Chinese celadon vase, decorated with symbols, marked Kangxi

Preview Entry 5 - Carlo Bonte (Asian Arts Part II 10-28-2015)

A Chinese celadon vase, decorated with symbols, marked Kangxi

Lot 451

6 Characters (大清康熙年製) mark

Estimated: €400 - €600

Realized Price: $7,000

Hey Hey Hey, Connoisseur Bear is here!  Sorry guys I have dragged into the study of anthropology and the readings and paper amount is hellish!!!

This week we will talk about a Kangxi jun 尊 vase.

For this vase, I am quite positive about this vase.  Reasons below:

1.      Shape matters

For this vase, it resembles the shape of jun 尊 vase during Kangxi period, usually besides finding example pieces from museum catalogues and exhibition, we also read different materials related to Chinese antiques.  In one of our Chinese porcelain text book written by Geng Bao Chang, 耿寶昌, he mentioned about the shape of a “jun” vase during Kangxi period, which kind resemble the vase we featured this week.  As we know that, the pieces from imperial kiln are strictly restricted in style, so the form of a vase should not be in a huge variety.

Abstrict from "Ming and Qing porcelain on inspection", 明清瓷器鑒定, page 17

2.      Motif matters

For the motifs on the vase, we usually call them as animal mask, 獸面.  This type of motifs is popular for archaistic bronze wares during Shang dynasty 商朝(c. 1600 BC–c. 1046 BC), and suddenly it is “revived” in Kangxi period.  This kind of motifs is unique in Kangxi reign as it is hard to find animal mask motifs in later reigns.

'Fangyi' Covered Ritual Wine Vessel with 'Taotie' Decor, collection of Harvard Art Museums

3.      Mark matters

We always talk about the mark, that because it represents the written style of certain dynasties and periods.  We have talked about the written style of Yongzheng and Kangxi period in previous entry, which is related to the composition of the Chinese texts.  You guys can refer to it.  The mark of this vase can be resembled to the mark during Kangxi period.

4.      Foot rim matters

Another thing that we always talk about is: foot rim, this is the thing that “gives out” the quality of a ceramic,  as it reveals the body of a porcelain piece.  For celadon pieces during Qing dynasty, we call this type of glaze as 東青釉 (eastern green), which is extremely similar to the celadon glaze in later reigns, 冬青釉 (winter green).  For the pieces that in eastern green or winter green during Qing dynasty, we can see many “rings” in the foot rim, which very similar to the piece we featured this week.  However, one thing to remind you guys is that, if we see this kind of rim in blue and white pieces, it is problematic and usually it is a red flag.

The ring (not the spooky one)

Conclusion: 

Analyzing a Chinese antique is hard, it required years of experience and devotion of learning via reading different books that are academic and reliable.  I hope that I can serve as a bridge for you all to admire the beauty of Chinese ceramics.

Wow!

BESIDES, WE JUST GOT ONE LIKE IN FACEBOOK, SHOUTOUT TO OUR HERO, MICHAEL SHANG!  OUR BEARS ALMOST SHUT THE BLOG AND SCRATCH THEIR TUMMIES BUT NOW WE WILL CONTINUE OUR EFFORTS

celebrate good times come on

Chinese Qing Blue and White Lotus Dish

Preview Entry 3 - Bonhams (Asian Art 09-23-2015)

A Blue and White Saucer Dish

Lot 226

D: 15cm

6 Characters (大清康熙年製) mark

Estimated: £1,500-$2,000

This summer is way too hot!  I hope our progress will not be hindered because of this intense heat.  In this week, we have found one Blue and White “lotus” dish from Bonhams, which is a well-known auction house.  You must say, It must be very expensive if it is from Christies, Sothebys or Bonhams. Right? But it’s not, yeah!  It is in a decent price (estimated price £1,500 - 2,000), and it is with a Kangxi 6 characters imperial mark.

Why Connoisseur Bear think it is a good piece for beginner to collect?

1. Valid color

First of all, we think that this dish is from the period of Kangxi.  The color and the mark for this dish are similar to the pieces in Kangxi reign.  The painters from Kangxi reign were good at depicting blue color, when we examine the blue color, we should see a gradient of blue color, from a purplish rich blue color to a lighted one (see the reference piece from Victoria and Albert museum and the detail of Bonhams Kangxi dish).

Plate made in Jingdezhen, China

1700-1710 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Detail of Lot 226

Bonhams

2. Valid mark
For the mark, it is nicely written, we can see the brush stroke (red circle).  

It also fits the written style of the 6 characters imperial mark during Kangxi reign, we will talk about one of the styles today, for the word “年”, we can see the cross is way upper than the “年” during yongzheng reign, this is one of the fundamental element when we are identifying the reign mark.

Provenance
Stated by Bonhams, it was from Christie’s London, 14 June 1990, Lot 176.  Although we don’t need provenance to seek treasure, for the people with less knowledge in antiques, they need it.  So the piece with provenance is easier to resell, and can sell a better price.

Condition
Finally, this piece is in a good condition.  Stated in the condition report, this dish is slightly wrapped, general wear and some pits.  For the wrapping and pits, it may create during the firing stage.  But we think that if there are no cracks or chips, we saved a lot for the restoration.

For our final advice, this piece is good if it can be bided with £1,500 - 2,000.  Since “lotus” pattern Kangxi dish is a common pattern, the resell value is not as high as the rare one.  If it is beyond £2,000, combined with the Tax, Commission, Transportation, Insurance…etc, it is expensive.