Hi
Thoughts?
The shape is not Chinese. I cannot make out what the decoration shows, but this type of enamel did not exist in the transitional period.
The mark is in the wrong blue color, and the characters are written like those of a child, or someone just learning Chinese.
I'm afraid you may have a fake.
Thank you Peter.
Peter,
I agree the colours are not right but I have seen bowls supposed to be authentic have very naive marks.
Shelley
Shelley, it is known that during certain reigns of the Ming dynasty marks were written so badly sometimes as to be almost illegible. However, as far as I understand most Kaiti marks of the Qing dynasty are written fairly good, in comparison to those. There may be exceptions, but personally I consider this one of the factors for evaluation. Please always consider too who did an authentication. Westerners often do not know enough about Chinese calligraphy - this includes experts from top auctions houses and museums. This is one point less to estimate authenticity.
Anyway, in this case the color of the mark is wrong too...