Strange Tongzhi Porcelain Vases?

[Philfree73]

Hi everyone!

I always see this forum pop up when I'm looking for help so I thought why not sign up and ask for help. As you see, I have a set of very interesting vases. Normally I don't ask for help on too many things. I usually will go days until I find out things myself. In this case I finally gave up. You see, the vases have a very rare shape to them. I'm not sure what this shape is even called. The other thing is the marking. Although they seem to point to Tongzhi the style in which it is written seems different. It has all the signs of it being an older piece but at the same time nothing is making sense and its driving me crazy! Here I am again up late at night trying to figure out where these came from.

If its a fake, why would the maker choose a style that's not common. If its fake why so much time on the quality of the work to this degree and give it such a different shape than those that are more commonly known. I think I just typed the same questions twice??

The vases are so beautiful! Can anyone help me get to know them? Like where are they from? Are they real? When were they made? Why are the markings different than other common Tongzhi markings. Are they worth anything?

Thank you all so much!! Maybe someone will school me on what the heck they are!

[peterp]

I'm afraid these are items from the recent decades. Please read the marks section in the main site.
Whoever decided this is Tongzhi did it based on the mark alone, but it is necessary to understand the situation about marking in China. Marks are randomly applied for decoration purposes.

In this case the mark is far from a Tongzhi mark in its appearance. Qianlong marks appear more often than this, actually, also on 20th century porcelain.
This vase does not have a traditional shape, and the colors used are at least in part using chemical pigments not used in the 19th century. The painting content and style also do not look like Qing dynasty.
I would not call the vases are fakes, just newer, because they were not made for deception. It is all too obvious.

[Philfree73]

Thank you so much for the quick reply! Would it still be in the condition it is in and be only a few decades old? Does this mean someone was trying to make these into a fake. Just seems like they would have chosen a better shape for better chances of getting good money. It does make sense what you are saying about the colors and shape but what about the condition?

[Philfree73]

Here are more close ups showing the vases age a little more. I'm not sure if these images might help to reveal more info about the them.

THANKS!!

[peterp]

I cannot see any relevant age signs that would mean these vases were made with the "intent" to sell them as fake antiques (to deceive) or look similar to genuine antiques. I must apologize for saying this in so straightforward a manner, but only a novice in Chinese ceramics could think this was an antique or has any age exceeding a few decades.
There is not a single sign that this was ever made to look like an antique, except that parts of the decorative elements are also found on traditional Chinese porcelain.