Kangxi Cup with Lingzhi mark

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Hi All,

Wonder what your thoughts are on this piece? Just picked it up! Wondering whats the collector value on this! I paid $50, hope I did okay! I've never seen one with a black lingzhi mark. Is this special? What is the reason for it?

Please stay safe and be well!

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I've never seen a black lingzhi mark, is this rare? What is the reason behind it?

[peterp]

Looks like export porcelain.
Lingzhi marks were predominantly used in the Kangxi reign.
Question - is the bottom glazed? It is impossible to see this in the pictures. If yes, is the black color on top or below the glaze?

[smak]

Hi Peter,

It is glazed with black on the bottom, hmm I have never seen a black one before. Mostly in blue!

[peterp]

> It is glazed with black on the bottom

Not sure what you mean. We need to know if the bottom was glazed 'before' the mark was added. That is because the blue you see in blue-white porcelain is usually underglaze blue. The color is black or dark brown when painted on the unglazed porcelain body, not blue. It turns blue only during the firing in the kiln, and only IF a glaze was applied OVER the painted decoration (here the mark), otherwise it shows black or dark brown. A black mark could mean there was originally no glaze on top of the mark, or the black color was applied later on top of the glaze of the already fired item.

- You could use a good magnifier to check if there are glaze bubbles visible over the black color, which could mean it is under the glaze. In that case, the mark color is odd.
- Also check if the black color is elevated on the glaze (enamel type), a sign that it was added later on the glaze. Scratch it with a needle or something. If it gets scratched it was later added, which was not a common way of adding marks.

Notable is also that the froot rim seems does have a worm back, which is common with imperial porcelain, but not with export or domestic-use porcelain. This is more difficult to check, but the rim could have been ground to make it round.

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Hi Peter,

I just got the cup and I believe it might be a reproduction. There is no glaze at the bottom. See pictures!

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Please let me know what you think, I could be wrong. It looks and feel real but the mark is where I have my doubts.

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Peter, what does this mean if there are no glaze on top? Could there have been a mistake and they forgot to glaze this piece or fail to fire it?

[peterp]

>no glaze on top
That means there is no glaze covering the mark. As mentioned, a blue decoration is painted directly on the unfired clay body. At this time it is not blue but black or dark brown. Then the decoration and everything is covered with transparent glaze. After firing it is blue. Areas of the blue color which were not covered with the glaze remain black. This is rarely seen on Qing dynasty items, but it happens on Ming items, mostly near the foot rim, due to the way the glazed items.

Without doing some physical testing on the mark, it is difficult to tell whether it is original or added later. You basically can just add one with enamel later and fire it at a low temperature.
I cannot tell for sure if this mark was fired or not, but if the bottom was never glazed, it could look about this way. I do not think it is a fake per se, because fakers would just use a modern color that is blue from the beginning, even without firing.
And yes, they might have just simply forgotten to glaze one. Production was usually made in the hundreds or thousands of similar pieces at the same time, for export.

To me this looks like typical Kangxi reign export porcelain with a mark that is unusual for that type of ware. The mark is odd because export porcelain did not usually have this type of mark, mostly not any kind of mark.

[smak]

Thanks Peter!

Wish I can have you look at it! I've had a lot of people telling me its a fake from the 1970s, some say its real kangxi export. With what you said I feel more confidant that it is authentic, it felt authentic to me at least. Just unsure about the mark.

Thanks again!