Eight horses of Mu Wang Bowl

[GerryG]

Picked this up about a year ago. Photos are not great qualify but I'll try and make up with a detailed description. This is a blue and white porcelain bowl depicting eight horses. It measures circa 4 and a half inches in diameter and about 2 and a half in height. It is thinly potted and the glaze is crackled with age. It has some transparency when held up to the light. The glaze is a slight bluish/grey in colour. It has a small hairline from the rim for about a half an inch. The foot rim is thin and of strawish colour and finely rounded off. There seems to be bristle/pock marks in the glaze on the base. My opinion is that the bowl is from around the Kangxi period carrying a spurious four character Chenghua mark though I am concerned with the glaze on the interior of the bowl as it is a bit dirty which suggests a later piece, saying that it is well painted with a fairly free style and the cobalt blue seems right for an older piece and under closer magnification there are fine uneven firing bubbles in the glaze. Any further information would be most welcome.

[Stan]

Hi GerryG, what concerns me is the crackle in the glaze, it was fired that way not from age, Im thinking late Qing to early republic.

[peterp]

Could you upload additional pictures? One (partial is fine) showing the area of the white and the adjacent horse enlarged. The decoration and glaze details should be clearly visible. And, if possible a good picture of the interior.  The lighting is important as it affects the hue of the blue and white glaze.

[GerryG]

Ok Peter, I'll need a day to get those pictures. Last set I got were with an inferior camera so I should be able to get better quality ones and post later on tonight/tomorrow.

Stan I appreciate your comments though I lean more towards Kangxi because of the potting is so fine, well balanced, the foot rim is the right size and shape again well balanced with the bowl also the Chenghua mark was used regularly in the Kangxi period though not so much in the late Qing and republic more so Qianlong and of course Kangxi marks were used then. If it was later Qing the biscuit would be coarser and the potting probably heavier with a clunkier foot. It's hard to display the hue of the cobalt in a photo (especially the quality I've posted) but I believe it's right for Kangxi period. All this might just be conjecture and I am really trying hard to convince myself with the limited knowledge I have but let's see what you think when I post some better quality pics.