chinese bowl

[calder]

Hi,
What are peoples opinions on this bowl?

[calder]

More pics.

[peterp]

Apparently from Dehua kiln. Probably late Ming to early Qing, or transitional period, I would think, although this also was made somewhat later in the Qing dynasty.

[Hmm]

I could be wrong but that looks like the simplified character ? vs ?. 

[calder]

Thank you both.

[peterp]

Hi Hmm, you are right. If that is an isolated character it does look like it is ? but I doubt it.
This item is undeniably old, and not that rare either. Can you read the top character? I can't, but I believe there are only two characters, not three. The ? part could be an abbreviation used already early on. I thought the whole character might be ?,  but not sure. Maybe I can find a similar one to see what it says.

[calder]

Thanks Peter,here is a similar bowl.

[Hmm]

Based on the other plate, I think it might be saying ???????. 

I found this bbs.sssc.cn/thread-5934810-1-1.html and this http://bbs.sssc.cn/thread-5934919-1-1.html but I'm not sure they are accurate.  It says it's late Ming. 

Not sure though if I've ever seen ? written that way, using running or grass script. 

[peterp]

Right, it is the same. But it still must be an abbreviation, whether widely used or not. The simplified writing system was only invented in the 1950s, while the plate is so much older. I have tried looking at the Kangxi dictionary, to see if it is registered there, but I do not know how to look this one up.

[calder]

Thank you both for your time and effort.