Cobalt Blue Bowl help with info ID Age?

[SuzyA49]

Good morning...I'm looking for some help. I have a bowl that was given as a farewell gift to my parents in 1956 when we left Kamakura, Japan. It's beautiful, but I have no history. I believe it's old Chinese Porcelain. I will try to post photos below. It's approx. 4.5 inches in height and 8 inches in width. Cobalt blue with gold painted details on the outside, white on the inside. ID marks on the bottom.
Thank you, Susan

[Stan]

Hi Suzy, I would like to ask you about the blue color on your bowl, is that the true blue color, it looks like it is a purplish blue, on my camera it is really hard to get the blue colors to match unless I take the photo under natural light and then the blue matches the item I am photographing, the purplish blue would be 20th century and you received it in 1956, the bottom looks like it has some nice age to it, I am not exactly sure when they started using this color blue with purple but first half of the 20th century.

[SuzyA49]

Stan, Thank your your reply. I've attached photo taken outside in natural light, but image may be small. I've had a hard time with file size being too large.

[Stan]

Thanks for the additional photo, I believe that this is from the Guangxu period, 1875 - 1908 it has a spurious Kangxi mark, here in the west it is called a powder blue, it was sprayed on, I was told that the blue would have been applied through blowing in a straw, I do not know how accurate that is hopefully peter will set the record straight.
It is amazing how the natural light can bring out the true colors.

[SuzyA49]

Stan, I'm so glad you could view the photo and see true color. Thank you for your knowledge and information. This bowl a favorite all these years. My parents both now gone and I've been scanning photos and slides, continuing family history research. My Dad was WW2 10th Mountain Division Veteran then stayed career Army. We lived many places as a family...USA...Japan, Okinawa, Canada, Europe he was an MD US Army Medical Corps.  I'm now living in family home and loving reflecting on memories. A friend was looking at the bowl and commented on the markings on the bottom and said that I should find out more about it, so thank you again for your input.

[peterp]

I'm afraid that this still is not the true color. The surrounding area shows that the light has a yellowish tint, the same as caused by some lamps and sunlight. I would expect the color to look much darker in natural light.

As Stan already noted, this looks as if the item had some age, but the glaze is not a standard blue common in such glazes, such as might be found on Qing dynasty or early 20th century porcelain.
Theoretically it is possible that this is the result of some firing-related issue. An exception? May be...

In a normal case I would think this to be a late 20th century fake of better quality, mainly because of the color. However, there are several points that indicate another possibility. We have no way to know for sure, however. A hands-on inspection might help, checking the glaze and foot rim.
Occasionally, some items have non-standard color tones due to firing temperature differences, etc.

If the blue glaze would be darker and the white bottom/interior is NOT pure (snow) white, then we may also take into consideration that it is mark and period, or a copy from later in the 18th century with an apocryphal mark.

Pro: The top rim shape is typically found on Kangxi cups; it is less frequent on later porcelain.
        The dark gilt is right for the Qing dynasty.
        The mark is a Kangxi reign mark.
        It can be apocryphal, but this specific type of Kangxi mark is not common otherwise in the late
        Qing dynasty, even less so in the first half of the 20th century.
Con: The blue tone as shown in the picture is too light for a standard blue glaze, but could be
        the result of abnormal firing conditions, etc.

With the above in mind I would keep a lookout for items of similar shape but slightly different color.

     

[SuzyA49]

Peter, I've attached 2 more photos taken outside this afternoon. Hoping better quality this time and not so bright in direct sunlight. I very much appreciate your time and input. If you still cannot be sure by looking at these photos, do you know of reputable person in Central, CA Fresno area or in San Francisco area I could take it to for a hands on inspection. Are you in the area?
Susan

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, for more insight on the blue color and the mark, I forgot that in the Guangxu period they used a Kangxi four character mark and not the six character with the double blue circle.