Chinese Porcelain hat stands

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I won these at the auction as well,  they are 29.6 cm tall and 12.9 cm wide, they are six sided all sides have decoration, famille rose, the decoration is almost smooth to the touch, the enamels are hardly raised almost flat to the touch, these hat stands have mirror images of each other and are all hand drawn, the red seal mark on the bottom looks like it was stamped on with a Tongzhi mark there is gold around the whole vents and on some of the figures it has a dull gold color to it, I am not sure if this is from the Tongzhi period or later, early republic maybe, if you could let me know how old you think it is and what you think of the decoration,I would be grateful, I will post 16 photos for you to view, thanks again.

[Stan]

More photos to view.

[Stan]

More photos to view.

[Stan]

Last set of photos, thank you for viewing and your expert opinion.

[peterp]

In my view this is Guangxu. It is normal to find Tongzhi marks on Guangxu items.The way the faces are drawn is slightly different from the eerie, ghost-like faces of the Tongzhi reign.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, I almost won a vase at the auction, that I believe was from the Tongzhi period, but I was out bid and another vase that was new sold for $2500, I could not believe it but it was the Chinese buyer that bought it, and I could not believe that I won the bid on the 4 platter for $130.00 and the auction was full of Chinese buyer, the only thing I could think is that they are unfamiliar with Chinese export porcelain.

[peterp]

When I started learning about Chinese porcelain, on the Chinese internet, many Chinese did not know much about export porcelain. But, it was also clear that some were averse to anything that had the least inkling of foreign. Some seemed so indoctrinated that even if the decoration was 100% a Chinese motif, they were not interested, just because it was made for the foreigners.
This has changed somewhat now, I believe, because quality Chinese taste porcelain is more difficult to get in China nowadays.

The other thing is that plates are a major collected and displayed item in the west, traditionally, while the Chinese are more interested in decorative items, especially *upright* ones. For that reason they are usually more appreciated and priced than plates.

[Stan]

Thats good for us, I hope the Chinese still hold to that because I will buy it if they don't, I like the old Chinese export porcelain.

[Stan]

Hi Peter, recently I had someone come over to my house to look at some of my Chinese porcelain, and he looked at these and said they are not from the Tongzhi period, I agreed and said I think they are from the Guangxu period, as we discussed here, he said that the eyes did not have dots in the eyes and that they were left blank, he claimed to be an expert, is that statement correct, no pupils in the eyes in the Tongzhi period?

[peterp]

I would never say I am an expert...there are too many areas that are not well documented. But, that there are no black dots in Guangxu fencai is not true in my experience. To the contrary, Tongzhi normally shows empty eyes, this may also apply to the early Guangxu period. Changes were never abrupt. But late Guangxu fencai shows black dots. Some later items, and fakes, may show these too, though.
Notable with the later (Guangxu and later) red eyes is that there are lines in the face, while the Tongzhi ones usually have none. But, always use this decorative feature in combination with age signs and other factors to evaluate age. Depending on the decoration alone is dangerous, at is it easily copied.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter.