Dead bubbles

[Stan]

I have a Chinese Antique Porcelain teapot, I have posted it here before, at the time we thought it was Song Dynasty until I had an expert from Bonham's tell me the it is not Song because the top is glazed and should be unglazed by the top outside of the mouth area, my question now is are these dead bubbles that Im looking at?

[Stan]

Here is the teapot and if these are dead bubbles what period do you think it is ?

[heavenguy]

Yep, those are dead bubbles alright. Also a qingbai glaze. Researching my pot I saw some similar ones to yours in a shipwreck cargo from the Yuan Dynasty... You will find some with similar glaze, shape and foot.

[Stan]

Hi Heavenguy, I bought this about 30 or more years ago at an antique store, they had several teapots that just came in, it looked like someones collection, probably  and heir selling their inheritance for nothing, I can't remember what I paid but at that time I would not have paid much, I am kicking my self though for not buying the whole collection, I found 3 more items I have that have clearly visible dead bubbles, this is great to have a reference that the fakers have not yet figured out how to fake.

[peterp]

Stan, as heavenguy said this looks like Yuan qingbai. Some glazes from the Song or Yuan dynasties may not have visible bubbles. So there can be no dead bubbles present too, in some cases. Thus, do not start discarding of items as being wrong yet.  :-)

Generally said, if there are bubbles, then they are everywhere in the glaze. The dead bubbles usually are a few among these large numbers. They seem to be lined up along cracks, crazing, but they do also appear where bubbles are very close to the surface. In other words, they are in places where the surface of a bubble is damaged. It needs just a very tiny hole for dirt or other matter to seep into it over a very long time. Those items that have been excavated and were in contact with soil probably are more likely to have to show more or darker ones. This is still being researched, it appears.

[peterp]

Want to look at dead bubbles?  See this: tinyurl.com/y9fsdc5l
Only darkened bubbles are dead bubbles.
(And, if there are no other bubbles, these can not be dead bubbles. That is, you can not have dead bubbles if there are no other bubbles.)
Caution - there are some glazes, especially from the Song and Yuan dynasties that do not show bubbles.
Please be aware that all is relatively new and may change - dead bubble theory is not yet a finished research.

[Stan]

Yes their are few dark bubbles most of them seem to to be on upper section the leaf area the lower part only has the regular looking bubbles, so Yuan qingbai thats great thanks Peter and Heavenguy.