Candidates for kintsugi

[Wim]

Hi all, I plan on repairing some Chinese porcelain with the kintsugi method. As it uses gold, I'd rather be sure that it are genuine pieces. I've included some pictures of the two small broken bowls (diameter of about 8.5cm) that I plan on buying, one has lotus (pictures with "L") decoration (and Yu character mark in bottom), and one with a duck and plants (pictures with "D"). According to the seller, these should be Kangxi period, and I believe this to be true. But as I'm still a novice, it would be nice to have your opinions as well. Thanks in advance!

[peterp]

Never saw the left decoration, but the right one is Kangxi export. Early Qing should be right.

[peterp]

May I ask you whether you want to do the Kintsugi yourself? Why not use 'mica'? Nowadays even those made in Japan mostly use this gold replacement, as far as I know, which has virtually the same color. Or use silver, which is less expensive. These would be sufficient for something like this. Some now also use modern glues instead of tree lacquer (urushi), both in Japan and elsewhere, to do the repair itself; the curing is faster and less complicated, and the lacquer is less easily obtained nowadays, probably.

[Wim]

Thank you for your reply, peterp. I agree that it may indeed be a bit of an overkill to use the traditional method with lacquer and gold for this set of cups. But for more expensive items, which I hope to repair when I'm more experienced, the desirability will hopefully be better when a traditional method with real gold is used. So I will use the laquer on these Kangxi cups, to practice, but I might indeed use silver/brass powder for the last step instead of gold. That way, I get some practice, without wasting gold. I already bought a Wanli kraak plate (additional pictures) which may be just good enough for gold (low quality paintwork, but a genuine piece I think). If I have a few pieces to work on at the same, the curing time is less of an issue. I had to import the kintsugi kit from Japan, indeed.

[Wim]

Hi all, this is a last piece that may be an interesting kintsugi candidate. Is there someone who can confirm this is an early Qing bowl (also Kangxi?), please?

[peterp]

Pictures from all around, please. This is not sufficient to tell the reign. Look at the difference of the lady painted in the bottom, and the one on the side. These differences may mean different reigns, therefor additional hints are needed.

[peterp]

By the way, I'm not 100% convinced that the Kraak plate is authentic Chinese Kraak ware. The bird painted in the center is a bit odd, and so is the fan at 3 o'clock. In addition, both white glaze and blue pigment have a tone that differes from the majority of Wanli reign Kraak porcelain made at Jingdezhen. Yellowish glazes are found on those of the Jiajing reign.
Some Chinese booklet says that early Kraak items were also made at Dehua kiln, but I know nothing for sure. The blue pigment would better fit that kiln, though.