Opinion in tongzhi marked vases

[mb1991]

Hello all,

Could this be of the period? What this blurred glaze indicates?

Thanks in advance,

[peterp]

The vase body was likely made in the 19th century. Not sure if this was reglazed.
The gilt on the lion ears (they are not handles) looks old, but there is no closeup picture of this area showing it more clearly
This is a spurious mark.
The dark color combination is not typical for the later Qing dynasty, and the olive green was not used between the Kangxi and
Guangxu reigns. Much if not most of the decoration was painted (or re-painted) at a later time in the 20th century, in my view.

[mb1991]

Hello peter,

Here are some pics of the lion's ears. 

[peterp]

No, this is not gilt. Also, the mouth shows that it is either new or fully re-glazed. I opt for the latter because these lion ears are not normally found in fakes or newer items. The inside of the mouth of late Qing vases like this one usually have lots of indents and rust spots.

[mb1991]

Dear Peter,

Thank you for your precious time and opinion answering all my posts, I'm learning a lot.

How common is it for older vases (thinking of something like early 19th), to be repainted later? I will look for indents and rust spots inside the vase. if you have any more tips it will also be of great help!

Best,

[Stan]

Hi MB, with all the modern tools to remove the surface or decoration on vases and all porcelain items this is being done on a large scale usually to make an object that is old but not very attractive or valuable, some are enhanced or just completely redone to make it more valuable or appear more valuable, this is done to deceive the inexperienced collector, Im sure we all at one time or another bought one, the mark on  your vase seems to be printed, this is another method to deceive, print and then go over it with a brush or pen to make it look hand painted.

[mb1991]

Dear Stan,

Thanks for your comments!

indeed, I am noticing that many of the vases I own, like this pair,  seem to have been decorated based on a transfer printed draft of the outline, and then handpainted over.

Is this always a bad sign? Or can there be good works that use this method?

I will soon share some more photos of these cases for you to give your opinion.

Thanks for the help, I'm learning a lot on this forum!

MB