I’d like to purchase a handmade replica as a birthday gift for my boyfriend. A “handmade, museum-quality reproduction” painting sounds a little bit too good to be true, so I’m worried this might be a scam.
I’d like to purchase a handmade replica as a birthday gift for my boyfriend. A “handmade, museum-quality reproduction” painting sounds a little bit too good to be true, so I’m worried this might be a scam.
Wait which part? It’s a thing, there is or was a city in China where making hand reproductions is their main industry, but it sounds like you specifically went looking so that’s not a surprise.
If you’re sus because of the price: Cheap third-world labour. Actually, you could probably find even cheaper, since $335 is still a bit. If you’re wondering if it will actually be “museum quality”, well, that’s an advertising term and not a meaningful thing in the first place. It’s all down to how experienced the particular artist is, and there’s of course a risk that they won’t ship you the thing described at all.
You’re talking about Dafen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWd9nnaDL3M
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dafen_Village
Looks like it still exists, but I heard info that they closed a lot down in the recent years. Although it’s second-hand info, so take it with a grain of salt
Nice, you found it!
There’s probably another one somewhere poorer yet that’s stealing their thunder. China has developed to the point where workers can charge more.
Here’s a good, short podcast episode about it. https://pca.st/episode/5fe9cbac-1123-4a35-806c-7310195b3937