Tea vase with dark crackles

josearrecio · May 23, 2018, 18:48:40

Hi, id likesome help dati g this item, i bought it in hoi an, its supposed to be 200 years old, but i think its a fake. I see rust spots and it looks old, but the small cracks are only outside, inside it has big cracks. And the cracks are quite shinny as you can see in the file attached. The same with the lid, crackles outside ,a fiw big ones inside

Stan · May 23, 2018, 22:41:03

With this one photo it is impossible to date, photo's of the entire object and one of the bottom showing the foot at an angle and any age signs would be sufficient.

josearrecio · May 23, 2018, 23:09:37

Hi, thanks for the reply, i will attach more fotos, but because of the size limit i have problems getting a good foto...sorry for the ppor quality, y will post several replies with more fotos

josearrecio · May 23, 2018, 23:11:07

The bottom of lid and vase

josearrecio · May 23, 2018, 23:12:40

Inside of the vase

Stan · May 24, 2018, 09:15:21

I believe this would be called a circular lidded box made of possible stoneware, it could be porcelain the pictures are blurry, the crackle was created when it was fired not over time, is there any age signs can't see in these photo's.

peterp · May 24, 2018, 09:25:32

Although some of the pictures are not clear enough, the crackling is probably part of age faking. For one crackling in underglaze blue items is mostly either not there or it is invisible. Here the crackles are brown and that is not natural. They are much too dark. In those types of porcelain where underglaze blue and crackling is created intentionally, either the there are no crackles where the blue is, or the crackling is fine and not as dark.
And a bottom with such crackling is very unlikely too.

josearrecio · May 24, 2018, 09:50:24

Thanks for your replies, ii believe its fake like you just saikd, Id like to know one thing, if the crackles were to be caused by age they would also be inside the lid and vase or there could be only crackles in the outside and not inside?

peterp · May 24, 2018, 12:15:14

There is no simple answer to this, because crackles are the result of the cooling process after firing in the kiln. Too many factor may cause or affect the development of crackles. Many items have fine natural crackling right when they come out of the kiln. Often these are invisible, though, unless they get dirty. That is the reason why some natural crackles are visible only on parts of an item, or they have different colors. Its the dirt seeping into the cracks.
Type and thickness of glaze, position in the kiln, use of a saggar or not, type and thickness of glaze are all variants in this. Then, unlike modern electric or gas kilns, the type/shape of the kiln would affect temperature at different locations in the kiln. I would say everything is possible, but if crackling is natural (age or firing-related) they will not be uniform in size, covering the whole item, AND be colored like this one. Crackle glazes and natural crackling shows some differences in size and color.