Are these good fakes, or are they what they say they are 19th century.

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I am thinking of buying these but I have some concerns the unglazed tops would make these 18th century but the design looks more like late Qing, the dealer said that these have been in storage for 30 years, please let me know what you think, he wants a lot for them.

[peterp]

Stan, an unglazed neck means that it is Qing dynasty, normally. Only those late in the Qing dynasty were glazed, but there were still unglazed ones for a time, when they were glazed.
Difficult to tell the age of this jar, but if you look at the way the faces are painted, and the hairstyle, it can hardly be Qing dynasty. At least republic period,I would think.

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I lost out on a bid on these vases, there is a pair however the seller said that the buyer that won the bid has not paid, and is now offering them to me, my consern is I just bought two ginger jars with lids from a friend of mine that just got back form China, I am conserned because the decoration is very similar, so much that I have doubts, I have asked the seller to send me a photo of the inside of the vases to see if there is age signs, the pair I just bought from my friend I paid $250.00 for, I would say they are maybe 30 to 40 years old but they could even be later, but very nice for the price, the seller that wants me to be these says they are 19th century but I agree with you they look later to me also, but after comparing the ones I just bought  to these makes me wonder, I also just came back from a trip in which I went to several Antique and designer shops and all the Chinese porcelain was brand new but with age signs that were almost convincing of antique but I could tell that they were new and the dealer confirmed and said it was for interior decorators.

[Stan]

Peter, with an unglazed top like you said Qing dynasty, but with a Guangxu decoration, that raises a red flag to me, I will let you know what the inside looks like, thanks Peter.

[peterp]

Well Stan, designs or decorations never changed abruptly. So, as a rule no glaze on the neck and shoulder means Qing dynasty. In the late dynasty (about Guangxu) some glazed necks started to appear, much of this went to the west, I suspect. It is even possible that the glazing was requested from the client side. So while these were made, the unglazed necks were still being made, but were slowly replaced. That is all...nothing unfathomable in it.
You should also check out the foot rim, to see if the fired clay is fine or not. If it is very fine, then the clay is from a later time. Never relay on one factor alone, always try to evaluate several (five or more). The bottom and rim should always be decisive. With the rim it is not the shape alone, it is also the consistency of the clay, because coarseness, purity, etc. can tell us something about age.

The faces and hairdo are looking like republican ones, but that does not mean they could not be from a later time. Imitations always copy elements of earlier wares. If you got a pair, or see other similar ones, then the risk is higher, of course. That could mean that they are not that old.
When calculating the risk you could also include the stand and lid; if they are of wood like zitan, etc. or are old they have value, but today many are machine made from average wood.

[Stan]

On my recent trip I visited some of the Antique - Interior designer shops, I am always looking for Chinese Antique Porcelain, what they had was new, all of it, I asked the dealer about them and she said that they are new and that the real Chinese Antique Porcelain is very expensive and that the new ones were for Interior designers, but all the lidded ginger jars had unglazed tops and the bottoms had pitting, missing glaze in areas and even glaze cracks, if it wasn't for the fact that the blue was a later blue and the unglazed areas looked fresh you would have thought they were period pieces, a little dirt and some artificial scratches and maybe a chip here and there and behold you have an antique, so looking at these vases a little closer and just buying a new pair with the same detail was pretty alarming especially the unglazed top with the the later decoration also the stands and the lids can be found at reasonable prices, if you combine the old wood and stands with the vases it would fool most people, I bought the tea pots from a dealer that said the reason that the Antique Chinese Porcelain is slowing down is because the Chinese are buying back there fakes and taking them back to China and now they have specialized Chinese buyers that are looking but they do not pay that much, so the market is slowing down a bit.

[Stan]

I forgot to mention that the porcelain in these new reproductions is very coarse just like the old ones, from the bottoms if you were to compare the real from the new the only difference would be that the old has dirt and wear the new is free from dirt and wear that is the only difference, how hard would it be to add a little dirt and add a little wear and you could not tell the difference, that is scary.

[silk]

Agree with peter, this jar is at least republic period.