Chinese vase

[Ronny]

It is a long time ago I bought something for my interior but today I found myself this Chinese vase.
Very nice piece, it is small, 21cm in height.
It has a Qianlong seal mark in gold on the bottom.
I was thinking, this vase, modern/today make?
I have never seen a Qianlong seal mark in gold, only in red.
Maybe someone can tell me something about the period of this vase?

[Stan]

Im thinking 2nd half of the 20th century.

[Ronny]

2nd half of the 20th century, I say that is a good guess, on the internet I cannot find this vase.
But it is not so important, most important is that I like the vase, I Put some flowers in and enyoy it.
Thanks for the reply.

[peterp]

Stan is correct.
I would like to elaborate a little on why it is 2nd half 20th century for the benefit of others reading this.

First, don't get mark-bound, Chinese reign marks are misleading because since they started to be used in the Ming dynasty some of earlier reigns were used on later porcelain (not all of course), in other words they are often apocryphal, unsuitable for dating.
This kind of Qianlong mark with this type of zhuanshu character does not look like a Qianlong period mark. Qianlong marks were most widely used on 20th century items for decoration purposes.

Further, decorations with all elements having black contours are mostly from the 2nd half of the 20th century. And, although this seems to be largely hand-painted, you will note that the white elements are all disconnected. In the regular, early decorations these would all be interconnected as part of a floral design. If you look closely at them you will see that they all are similar in shape (too similar for hand-painting) as if their contours were made with by transfer or stamp, filling in the spaces between the flowers. That is a decoration method not commonly used in the decorations of the more distant past.
Still, looks as if anything else is hand-decorated.

[Ronny]

I know that Chinese porcelain is marked with old marks like Ming and Qing even its recent made.
Why they are doing that I do not know.
I Have more items marked with Qianlong, a few vases, plant pot, plate etc but all 20th century,
Some Chinese bowls that I use are made with the same decoration as the vase and is 1960s.
But not marked with Qianlong but Yingdezhen marked.
Because of the same decoration I was also thinking maybe the vase is 2nd half 20th century.
But also maybe not because I had some bowls exactly like the 1960s bowls but these where recent buyed in a store and marked made in China.
So this decoration is still made today.
These are some of my 1960s bowls with similair decoration as the vase.

[peterp]

You are right. In Jingdezhen many old designs are still copied, and a lot is still being hand-painted. Thus it is difficult to tell from the decoration. Some may be hand-painted in factories, not just small workshops. As long as they can sell and the price is right... "Jiangxi, Jingdezhen Product" marks like this might be earlier than the 2nd half, perhaps 40s or even 30s. Mass production of Chinese porcelain means often that all was hand-painted like in the old times, but now things may be changing.