Export Armorial Vase

[kardinalisimo]

Can't check the base because it is turned into a lamp.
Any suggestions on the period?
Trying to ID the coat of arms but so far no luck.
Thanks

[peterp]

Not sure if this is Chinese at all.  Most armorial wares I have seen were from 18th century, and not painted with such thick enamels, but then, I'm not much into armorial because the Chinese have picked up on the high prices of these, and offer fakes too.
Much of what is sold on Ebay is now fakes, it seems.
Further, I cannot see any decoration elements that would point to decoration in China, otherwise. That is normal with some, though.

My impression was the the armorial wares ordered in China consisted mainly onf dinner sets or other table wares, while purely decorative items like vases were more of an exception.

[kardinalisimo]

Thanks for the reply.
I know some of the export ware would have Chinese elements but if not wrong the Chinese painters had to change their style  according to the taste of some Europeans.
The thick enamels also worried me but I thought the piece could have been done maybe in the late Qing? Actually, the floral decoration have thiner paints. I am thinking the coat of arms was done with thicker enamels to look more relief maybe.
I did not know the prices of armorial pieces are going up. I think I heard something about the Chinese being more interested in the export pieces recently but I don't see any big figgers, at least on Ebay.
I guess it is a good business now to fake armorial porcelain as not much is known about the patterns. At least with the domestic pieces there are some general rules regarding the painting style, decorative motifs etc.
.

[Charles]

It looks like the coat of arms of Portugal to me. You see around on their national flag and soccer jerseys.

[peterp]

Hope you are right, James. We do not know that much about Portuguese and Spanish market export porcelain.

Many years ago armorial pieces were already almost double the price of other, similar pieces. Mostly they were in a not-so-good condition, especially the part with the heraldry or initials. The main reason is probably that these parts almost all heavily used "gilt and black", on-glaze colors that are easily abraded. This combined with the fact that as tableware they would be used more heavily than decorative porcelain items, made good pieces even more expensive. Then, these got fewer and those in good condition sold from China began replacing them.
Nowadays most pieces on sale are almost perfect. Just beware of fakes sold via third countries, not directly from China too. I would say we now have now something I call porcelain-laundering, where fake pieces are sold via unknowing - or knowing - third country sellers, to give the fakes a legitimate antique appearance.

What concerns the floral decoration, I forgot to mention that. Did you notice that the floral decoration appears to be 100% western taste?

Just to clarify another thing, in case this should come up too. I found this out only recently. Part of the armorial porcelain was apparently made using a sort of template or pre-fabricated pattern. The decoration was the same, only the crest or initials were added to the pre-existing decoration. This would have been especially convenient when the crest or initials were added in gilt, because this would have required a third firing anyway.

[kardinalisimo]

Could be Spanish or Portuguese coat of arms but possibly not of the coutries but rather a city or family crest.
I agree that the flowers are not in Chinese style. The blue decoration seems to be not a traditional Chinese either. Maybe the fish roe, kind of. I may be wrong but it is not very typical to see European decoration of blue in combination with other colors, like separate patterns. 
I saw the piece a month ago in an antique shop. It is far away from where I live but I may go to check it out tomorrow. It is a small town, mostly old people living there, so if it is Chinese it is quite possible to be authentic.  I got the red and blue magpie plate from there.