Ming Vase

[smak]

Hi guys,

What do you think of this?

When was this made? Is this desirable as a collector?

[smak]

more

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more

[peterp]

I'm afraid this is a fake, and one that has almost nothing right. It is imitating some Ming decorations, but the painting style is much too crude (the lines) in my view.. The glaze is not right either, it is too dark and look unnatural.
But the bottom is the easiest to determine it is fake. There are virtually no spiral bottoms like this in the Ming dynasty. Then the foot rim shape itself is wrong, in addition it has been dyed. The purpose of this is not clear because Ming bottoms do not have a dark brown color. I also suspect that the bottom has been smeared with some gray matter to make it appear this is old. Somehow, people think dirty things can not be fake...

[smak]

Thanks Peterp! I am definitely learning something new here! I was a bit convinced with the decorations but failed to realize the glaze. THe bottom as well, I dont believe they would've painted this bottom, at least I dont think so.

Thanks again!!

[peterp]

They are dyed when they want to imitate certain dark clays, because some kilns and/or certain wares mostly used dark clay,but not usually the BW wares. You see that the foot rim was clobbered in some places. That is usually done by someone who wants to verify if the color is only on the surface, or if the whole clay is of this color. I do not know, however, why someone would want check this, because the rest is obvious. To me at least.

Do not get decoration bound, decorations are the easiest to fake. Fakers use all sorts of methods to make things look old, including burying them for extended periods, smearing something on them, but not necessarily paint. Dirt is also no assurance that an item is old either. If something was in the soil for centuries, the dirt can often not be removed. Fakers imitate this by baking the dirt on, in an oven presumably so that it is non-removable. I would avoid sellers offering things like these. Either they do not know their wares or they intentionally sell fakes.