Small Chinese stem cup.

heavenguy · Apr 04, 2015, 09:03:10

Hello everyone,

its me again. I found this little fella in an estate sale. I think is some type of stem cup but not really sure how old it is or what does the back letters mean... It is really in rough shape. It even has some crazing on the inside. Any help will be gladly appreciate it.

Stan · Apr 04, 2015, 23:17:31

Hi Heavenly, the shape is very unusual fro a stem cup and the decoration is also not traditional Chinese design, which leads me to believe it is a fake or a modern item.

heavenguy · Apr 05, 2015, 10:43:07

Hey Stan.

Thank you once again for your help. I google the cup and like you said, most of the stem cups are rounder and bigger. I still need to learn about shapes and such.

Any book recommendations for that? thank you for your time an answer.

Stan · Apr 05, 2015, 11:00:04

I can't think of a book off hand but the best teacher is experience, sounds like your on the right track.

peterp · Apr 05, 2015, 12:04:45

There are small stem cups too. I believe this could be Japanese, not completely sure though.
The decoration and text looks similar as that of the Ming dynasty, but the square shape is very unlikely for any period of Chinese porcelain. The Chinese text and decoration also occasionally appears on what seems to be Japanese porcelain; the possibility of a square shape would be more likely...

heavenguy · Apr 05, 2015, 15:52:27

Stan: I bought some cheap books and hopefully I will learn some more about Chinese porcelain.

Peterp: Thank you for your information. It took me awhile to find the link again but if the link is true then I think is possible for a Chinese maker to make a square porcelain stem cup.

(www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk/Lot/?sale=AA210514-2&lot=710&id=269697)

The size is is around 1 5/8 inches. Without the base the size of the cup is 1 1/8 inches, so I'm guessing that it was very hard to paint a very detail imagery on something so small. I'll keep on investigating to see if I have some actual piece of antique Chinese porcelain.

peterp · Apr 05, 2015, 16:33:37

It is not that it was impossible, it is just that they were either not popular or for some other reasons hardly made in the Qing dynasty. Square items were more frequent in the Ming dynasty, but not usually as cups.
You have not seen really fine, detailed painting yet, obviously. Some of the wares made for the palace have much, much more detail.

heavenguy · Apr 06, 2015, 10:01:39

Hi Peterp,

Yes, I still need to much to learn and see. Thanks to you all I think I'm getting on the right track on what type of things to look for and what type of things not to buy. My hunting places are usually local thrift shops, flea markets and estate sales. So as I have read in some books, the % of finding a real value antique are very slim to none. But we may never know.

Anyways, I thank you for your answer because if it wasn't for you and Stan I will probably be wondering what on earth do I have.