I am new to this site - hope I am doing this right. I was hoping to find out more about this 7.25" tall porcelain Shou Lao figurine. It has an impressed mark that I could not identify. The head has openings in the mouth, ears and nose. Any help would be greatly appreciated. This has been an education and I have much to learn. Thank you in advance! Mark
In my view this is from the late 20th century at the most. Apart from the fresh looking colors and bottom, the mark characters are quite different from those used until the mid 20th century on any such figurines. The shop mark begins with Zhu, but I am not sure about the other two characters of the name. It is, however, none of the vintage shop marks, as far as I can see. Usually, such marks are written in Kaiti characters, but here is a modern form of Zhuanti, it seems.
Thank you for that valuable information Peter. I appreciate your prompt reply and your expertise! Mark