Chinese brush pot, 19th century

[Stan]

Hi Peter, is my assumption of 19th century correct, it seems to have all the age signs, but could the decoration be a little earlier or dose the bottom point to a later, late 19th century? the brush pot size is 17.24 cm high and 19.4 cm wide, the bottom has rings from the potters wheel, Im not sure just when they started using these type of wheels, your expertise is much appreciated.

[Stan]

Here are the rest of the photo's to view, thanks for all your help.

[peterp]

Yes, this underglaze blue and red teapot looks 19th century, especially the blue color. I cannot see the wheel traces clearly in the picture, but some items do indeed have such traces. The big question is if they are from a metal wheel or not. I just do not know when metal wheels were first imported. I have been trying to find an answer to this questions for some time now, but in vain. If the turning traces are deep and sharp like those of a metal wheel...that could be a problem.
The bottom manufacturing was not always the same, but with this type of bottom it would be most likely that the bottom would first have been glazed. Then the unwanted glaze would have been scraped off from the unglazed area using a bamboo scraper or similar tool, while the item was on the wheel, turned upside down. Depending on the case these traces could also be from that scraper, but there is usually some irregularity in spacing and depth of these.

[Stan]

Hi Peter, one thing I have been thinking about on this brush pot, is the bottom is slightly concave and the rings are not all spaced equally, is it possible that it was a wooden wheel and the potter cleaned the wheel after throwing a pot and tool used to clean made these lines, if it was a steel wheel it would be flat and the lines would be more even spaced like the blue and white planter I recently posted the bottom is flat and the circular lines are a little more evenly spaced, here is a couple more photo's of the the bottom on the brush pot.

[peterp]

Thanks for the additional pictures. These make it look as if it were not wheel traces but rather the traces of the tool used to remove the glaze. The glazed pot would have been put back on the wheel upside down, after applying the glaze, before firing, and a tool would have been used to scrape the dry glaze off while the item was turned on the wheel.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, for the explanation, I learn something everyday, thanks again.