An unusual narcissus bowl

[mufan99]

I call this bowl unusual because of the decoration alongside the PROC mark. The mark shows the bowl was made in the late 20th century, but without the mark I would have dated this to the late Republic i.e. the 1930s, even with the red borders that are certainly transfer printed. The landscape is very delicately painted and very detailed - it is possible to see a person looking out of the window of the pavilion. The use of the archaic seal script usually leads me to an early 20th century date because, as I understand the history, it became very fashionable when archaeologists found the oracle bones that use this script in the 1920/30s. The Lang Shining seal mark also tends towards the Republican period, although it is completely at odds with the "lakes and mountains" style of the decoration. The sentiment of the inscription, that I read as 子孫萬李福壽康寧 (order reversed for Google translate) "generations of descendants, happiness and longevity, health and tranquility", is probably good wishes for a birthday. Would it be far fetched to imagine a porcelain decorator taking a mass produced blank piece with the transfers already applied and decorating this as a personal gift? If so when? I think it would have been very much frowned on in the Cultural Revolution period. Again I am posting these pictures as references for comparison with other unmarked examples and I welcome any comments and observations.

[peterp]

You are probably right. Basically all red and black lines are printed. I would not expect the archaic writing style to be hand-written either, because for one thing such characters were never used in the porcelain industry in China. Even those involved in Chinese calligraphy would hardly be able to write such characters just like some other styles, much less on porcelain. A transfer is more likely. So few people are able to read these and even less would be able to write them.

I do not know until when this type of bottom marks were used, but I have some doubts about the origin and age of this. The mark says Jingdezhen but does it really mean it was made at Jingdezhen. The characters of the bottom mark indicate that it would have to be about sixties or later, however the painting itself...the colors used and especially the shape of the eaves of the pavilion roof are not typical for anything classical Chinese, they look more like a classic Vietnamese roof. I do not mean to say it is Vietnamese, but in the last twenty or thirty years lots of factory-produced items may have traditional motifs depicted in styles that differ from the hand-painted decorations.