B/W Bowl

heavenguy · Sep 08, 2016, 10:51:28

Hello I found this really neat B/W bowl.

Nothing special. Just your typical images in blue and white. The paintings are a little crude but the actual piece its very slim like eggshell and it has a really nice ding.

What I cannot figure it out its the foot rim. The foot rim its very very slim. and the unglazed part its even smaller. I never seen a foot rim like that. Can anyone help me identify the age on this piece? I can kind of recognize the foot rims of late Qing pieces but not something like this.

Thank you very much in advance.

heavenguy · Sep 08, 2016, 10:51:50

more pics

peterp · Sep 08, 2016, 14:37:56

This would be more of a high foot bowl.
Unfortunately, this specific type is difficult to authenticate. There is a lot of copies around that look very much like the old ones. I have one, and it has a different type of blue color, looks older than this one, and I am still not sure if it is antique or not. They have all the same shape, foot and decoration. You will have to look out for others, to compare, but there are no age or usage signs, actually.

heavenguy · Sep 09, 2016, 03:04:45

Hi Peterp,

Thank you for your response. I guess in the photo it looks newer than it actually looks but your are right that it doesn't have usage signs or many age signs. This comes from the same estate sale were I bought most of my B/W. I found this bowl on the estate organizer's antique shop and bought a few more pieces from her collection. For some reason, the lady use to glue the pieces with some type of white paste to the wooden bases.

Anyways, I tried looking on my references books and online and I have not found a similar one other than one that they are selling on eBay at the moment. "162195184947" for reference purposes only. That one seems to have a taller foot rim and a slight different mountain decoration but its basically kind of like the same.

Anyways, I'll try to do more research and see I found more stuff about this piece.

Thank you very much.

peterp · Sep 09, 2016, 10:37:53

Items on ebay are not suitable for authentication, only for identification. You will have to look for a more reliable source. Just wait, something may come around. The shape makes me think it could be some sort of offering bowl.

heavenguy · Sep 10, 2016, 00:46:47

Thank you Peterp. I'll see what comes around...

Stan · Sep 10, 2016, 23:22:35

Hi Heavenguy, I have a bowl that is very similar to yours, same shape and on the out side same decoration, however my bowl has age and is of the Kangxi period, I thought I posted it, but I could not find it in the archives, I did have a hands on inspection by a friend of mine that specialized in the Kangxi period and he said that my bowl is of the period and it has a double blue circle on the bottom, the foot is also identical to yours except for the age marks on mine also the decoration on mine looks more refined but not by much, the blue is also the same blue, I will post it, at a later time.

heavenguy · Sep 11, 2016, 00:26:02

Hi Stan,

Thank you for your input. I just bought a really good book from Mr. Allen and the detection of fakes, and had the opportunity to speak to him. He gave me some input on this bowl and his opinion on this bowl is that:

"It's a late 18th (possibly early 19th) century Chinese bowl, The high foot is sometimes associated with the Kangxi reign (1662 to 1722AD), but your one has a discoloured blue with imperfections in the glaze not consistent with that period. It was probably made for domestic use."

Digging more in I saw that Kangxi period porcelain was more white in color and the blue was more intense. I was also looking at Peter's book and saw that the color it's more of an 18 century color.

The thing it's that this bowl it's in very excellent shape. Almost no single scratch or wear. That makes me wonder.

Stan · Sep 11, 2016, 02:45:27

Some times I like hearing what I want to here esp. when you talk to someone that claims that they are an expert, , I agree with your information these grayish blues fit that time line, but talking about normal wear, not all Chinese Antique Porcelain was used for utilitarian purposes but treasured as works of art and displayed them or kept them in China cabinets, I am not that sure about the Chinese Antique Porcelain as much as the Japanese, I have purchase sets of Japanese dishes that are late 17th to 18th century that look like they were never used and so sometimes you get a bowl like yours that defies normal ware and tear, on my bowl it looks like the blue is a little brighter, I don't know if that is your camera or if that is the actual blue color, it sound like a good book, is your bowl in the book?

heavenguy · Sep 11, 2016, 03:22:29

Hi Stan,

When I order the book I got the opportunity of chatting with him by e-mail and I send him the photos of the bowl and he gave me his opinion. I think he used to work for Sotheby?s so I guess he has some experience. No the bowl wasn't on the book. But then again, I'm still not 100% sure this is an 18 century bowl until I have done some research to back it up. I understand that opinions are just that and I need to do my homework to try to identify this piece. I also wonder myself how can some pieces from big auction houses or some reference books looks like they just came out of the kiln. So I guess that happens and I agree that we have to be careful with such items. I love one phrase he mentiones in his book and it says that, " In the field of Chinese Porcelain, for every rule there is probably an exception." That is probably true for almost all types of antiques.

Anyways, Sometimes I take the pics with my iPhone and sometimes I take it with my Canon 6D. The ones I show in here were taken with my iPhone and limited to 200Kbs and the ones I send him are around 2 MBs taken with my 6D, So i guess that could be a reason why it looks so new. Anyways. Thats what i like about Chinese porcelain, it's hard to get to a point were you feel comfortable saying that something is what you say it is.