Chinese salts?

[calder]

Anyone have an idea if this is even what I'm saying it is?

[calder]

More.

[peterp]

This looks like a censer stand. There would have been at least a lid or whole metal censer inserted into this. Could be Japanese.

[Stan]

How tall is it? if it is for salt or pepper it would be very small, to small for a censer I would think

[calder]

Thanks Peter.
Stan it is 5.5 cms. high and 7.5 cms. across.
Not seen the like.
Any Idea of age?

[Stan]

I think that would be to large for a salt, do you have a pair? it could also be an ink well missing its glass insert.

[Stan]

I can see why Peter might think a Japanese censer, I have several where the body is being supported by boys or other supports, but this blue color is not a blue that I am familiar with on Japanese, it almost looks European, if it is European it could very well have been influenced by the Japanese and that would explain the blue color and the size would be right for a European ink well, this is just a guess.

[peterp]

Hi Stan,
I have seen quite a number of little censers resembling this, both made in Japan and China. But yes, the color is a bit different from what I know, both with Chinese and Japanese porcelain, that is why I'm not sure.
They are all very small, almost pocket size. Some were made as early as the Ming and Yuan dynasty. Some do not have a bottom inside, they just serve as holders for the censer to be inserted.
Did you note that the top decoration are stylized lotus petals? Would something like this be painted in the west?

(PS: There are small censers, both made of porcelain and bronze, which can fit into a hand.)

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I thought about the lotus petals and wouldn't they have veins inside the petals instead of another petal, you could be right though the Japanese imported their cobalt blue so maybe this is Japanese, to be honest I have not seen one like it Japanese or Chinese, I did a search for porcelain inkwells and did not find one similar, so maybe a search on censers might be get a better result.

[peterp]

No wonder, in Japan and China an ink slab was rubbed on a wet inkstone each time someone would write or paint. Inkwells are a western thing. :)
The censer stands or holders I mentioned are not plenty, and the old ones (Qing/Ming) are fairly expensive.

[peterp]

For the sake of clarity I would like to mention that in Japan this seems to be called a lid stand, apparently used for placing the lid of something. They call it a 'night study lid stand', used on the desk, but others seem to use it as a stand for the lid of a teapot, etc. I have seen items complete with metal inserts and lids apparently serving as censer. So there may be more than one use to it. Basically it is a stand for something...

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, that makes sense, it is hard to tell without all the pieces, I think it is missing the lid and insert.

[calder]

Thank you both for your time.
I have pictures that are more true to the colour.
Also pictures of inside.
What age do you think?

[Stan]

Hi Calder, recently I purchased an Imari collection of large bowls and Chargers from late Edo to late Meiji, I noticed that one of the chargers has this same blue color.
During the Art Nouveau period the Japanese pottery was very influenced by this period 1890 - 1910, I have several pieces of Awagi with tree branch handles, yours has tree trunk supports with scrolling vines, I believe this to be of that period, as art nouveau it is very collectable because if its short lived period, I would be interested in seeing what the lid might have looked like, it might have had some kind of tree trunk handle, but we will never know.

[calder]

Thank you Stan.
Perhaps a metal filigree lid ?
As you said we will never find out.