Song Crackle Brush Pot

[williamh]

Does it look right for a song brush pot? Thanks

[peterp]

No, not a brush pot. Could be a brush washer, though. I also just started learning about Song wares of this specific type only recently.
This is nothing for novices. Fakes of such wares abound and even experienced collectors and experts may not be able to tell fakes from authentic pieces of this type, so rare are the authentic ones.
They are not available on the free market. You can usually see such items only in museums. If this is genuine Song, it would be from a specific kiln and would be imperial. The extant wares of that kiln are relatively few and thus extremely high priced at auction, if they come up at all. I would think at least a six digit figure.
A reliable authentication of such items may require an ocular inspection using a microscope, and a scientific analysis of elements.

Buying this would bring with itself a high likelihood that it is an imitation, and the possibility that even ceramics experts are not sure if it is authentic or not.
So, please do not spend much on such items.

[williamh]

Thanks peter. I bought it for 40$ from a woman who had no idea what it was ( or could be) . For 40$ ,  I don't have much to loose anyway..

[peterp]

I would hang on to it and not sell it again at such a price. It has some intriguing features like the black clay inside. This was used only by certain kilns manufacturing for the palace - and by modern fakers probably.
Without provenance we assume this to be a fake, but there are few who have ever had an opportunity to handle authentic ones, even in the Chinese world, except some museum researchers, perhaps. Only someone specialized on Southern Song and Yuan dynasty Guan and Guan imitations may do. Most Chinese ceramics 'experts' at auction houses also may not know enough about this sort of porcelain, I think.