Tongzhi Kamcheng?

[Hmm]

Any thoughts if this is a genuine Tongzhi piece?

imgur.com/a/d5JEtjl

Thanks.

[peterp]

Looks like 20th century, a fake, to me.

[Hmm]

Hmm.  Do you make fake as in made in the last few decades? Or not as bad, still Republican?  Either way what gives it away?

Thanks.

[Hmm]

Browsing on baidu images, it looks like searching 同治 瓷器 麒麟, whatever is painted on my 盖缸, may be a pretty common scene.  Although I have no clue if it actually was a mass produced type of painting commonly used back then.

Any thoughts?

Does the jar itself look like it has any age?

Thanks.

[Stan]

Hi Hmm, Fake means " Made to deceive " After the 1980's is when Chinese Antique Porcelain began to sell for top dollar and when anything becomes valuable we always have to deal with fakes unfortunately, most of the fakes I believe were made after the 80's but valuable porcelain has always been faked.

[peterp]

The proportions of the Qilin are not right, e.g. the legs are too short, the head much too big. The features of the deity riding it look more female, many features are painted too simple, including clothing and other details. You have to look at authentic pieces then you will learn to recognize the difference. Tongzhi fencai imitations are some of the easiest fakes to recognize, yet it is also on of the more widely made. Many people see the motif and the ghost faces and think it may be right, but the fakes look different in tiny details, like some clothing details, different color tones, etc.

I'm not sure if the lid and jar belong together. Now, if this was authentic it also could not be Tongzhi, Tongzhi faces do not have pupils. Guangxu faces do have pupils but also more facial lines painted in red.

[peterp]

>> a pretty common scene

Yes, this deity, the Qilin and children appears on plenty of items. They or on cups, teapots, vases, dishes, just about everything.

Basically, Chinese kilns did always mass produce, but using manual techniques/labor. As to the painted decorations, many features were worked by multiple people. Someone would paint only the mountains, the scenery, someone else the buildings, trees, etc.
Thus, it was not that one item was painted to the finish and then the next was painted. The batches were being worked on simultaneously by multiple porcelain painters.

[Hmm]

Hmm.  I guess I made the mistake of thinking this item was common enough that there wouldn't be many fakes.  I also assumed that Tongzhi pieces could widely differ in quality simply due to the fact that the Taiping rebellion occurred early in his reign, which I assumed messed up the porcelain production around Jiangsu/Jiangxi areas.  Is it also definitely a fact that Tongzhi pieces always didn't use pupils, or just that it was common to not have pupils?

Thanks for letting me know. 

[peterp]

To my knowledge those with pupils are already Guangxu reign. But we also need to be aware that often when the reign changed porcelain still used the former reign name for some time. We are talking about the private kilns, not sure about the imperial kiln. So you will see lots of Guangxu porcelain with Tongzhi marks. You will also see features like ladies with only empty eyes and the hairline receding, giving them the ghostly appearance. In the Guangxu reign their were other facial features also painted in red, and the pupils. Changes were always in flow, slowly occurring, so there is no abrupt change from one reign to the other, usually.