A blue glazed censer earthenware

heavenguy · Dec 04, 2017, 23:02:33

I also found this really cool censer from the same estate sale I bough the Jar from. doing some research the best I came up with is a tang dynasty. The shape of the censer is a little bit to wide from the examples I saw. The glaze is dark blue and it seems it was a rare color on that period. Weird thing is that I see some green glaze in some parts of the censer. Maybe You can see some on the top and on the legs. Probably some fell the top or I don't know. Seems like an interesting piece. It will be nice if it was from the period. Thank you in advance.

heavenguy · Dec 04, 2017, 23:05:49

The bottom has a circle maybe thats where they scope down the excess material? or maybe they put them on top of something so it wouldn't collide. ??

heavenguy · Dec 04, 2017, 23:06:22

here you can see some green glaze and some blue one.

heavenguy · Dec 04, 2017, 23:08:49

you can see that some parts of the censer has some green glaze... maybe it fell from the top?

heavenguy · Dec 04, 2017, 23:09:30

The inside ...

thank you in advance... =)

peterp · Dec 05, 2017, 15:00:13

Hi, I don't know why this glaze contains blue. Normally black in Chinese porcelain comes from iron, and in fact glazes which are lighter in color would be brown. I have never seen such a glaze.
I hope you are aware that the feet look as if they were new and never used. Even if it has some age, it cannot be in the hundreds of years old without any usage traces. Censers are not decorative objects but for daily use. Another thing to consider is...why should it be so dirty inside while the feet are white and clean?

heavenguy · Dec 05, 2017, 20:49:54

Hey Peterp,

I was really doing my research on this one. This was not suppose to be of black color but a dark shade of blue. They call it the tang cobalt-blue-glaze and its suppose to be rare. As far as I can see it comes in many shades. I have seen some similar examples (in color glaze) in online museum collections and auctions. Still looking for an explanation why of this color and how they acomplish it. A quick google search will give you some examples of auctions and museums but don?t worry I won?t believe them so soon. It?s just a starting point.

The feet look in really good shape i must admit, but so as many I have seen in museum collections and reputable auctions houses. The inside looks stained but is actually water residue. I guess they used it for a water bowl instead of a censer a long time ago. I?m a little afraid to clean it with vinegar to remove the residue.

I did a couple of test I read on a book to see if they have some age and it passed both. The first is to spray a little bit of water. Since old items are more porous than the newer ones, spraying a little water on the exposed earthenware will absorb the water quickly if old and even not at all if newer since they used newer kiln methods to create the fakes.

The second test is made with a spoon of hot water and you poor it inside the container. It is suppose to give you a smell of dank old cavern (doesn?t work with buried or shipwreck pieces). You are supposed to stir it like a wine. To my surprise it smelled like that but not only that but in like 6 second it absobed the entire water.

I know that this test or explanations doesn?t make my item genuine. But there is a chance it is. I?m just trying to research and anything related to this item and period. This is how I learn, and I thank you for your doubts questions since it makes me learn even more by doing research.

I also have my doubts and believe me, I stop believeing about becoming a millionare selling chinese antiques a long time ago. But still, learning about researching a fake item is what makes you learn about this stuff.. I?m kind of proud of myself for lerning all of this. And believe me, I owe this to this website. Thank you?

heavenguy · Dec 06, 2017, 07:39:12

Okey, just a little update...

in the Meiyintang Collection there is a few pieces with similar glaze, the blue glaze is attributed to a Henan Province in the 8th Century. Thats a good thing.

The bad thing, like you mention before, the censer doesn't look used inside the bowl. I saw inside the censer and on the top unglazed part, it looks unused. I guess it was too good to be true, but i learned something new today...

Thank you for your time...

peterp · Mar 05, 2018, 16:46:51

Hi, just happened to find something from a small Greek museum that may interest you. Scroll down, you will find it. :-)

www.benaki.gr/images/researches/pdf/197-208.pdf

heavenguy · Mar 05, 2018, 22:36:32

Holy molly, thank yOU Peterp. That is great!!! Looking at the museum censer, it seems that it also wasn't used as much. The inside part looks relative new like mine. I guess if they were used as burial items, that will explain a lot. Thank you, I'll dig deeper into this... It may be worth the shot.

Thank you once again!!!