Chinese Ceramics & Antiques Discussion

Hi all,

What do you guys think?

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Hi Smak, this is a very nice teapot, but just by the faces alone I would say modern, and the hole to the inside spout would be 3 holes or more not just one.

This would have to be Qianlong imperial ware, falangcai decoration, if authentic.
Qianlong imperial items sometimes indeed do show western subjects like those on export wares. However, falangcai is a kind of decoration color and technique that was made only from the Kangxi to the Qianlong reign, and they were painted inside the palace workshops. The registered number made is very low, only some 300+ items were made before this type was discontinued. Anything else was made much later, 20th century up to now, as the manufacturing was complicated, and it seems the method was kept secret no private kilns would have been able to make it.
Consider this new, leaking one of those 300 something pieces into your hands is highly unlikely, I'm afraid. 20th century or later, I would think.

And Stan, I do not know about the number of holes in imperial tea pots, but the number was only one in those of private kilns. I have seen a few from the later 19th century having three, lined up vertically. However, the majority got more holes much later. The holes in older tea pots from private kilns are often not round, possibly because they did make them only after the spout was attached.

Thanks Peter for correcting me on the number of holes in the teapots, so just 19th century teapots had the multi hole spout, I have seen up to nine and some had five but mostly three.

Hi Stan, just to make sure...what I talked about were porcelain tea pots, not Yixing tea pots. The latter are not porcelain and made in a different manner. I do not know how many holes those had.

I looked at 3 porcelain teapots that I have, all from the Qing dynasty, one of them dates to the late 18th to early 19th century, this one has 3 holes inside to spout, I have another that is Qianlong period and it has 7 holes inside to spout and the other is an early Guangxu and it has one hole inside at the spout, so I guess it was what ever the potter decided and not so traditional, is that right?

I would be interested at seeing these, because this does not conform to what I learnt here. I will have to revise what I tell people if these items are indeed of those periods. Are you sure?

Hi Peter and Stan,

I have a teapot dated 1916 that has 6 round holes, another late 19th century has 7 round holes, another smaller, late Tongzhi – Guangxu has 1 round hole.
My impression is that holes are not strictly connected to period, but to teapot shape/dimensions and production factory/technique, but I could be wrong.

Could you show the type of tea pot and how the holes look inside. I'm especially interested learning about those with five or more holes. Mine are mostly late Qing Tongzhi/Guangxu fencai, but others I have seen are similar.
They were apparently made without special tools and they look different from those seen in Yixing wares. The holes are perhaps 3-5mm in diameter, but not very round. Are those tea pots you have export porcelain, the small type for only a few small cups per infusion, or the large, cylindrical type?

Small, Tongzhi/Guangxu.

Large, late 19th century.

Large, 1916.

Thanks. The first is what I usually see. The last with the six holes shows the same irregular holes, just more. Good. This is the first time I see one like this. The second one has been made with a special tool, it appears. I never saw this before, except with Yixing wares. Is there a name showing who made it?

Here are some teapots showing the number of holes inside the teapots connecting to the spout. The first one is Guangxu period and is a large teapot 19.0 cm high from the bottom to the top of the lid, it has one hole inside connecting to the spout. The 2nd teapot is Qianlong period, it is in my book on Chinese Export porcelain and it is 15.24 cm tall from the bottom to the top of the lid, it has 7 holes inside connecting to the spout. The 3rd teapot is late 18th to early 19th century, it has 3 holes inside connecting to the spout and is 13.97 cm high from the bottom to the top of the lid. the forth teapot is Guangxu with 1 hole inside connecting to the spout, it is my smallest teapot at 9.52 cm from the bottom to the top of the lid.

Here are the photo's to the 2nd teapot.

Here are the photo's for the 3rd teapot.

Here are the photo's for the 4th teapot.

I do have other teapots that I will post at a later date, thanks for the discussion.

Thanks for the pictures Adriano and Stan.
First I need to mention that most teapots I know were not specifically made for export. Sometimes export wares have features not present in domestic porcelain, or which were later copied from such.
Notable is that the handle and spout shapes of Stan's 2nd and 3rd teapots are not a traditional Chinese spout shape. The spout is straight and the handles intertwined, something that is not common in Chinese domestic use wares.
What this means is that the features were probably based on demands from overseas. Especially Stan's 2nd pot shows a strainer shape, but this one was clearly handmade, like that of Adriano's pot shown below.
The other pot of Adriano has strainer shape holes that look as if the were made with a single tool, similar to Yixing wares.
Unfortunately, considering this with the overall condition, I have started to doubt the late 19th century age of that pot. I did not note that strainer shape in the original post. I will add a remark there.
I'm always learning, and that there are more than three spout holes on older tea pots is news for me. However, I'm not quite ready yet to discard the view that those strainer holes made with a special tool are of the same period. I will change my view if I see more like this. I was basically taught that there was only one hole until the Guangxu reign, but later discovered there may be up to three. Now I agree that there were even more. Thanks anyway for this news.

Thank you Peter, You are the one that told me about the holes many years ago, that is the only reason I bought it up, thanks for all your expertise.

Nothing is 100% in the world of Chinese ceramics. We always need to be ready to modify what we know. A mentor told us about the one hole rule many years ago, but afterwards I discovered some with three holes. Now there can be more, although the majority might still be one.  :)

That is why we need always to look at multiple features. If possible I look at five, some say it should be seven, but with pictures it is often not possible.
Additionally, features like decoration styles, etc. care not usable on monochrome porcelain. This also limits the number of factors that can be considered.