Famille Verte Vase, Kangxi or 19th C.?

tipton444 · Nov 25, 2019, 03:25:04

Hello friends,

I recently acquired this beautiful famille verte vase, and I'm just hoping to get some other opinions before I sell it. This vase is quite large, measuring 17.25" inches, with a superb decoration and a double ring mark on the bottom. Now I know there was a Kangxi revival period in the 19th century, and I've had quite a few of them, but I'm wondering what you guys think on age for this one? Thanks

tipton444 · Nov 25, 2019, 03:25:34

more pics

tipton444 · Nov 25, 2019, 03:25:55

bottom foot

peterp · Nov 25, 2019, 08:47:17

This would be called a "phoenix tail vase" in Chinese. The decoration is in 'susancai', which means 'plain tricolor', a type of decoration using only a limited number and type of colors.
Judging by the decoration it could indeed be Kangxi. I would expect there to be at least one or two seams inside the vase, where its parts were fit together.
You do not show the inside of the mouth and the interior, where often usage or production traces are visible. The main reason I doubt this is Guangxu is the foot rim shape. But there could be some burst bubbles on the bottom of Kangxi items.

tipton444 · Nov 26, 2019, 01:10:10

Hey Peter, that is great news! That's what I was hoping for, seeing as the decoration was so well done, and I thought that foot rim was more of a Kangxi style as well but wasn't certain. The inside of the vase does indeed have two seems you can feel with your hand which is pretty neat. This vase is in such incredible condition it made me think twice... the mouth looks perfect to me, what would the usage or production traces look like? Thanks for explaining the "Susancai" decoration as well, I'll have to look for more that are similar.

I attached two pictures of the mouth, one taken outside and one inside.

tipton444 · Nov 26, 2019, 01:21:20

Question: Is "Susancai" basically the same thing as "Sancai" or different? I can't seem to find too many susancai pieces, and of course when you search sancai you get all the tang style three color pieces.

peterp · Nov 26, 2019, 07:27:28

Usually one can expect some scratching, short scratches going every which way or, depending on the type of item some frittings along the edge.
Sancai just means tricolor (three colors). Sometimes there are not only three colors, but only specific colors are present. With susancai you will not find red or other bright colors, and there may be two or three different hues of green.

tipton444 · Nov 26, 2019, 13:36:20

Great info, thank you very much.