Fencai lidded jar

[Stan]

Hi Peter, here is a Fencai lidded jar, I think it is early republic, it has nice age signs, pitting, crazing in the glaze and some rust spots, please let me know what you think, it is all hand drawn, under a loop you can see the brush over lap and brush strokes, the colors are translucent and the white looks whiter than it is, it has a slight bluish look, the lighting bleaches the colors a bit.

[Stan]

Here are more photo's to view.

[Stan]

Last Photo to view.

[peterp]

Guangxu to republic period, should be right...

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, I wasn't sure if it could have been late 19th century because there does not seem to be any distortion in the porcelain, usually late 19th c. the porcelain is a little distorted on one side unless it is Imperial, this is perfectly round.

[peterp]

Late Guangxu isn't necessarily late 19th, it could also be early 20th century. Guangxu ended 1911.

[Stan]

Thats true, so Late Guangxu, didn't Guangxu peroid end in 1908?

[peterp]

Sorry, yes you are right. A habit many here may have. The Qing empire ended in 1911,but we tend to think that the Qing ceramics production ended with Guangxu.
In the three years in between was Xuantong, but with almost no ceramics recognizable to be from that period. Thus we tend to say Guangxu. It is thought that some Xuantong reign ceramics still were marked Guangxu, and the larger part of the Xuantong marked ones were early republic.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, your comments are always educational, when I first saw this at the Antique store, sitting in a display cabinet, I thought it to be Guangxu and was expecting to see a Guangxu mark, I was surprised to see that it was not marked, because of the quality is better than most lidded Jars and the size is a bit unusual, it is 17.78 cm tall, would this be considered export, and do you know what it was used for?

[peterp]

It looks like hat in Chinese is called a ? jar. ? is usually translated as congee, gruel or porridge.
From its usage it is unlikely that it was made for export. The above food is not nearly as popular in the west as in China. Anyway, this sort of decoration is not specific for export or domestic use. I do not think there was much specific export decorations/designs after the opium wars and the removal of the 13 factories from Canton. Except, the blue and white export porcelain made in the Guangxu reign, which are quite easily to recognize as such.

[peterp]

There is an exception of export ware that I forgot to mention. The rose medallion wares apparently have been made throughout the late Qing dynasty, but not sure if they were always made in the same place.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, good information.