Would appreciate any help you can give me on this oriental lamp; I do not want to take it apart to see if it is marked, so hope you can tell something by the color and design.
Thanks, Trish
Hi Trish, without seeing the bottom, we can not give a date, but it looks to me like they are copying early Qing, possibly Kangxi.
Thanks Stan, I purchased it around 1980 as an antique; guess I should take it apart and see if anything is on the bottom.
Trish, we look at the bottom more than the mark, we look at the mark when everything else lines up with the period of the mark, so we look at the whole in general also the inside plays an important roll as well, I bought a Japanese lamp awhile back, the vase looked 19th century and when I took it apart the inside had caked on dirt that you know had been there for a while and the bottom was marked and the foot rim and bottom was also correct, I did not make it a lamp again as the vase was stunning, a real work of art, to me it displays better by itself.
Stan is right regarding mark and bottom. However, with this one I can tell some without looking at these. Looks as if it is imitating a late Ming decoration. This should be underglaze blue. The fact that the colors are fading and there is red probably means it is a fake. Blue colors are based on cobalt pigments, while red ones are based on iron or copper. How comes there is a reddish hue and on one side even the decoration itself wants to give the impression of underglaze red. Never mind the crazling, this is probably not very old.
I took it apart yesterday and you both are right, it was MADE IN JAPAN.
Appreciate the help,
Trish