Blue Tea Pot Lamp

[kardinalisimo]

Not sure if the tea pot ( about 10" tall so maybe not for tea) was turned into a lamp or it was originally made to be a light fixture. There is an actual hole on the spout and some wear on the foot rim. But I don't see any significant signs of age so I am guessing a pretty recent piece.
Just want to double check with you.
Thanks

[peterp]

Basically, this is a ginger jar modified as a tea pot or ewer.
The decoration could be mid-Qing to late Qing dynasty.
If it were a ginger jar proper, this would have to be late Qing dynasty, however, due to the glazed neck.
With this modification it is difficult to tell from when exactly, but probably sometimes 19th century to early 20th century. The blue color, shape, etc. would be consistent with that.

[kardinalisimo]

Thanks, Peter. So, I am wrong again. When I think a piece is old it turns not to be. When I think it is new, it turns the other way.
By the way, I searched a little bit and found few other similar jars with spouts. So, I think maybe it was not modified but originally made to have a spout? Like a hanging jar, maybe to hold oil or something like it.

[kardinalisimo]

Peter, I am getting confused about the glazed/unglazed necks.
Are we talking about any kind of jars? The one with the necks have basically two kind of lids - the deep ones that cover the whole neck and the flat ones, like on the featured jar, that sit on the top. I would think the the last ones would look very unattractive to leave the neck unglazed.
What periods were the necks left unglazed? Is that a sure rule?
This one is attributed 19th century:
http://www.susu-saaa.org/art/china/47800.php
This one 1750-1850
http://www.susu-saaa.org/art/china/63256.php
Here is 17-18th Century
http://www.oldgalleries.com/pages/OilJar.html?re

All glazed necks, flat tops and spouts.
What about the Ming pieces? They should be unglazed?
Here is discussed a fake Ming jar, but nothing is said about the glazed neck being inconsistent with the faked period.
http://gotheborg.com/qa/ming_jar.shtml

So, please, can you clarify the matter with the glaze on the necks and the periods?
Thanks

[Stan]

Hi Kardinalisimo, You can't always believe what you read esp. on the internet, Gotheburg is a pretty good site though, but Ming and early Qing dynasties always had unglazed tops on lidded jars and ginger jars, i am not sure about teapots though, but for sure late Qing was always glazed, the one shown on the site look like it is late Qing not mid or earlier, Im pretty sure about this as far as I know.

[peterp]

You should be careful with sites selling 'antiques'. The first link you provided shows a very obvious printed decoration. China did not start printing porcelain until the 20th century. It is so obvious that I would not even call this a fake.

Unglazed necks were common in the Qing dynasty only, and only with ginger jars. The shape that yours has. Only in the Guangxu reign did glazed necks appear. Ming necks were glazed too. Basically, the jars were glazed and then the glaze was wiped off the neck/shoulder. Ginger jars in those times had specific shped lids that were different from pre-Qing times.
I just don't know if your jar was made from a modified jar, or if those were made specifically that way.
Just compared to the ginger jars. So, judging by decoration and color about mid to late Qing dynasty...probably.

[Stan]

Thanks peter for correcting me on the Ming ginger jars being glazed.

[kardinalisimo]

Thanks. Now it starts making sense. Only ginger jars had unglazed necks and I would think only because of the lids they used, they covered the unglazed area, right?
I am a little concerned about not finding enough wear on mine but probably it was well taken care of.

I got it from an estate sale, which I was exited about because of the shown pictures of Asian porcelain. I was there one hour in advance to get a number but guess what, they passed me  N35. I had a bad feeling. Hour later I see bunch of Asian people showing up with numbers before mine. I knew why they were there. Luckily, they let the first 35 go but when I got to the section with the porcelain everything was gone. But I don't think there was something precious because what was left was mostly modern and Japanese. The Asian people were so in a rush that they did  not pay attention to the other pieces scattered around the house. I got the Japanese arita plate I posted about as well.

I am telling you the story because these people were looking only for marks and no body was paying attention to decoration, age signs  etc.
So, thank you Peter and the others for all the precious lessons you are teaching us!!!