ANNABELLE INTERNATIONAL BRINGS CHINESE PORCELAIN TO TENNESSEE
Charles Li opens a small box revealing a delicate porcelain tea set depicting scenes from the classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber and carefully turns a tiny cup in his hand.
"Every single piece is unique, one of a kind," says Li of his porcelain collection, which runs toward 10,000 pieces and is now available for sale to the public.
In a nondescript farmhouse south of Franklin, Li, a Williamson County resident for the past year and president of Annabelle International, has stored his collection to await the customers who are sure to appreciate his works of art which have come all the way from Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China.
"Mostly this is the oriental porcelain from middle China. They are all hand-made and hand-painted," says Li, 44, looking over his goods with a visitor.
The collection is colorful, indeed. From the traditional imperial blue-and-white color scheme to the earthier bronze-and-black Li's collection displays the full range of the color wheel. He says the color will be good "for 1,000 years."
The pieces are set on racks in the living and dining rooms of a 100-year-old ramshackle farmhouse, with weathered wood siding that one would never guess shelters such treasure.
They arrived on two 40-foot shipping containers after making the trip overland from Jingdezhen to Shanghai, and then by sea to Los Angeles, Li's former home. He returns to China about twice a year to do his shopping, selecting pieces he thinks will sell best in the U.S.
The people of Jingdezhen have been making porcelain for some 1,100 years, and were exclusive porcelain producers for imperial courts from the Song Dynasty to the Qing. Today there are more than 500 factories making porcelain in what is known as "the porcelain capital of China," Li says.
Some of Li's porcelain is covered in hand-woven bamboo. After the porcelain is fired at around 1,500 degrees and then cooled, it is wrapped in thin multi-colored bamboo strips by two workers who spend two weeks on the piece. One in 20 pieces is successful - the rest are thrown away.
Shipping Jingdezhen's treasures to the U.S. is sometimes frustrating and never easy: Li loses an estimated 20 percent of his goods to breakage in transit, he says. Even a tiny crack makes the porcelain useless to Li.
The pieces that have survived the journey include not only tea sets but porcelain tables and chairs for four, vases large and small, wine sets, and even large porcelain paintings.
They feature idyllic scenes of boatmen and fishermen, mountains and flowers, pavilions and pagodas and even characters from Chinese legends such as the dragon and phoenix.
"When a parent tells a story they tell about the dragon and phoenix," Li says.
Some of the porcelain also features Chinese poems - "You can not only enjoy the pictures but you can also read these poems for relaxing," he says.
He adds that his porcelain will get more valuable with age.
"It usually lasts for the rest of your life," he says.
Li started collecting porcelain after receiving some as gifts upon his graduation from the Sichuan International Studies University in Chengdu, Sichuan, his native province.
"I really love these pieces," says Li, who also enjoys introducing westerners to Asian culture and language.
His enthusiasm for his porcelain is obvious - and catching. Franklin resident Freddie Haddox, 60, is a happy Annabelle International customer who has leased storage space to Li's enterprise.
"That collection is a fine collection of porcelain and handicrafts, and also artwork," says Haddox. "That's a very precious collection."
Haddox has known Li for two or three years and recalls seeing his porcelain collection for the first time.
"I was amazed," he says. "My wife purchased some pieces for our new house. My mother has some pieces at her place."
Haddox and his wife Ree "lived for three and a half years in Japan," he says. "So she really appreciates Asian art."
When they built their new house, "She wanted to set it up right," he says.
"I expect it to go up in value," he adds of his wife's collection. "You know how art is: At some point it'll take more money to get it here, and to make it."
CONTACT: Charles Li, 626-202-8168; or email annabelleinternational02 @ yahoo.com
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ABOUT ANNABELLE INTERNATIONAL
Years in Business: 5
Source of Name: "Annabel Lee," a poem by American poet Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)
Location: Franklin, Tennessee (formerly Los Angeles, California)
Source of Name: "Annabel Lee," a poem by American poet Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)
Location: Franklin, Tennessee (formerly Los Angeles, California)
