A typical scholar's studio in ancient Chinese furniture collector Marcus Flacks' book Custodians of the Scholar's Way, decorated with his collection of about 200 pieces of wooden objects used by ancient Chinese scholars such as weiqi (the game of Go) boxes and inkpad boxes.[Photo provided to China Daily]

But for Flacks, who maintains a strong passion for Chinese culture, his collection of these long neglected pieces started in the early 1990s with his wife Debby. The Flacks refer to themselves merely as the "custodians" of these delicate wooden objects, which were often treated as items of secondary importance by the art market.

The British collector says that many dealers thought the couple were crazy because they often offered big sums of money for these small objects. They mainly bought from dealers and collectors directly as they traveled around the world.

As an antique dealer himself, Flacks has had the opportunity to see lots of good examples of these objects, which has helped him to develop his knowledge - and thus pave the way for him to write a book on such a specific subject matter.

Before publishing this book, Flacks released two works in 2012, Classical Chinese Furniture and Contemplating Rocks, both of which focused on the lifestyle of the ancient Chinese scholars and their interest in the spiritual world.