1950s George Zee Hand Carved Kiln Dried Rosewood Chairs

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George Zee & Co was established furniture maker in Shanghai which later moved to Hong Kong.

According to one of … Read more George Zee & Co was established furniture maker in Shanghai which later moved to Hong Kong.

According to one of his clients Chaplain Thomas Parham Jr (who was the first African American captain of the US Navy), George Zee (徐國祥, Xu Guoxiang) originally studied to become a Presbyterian minister at the Princeton Seminary in the US but went into the furniture business in Shanghai in order to support his large extended family in the 1930s.

He proved to be a shrewd businessman and was good at attracting Western clients, soon his George Zee & Co (Xu Hai Ji in Chinese) was one of the leading Chinese wood carved furniture makers in Shanghai.

George Zee left Shanghai for Hong Kong with less than HK$50,000 in cash shortly before the Communists took over China and soon, like many of his fellow Shanghainese businessmen, lost his shirt in gold speculation.

However, he was quick to by re-establishing his furniture business In Hong Kong. His kiln-dried, carved wood items, often featuring metal tags, became highly sought after by American service members stationed in Asia during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

At his peak, George Zee had 3 shops in Kowloon and Hong Kong (there was also a branch at the Hong Kong Hotel at one point) and 2 factories, one located in Mongkok and another one on in Cheung Sha Wan which was a “big establishment but the equipment was rudimentary and the management slip shod. There were more than a hundred men in the big yard, hewing, carving and assembling parts all with their hands and there was not a piece of machinery in sight”.

Part of George Zee’s success was his emphasis on product quality – every product was meter tested before it left the factory and each piece, primarily carved from teak and camphor wood, included an individual serial number and came with a guarantee that it would never split or warp thanks to his special kiln dried technique.

Although his business was very successful, it was not immune to labor issues and in 1951, a strike arose over a disagreement about piecework rates and discontent over measures taken to suppress gambling and to prevent workers from using the factory as sleeping quarters. Out of this strike the first union for wood carvers in Hong Kong – the pro-KMT, HK Kowloon Camphorwood Trunk Workers Union, was organized and at its peak in the late 1950s early 1960s it had over 240 members. Within a year, the pro-Communist Wood Carvers Union was also established and soon became the largest group with over 500 members. In response, another right wing group comprised of Shanghai/Chekiang natives was formed with peak membership of 160 in 1955.

George Zee died in May 1967 and the management of his business was left to his widow Zee Chang Kam Fung (徐張金鳳) who also served on the board of the HKFCMA but whom eventually closed the doors of George Zee and Company furniture manufacturing in 2010. Today, original George Zee & Co. pieces are valued by collectors, with prices influenced by design, carving quality, and original tags

These 2 beautiful hand carved, kiln-dried chairs are beautiful representations of the gorgeous wood workings of George Zee and Company. Each chair includes a metal plate, which reflects their individual serial numbers and year of manufacture (1951). Each of these chairs were created by George Zee and Company in 1951 and brought over to the United States by our American soldiers.

These chairs are in good condition and are very sturdy. The chairs do reflect a bit of wear from normal age. See less