By Celine Chen

The 2008 Shanghai private collection exhibition opened to the public on October 6 in the Jinmao Plaza and will last until October 13. 25 private museums are participating in this year’s exhibition. Items on display include a Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) mirror decorated with peony and phoenix patterns, a Song Dynasty (960-1279) zither, and a statue of the Bodhisattva Guanyin portrayed with three faces and ten arms. Some pieces have been valued at more than 10 million yuan.

Visitors crowd the exhibition hall.

An opera costume made from golden thread and embroidered with a silver dragon attracted many visitors’ attention. The unique costume took three years to make at a cost of several hundred thousand yuan. It is part of the private collection of Peking Opera star Bao Wanrong.

Another popular exhibit is a two ton stone screen carved from red Jixue (chicken blood) stone.

A large blue and white porcelain dish used by Dowager Empress Cixi (1835 -1908) is another striking piece. The 71 cm diameter dish is decorated with a pattern of nine interlocking lotus branches and stamped “made for the Chuxiu Palace” (the residence of the Dowager Empress). Such large dishes were only made in the Longquan kiln, which dates from the Yuan Dynasty, and were very rare in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

A miniature reproduction of the treasure cabinet from the famous Chinese novel The Dream of Red Mansions is also on display. Master Zhou Changxing and his daughter Zhou Liju spent ten years creating this masterpiece. 365 treasures owned by Jia Baoyu, the main character in the novel, have been lovingly recreated. Zhou Liju said every tiny item can be used – even the one centimeter books and scrolls can be opened.

In addition to these eye-catching antiques, many everyday items are on show, such as the earliest radio, an old-style household electric meter, old bus-passes and food coupons. And some of these apparently ordinary items can be worth extraordinary amounts of money. A 1930s limited edition of cigarette packets featuring Confucius and his 72 famous students are said to be the most valuable. The complete set of 73 could be exchanged for an imported car back then, and they are worth much more now.