Kangxi famille verte jar

[Stan]

Hello everyone, here is a large Jar that is missing its lid, I think that this is a Kangxi period Jar, the hight is 35.6 cm and is very heavily potted, this was a lamp when I bought it, but I think it looks much better as a Jar by it self your thought are welcome, I will post 8 photo's to view, thanks.

[Stan]

Here are three more photo's to view.

[Stan]

Here is the last two photo's, thanks for viewing.

[billbilly]

Could you upload photos of the halo effect?

[Stan]

Hi billbilly, you got me, what is the halo effect? I will send pictures as soon as you let me know, thanks.

[billbilly]

They look like iridescent circles around the blue enamels.

[Stan]

There is not that much blue on this vase but here is a close up of the blue and there is an iridescent shine in the blue, is that something that is indigenous to Kangxi period blue enamels? I would like to point out that the iron red is not shiny it has a dull finish, it is the only color on the vase that is like that all the rest of the colors are shiny with small bumps in the glaze.

[billbilly]

It's one of the signs your famille verte jar is from the Kangxi period. The downside is it's not an imperial ware because of different firing method.

[peterp]

That is iridescence, and it has nothing to do with the blue enamel. It develops after 100 or more years, but only on porcelain with fencai enamels. That is because the latter was painted 'on' the glaze, which required the application of glass powder on the glaze prior to painting, and also in the paint, to make it stick. The powder contained lead which can appear on the surface, but it would take at least a hundred years.

[peterp]

The colors and decoration were most widely used in the Guangxu reign. The peony does not show the typical characteristics of the Kangxi reign, but I do not know if these would have been there always. Just be aware that fencai started only to be used in itself  the late Kangxi reign; fencai production was never on a large scale until the Yongzheng reign.

[billbilly]

I agree lead glazes with coating of metallic oxides cause iridescence and a sign of age. I've seen them. Stan was talking about his famille verte and the blue enamel of non-imperial Kangxi porcelains has iridescence and sometimes in halo form. This is not fencai. Do the colors look powdery to you?

[Stan]

The only color that looks powdery " not glassy " is the red, it does not have a high shine, the other colors have a glassy shine but a lot of small particles in the enamels that almost feels gritty to the touch, thanks Billbilly and Peter for your expertise.

[Stan]

I have a question about the powdery look, what exactly do you mean powdery and from what I gathered about the halo is an iridescent look over a long period of time the iridescence forms from the lead that is in the enamels, it almost sounds like what you are saying is that imperial Kangxi porcelain would not have and iridescence look meaning to me that they did not put lead in their enamels is that correct?

[billbilly]

The common understanding of fencai is it's an opaque palette unlike the Kangxi wucai, but it's more complicated than that. Fencai is a 19th C name for yangcai and ruancai. It's famille rose basically. The quick and typical notion of fencai is its powdery looking texture. Wucai is the opposite. There are those who say fencai, yangcai and Wucai use the same chemical mixtures. Many have argued this topic and I'm not going there. You mostly see famille rose on online auction pages for that same reason to not cause a debate over labels.

[billbilly]

Salt peter is said to be the cause of iridescence on the Kangxi famille verte but a hypothesis at best.