Reproduction or fake?

[Isaac1998]

Today I bought my first ever piece of Chinese porcelain. I'm very new to collecting so am currently just sticking to buying things that I personally like & don't cost too much money!

I got an imitation chenghua period eggshell teacup at an antique shop in Beijing earlier today. I bought it believing it to be an early 20th century copy, but would like to have a second opinion on whether it is indeed that old or whether it's very new.

It's just a transfer; so cannot be original. Does anyone know when transfer porcelain actually started in China? I couldn't find any info on the internet and it'd be helpful to know.

It was a little dusty but cleaned up quite nicely in warm water. (Pics are before it was cleaned). There are some minor cracks to the base which seem to have occurred from age rather than on purpose.

I paid 400RMB (?40 or $60) for it. Is that too much?

Thanks in advance.

[Isaac1998]

Had to crop some of the pics due to size limit

[peterp]

In Chine transfer of this type would have appeared not before the first half of the 20th century, most only later. But they did never really take off. Hand-painting was still low cost until perhaps a decade or two ago, but it is still done extensively now. That might be the reason.