Chinese New Year 2017

This coming Saturday, 28 January marks the first day of Chinese New Year. New Year is also known as the “Spring Festival” in China and is the longest and most important holiday there. The New Year’s festivities end two weeks later on the 15th day of the first month and this day is known as the Lantern Festival. London's festivities are the biggest celebrations outside Asia and every year, hundreds of thousands of people head to Chinatown to wish each other "Xin Nian Kuai Le" (Happy New Year in Mandarin) or "San Nin Faai Lok" (in Cantonese). Find out more about events happening in London this weekend here.

2017 is the year of the fire rooster - each Chinese New Year is characterised by one of 12 animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac - which symbolises loyalty, commitment, hard work and family values amongst other values.

Alfies has several dealers who stock high calibre Chinese and Asian Antiques, such as Horner Antiques who has a keen eye for detail in oriental porcelain and is based on the ground floor, and Hongman Yang, who is based on the first floor and deals in a variety of items, including paintings and jewellery as well as ceramics.

Here are some of our favourite pieces:

Large Famille Noir Chinese Vase - Dragons Chasing Through Flowers, 1st Republic. From Horner Antiques.

Chinese 'Blanc de Chine' of a deity holding a peach. From Horner Antiques.

Chinese blue and white plum flower ginger jar with wooden lid. From Hongman Yang.

Chinese tea caddy Qianlong period. From Diplomat Treasures International.

20th century bowl with rooster. From Hongman Yang.