Large Turquoise Foo Lions

[Stan]

Hi Peter, these came from the same antique shop that I purchased the Rice grain bowls the consigner told the the dealer that these came from her grandmothers and that she knows they have been around at least 60 years, I have a small pair of foo lions in the turquoise color but they are fairly new I think but these have nice detail and a much richer looking turquoise glaze, one of them has a mark, I could not find it in my books, I think these could be early republic, could you tell me how old they are and what the mark on the bottom says, on the bottom there is a little bit of glaze  and you can see where they set in the kiln on the four corners on the bottom, the size is 40.64 cm tall, I will post 14 photo's, thanks for all your help.

[Stan]

Here are more photo's to view.

[Stan]

Here are more photo's to view.

[Stan]

Here is the last set of photo's, thanks for viewing.

[peterp]

Stan,
I have internet access problems and am unable to view pictures properly. Will answer after network access is normal, tomorrow.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter,

[peterp]

Stan, the mark says "Jin Fu-sheng", apparently the artisan's or maker's name.
Nice pair of lions.
I cannot really tell from when it is, but from some peripheral knowledge related to figurines, I would think perhaps second or third quarter or the 20th century.
In this case I think the mark might tell the age, but I cannot find the maker. There are plenty of people with this name, though.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, in my book of marks there was three characters that resemble these marks two of the characters are the same but the one in the middle was a little different, it says Yu Liansheng (painter), name of painter republic.

[peterp]

You can not go with something similar, Stan. It must be the same. As I said, this (whole) name is very common, and there are probably lots of artists and craftsmen of that name. From the pinyin it seems that both Yu and Lian must be different characters.

[peterp]

I have found someone who would fit this. Not sure if it is him.
Name Jin Yun-yan, alias Jin Fu-sheng, born 1904, had workshop in second quarter to early third quarter of 20th century. Specialized on animal figures. Trade name is ???.
I found this information by searching for the alias, but there is porcelain marked with the above trade name. There is always a possibility that this item was marked by his actual name.

[Stan]

Sorry for doubting you, Peter, after all you do speak and write Chinese fluently, thanks again for your expertise.