early republic vase

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I recently purchased this from an antique store, this came out of the dealers collection, it was a lamp when I bought it, the dealer said that he has had this as a lamp over 40 years, all the hardware is very old and with the China mark on the bottom I believe that is is before 1920, I think it could even be earlier, here in Oregon it has been storming for about 2 weeks with record rain fall, flooding everywhere, not very good weather for taking pictures, so I staged a setting under artificial light, the photo's came out fairly good I think, I found a cup on Christies that is coming up for sale a Daonguang cup that is identical to this vase but the faces on this vase is more detailed, other than that the same colors and decoration, this vase stands 24.5 cm tall and very thin porcelain very transparent with a light, please let me know what you think, thanks.

[Stan]

Here is the last set of photo's.

[peterp]

Yes Stan, part of the decoration resembles Daoguang wares, but there some things I find improbable for any Qing wares. The headwear or hat - it resembles the conical hat with finial worn by Qing dynasty officials. Such attire should appear only on Qianlong export to the west. Usually, attire and hats were showing Ming dynasty wear during the Qing dynasty. But it could be something else altogether.

The first impression before looking at the closeup pictures was that it is a Thai decoration. The windows inside which the man and elephant are depicted look typical for SE Asian decorations. Also, the man seems to have a halo around the head, a typical way of depicting saints and buddhas. The elephant is also found in buddhist decorations.

I have never seen such a decoration, combined with the decoration elements/colors of the Daoguang period, but I recommend you research the possibility that this is related to Buddhism and SE Asia. The cross-legged way of sitting of the man always points to that.

[peterp]

The photographs look better lighting than those which you usually take outside. The sunlight discolours photographs affected by sunlight, making them look yellow. I believe, if you take pictures outside on an overcast day or cloudy day the result may be better than on a sunny day.
But it also depends much on the camera setting, and the camera itself. I imitated the setup and techniques photographers use for taking pictures of objects. The results seem more consistent now, but I had to buy a professional lamp to be able to diffuse the light.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, for your expert opinion, on the vase, I have a pair of them, the metal base that  came with it is heavy and the mount was so tightly fitted on the bottom of the vase that I almost could not get it off even after I removed the bolts, I never seen a lamp that was fitted so perfectly, the black china mark was stamped on with some kind of material that can be scraped off with my fingernail, Im sure for export, so s.e.Asia, thanks Peter.

[peterp]

Stan, I think I found it.
You will have to check on age, though. I do not think a period Daoguang item would have such a mark. Most Daoguang marks are underglaze blue. The red ones I found all are fairly neat. I guess it is later, either late Qing or early republic, as you said.
And, it is not SE Asia, it appears to be export to Mongolia. That explains the funny hat, that resembles slightly, but is not, a Chinese hat. Mongolia is Buddhist, thus the Buddhist emblems shown.

[Stan]

Thanks again Peter, your the best.