wedgwood “Dragon Luster” octagonal bowl ($750); Gentleman’s tie tack, 14k gold, dragon with diamond chip in its jaws ($225); Venetian glass ewer with dragon handle, early 19th Century ($2,800): Trenton porcelain pitcher with dragon handle, Ott & Brewer ($350).
Arthur Schwerdt, a certified appraiser, is the author of “The Antique Story Book,” and co-owner of The August Farmhouse Antiques on Route 9 in Swainton. Send your comments, questions and appraisal requests to: aschwerdt@cmcherald.com.