Michael Dunn's decades-long love of Chinese antiques began when he was a fledgling antiques dealer in upstate New York. For many years Dunn exhibited in the prestigious Winter Antiques Show, a top tier event, held every year in January in New York City.

Recently, Dunn and his wife, Wurui, came upon a collection of the much sought after Chinese pottery figures, circa 1550, which had been in a private collectors home for several decades. This collector had a passion for the rare and unusual blue glaze - and most of this collection of 16thcentury pottery figures have this scarce blue glaze. Most of the pottery figures produced during this period have the more commonly seen light green glaze.

Some of the blue glaze object d' art are: a Ming equestrian figure astride his horse, a group of nine Ming pottery figures (one of a horse), dating from around 1550, a group of 19 Ming pottery figures, and a pair of Ming Pottery Miniature Blue Glaze tables.

Another find: an 18th Century Chinese Scholar’s Cabinet (black lacquer) with gilt decoration, is from Shanxi Province. The doors are decorated with scholar’s objects, including a clock and the lock plate and locking pin are original. Scholar’s Object were created for the literati class, who were the Civil officials in dynastic China.

To see items from this private collection, visit the shop located at 49 Middle Street, Wiscasset. The shop is open from mid-May through Columbus Day,  11 a.m. to 5. For more information on the antique shop, visit http://michaeldunnantiques.com/ or send an email, ruiwu@hotmail.com.