Hi Peter, I have never seen a glaze like this, the white inside and underneath the bowl are more like an ivory color and the glaze Im not sure what you would call it, but the Qianlong mark is written in the same color and there are prick marks used to space the mark evenly, have you seen anything like this and could you tell me more about it, thanks.
Here are the last photo's, thanks for viewing.
Looking through the high auction house archives I found some Song dynasty bowls with a similar glaze called oil spot glaze, Im not sure if that is what is on this bowl though.
Is it the light that gives the impression that the tiny holes are white, or do you actually see white body or glaze in most of the indents?
Basically, the many tiny holes are a feature some monochrome glazes of the Qing dynasty do have. This develops in the kiln. Such blue monochromes were popular mainly in the Qing dynasty.
The marks of the Qianlong dynasty were often painted following pricked points in the glaze. This was used instead of drawing/incising first lines and then painting the marks. You will also see that on many blue/white export items of the Qianlong period. Despite this, I am not sure if this is official kiln or not. More likely not, in my view. The milky or yellowish white glaze is good - it means it is older. Pure white glazes mostly mean an item was made very late in the Qing dynasty or republic period. Only imperial items would have a snow white glaze sometimes, because the white glaze was refined longer. Cost was no problem when it concerned items for the palace. So, that is also one point that is against it being imperial. But it could be M&P.
The glaze is what we call an 'orange peel' glaze, obviously because of the many tiny indents in the glaze. You well see that this is also present in the bottom area. Orange-peel glazes are often present in Qianlong and late Qing items, but I doubt it would have been accepted in imperial items.
What you were talking is an oil drop glaze. But this is different. You will find it on items of the Jian (Jianyang) kiln. It appears on tea bowls known under the Japanese name of Tenmoku bowls. See the link in the post about "Black "oil spot" bowl..." (a couple of posts before yours).
I know of no glaze in the Song dynasty that otherwise had many tiny spots or indents.
Thanks peter, the white spots are caused by lighting but there are some of the spots you can see through to the slip, at the top edge if you look closer you can see tiny air supplies that get larger as the glaze pulled away from the top, thanks again.