Chinese Imari?

[Stan]

I just picked these up the other day in an antique shop, there are two same size, nice depth to the blue color and also I can see prick marks in the decoration to mark out the design before they drew it, also on the bottom there are bubble burst and there are nice rust spots in the blue and decoration, the quality seems to be good quality, my question is could this be Qianlong, I have never seen Chinese Imari with green before, Im interested to know your thoughts on these Peter.

[Stan]

Here are the rest of the photo's thanks for all your help.

[peterp]

Neither have I, Stan. Actually, some Chinese and Japanese Imari items are difficult to separate, especially if it is cup and saucer etc. . The older Kangxi Imari were mainly blue and gilt, I believe, and only later was red used. If there was no gilt here, then it could be categorized as wucai, but I do not think that the green affects authenticity. Not sure if there is real Qianlong Imari at all. That was mainly a Kangxi thing, although occasionally we find one from a later reign. I do not think this has any importance in the Qianlong reign, but wucai decorations which used both blue and red (and green), but not gilt, were still being made in decreasing numbers.

In the Kangxi reign they copied some Japanese colors in the later Kangxi reign to get the orders back from the Dutch, which ordered in Japan because the Qing government had prohibited activities on sea (inclusive trade).
The branches depicted at the top edge are also something I have never seen, but I do not think these, or the green color, affect authenticity.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, so possibly late Kangxi?

[peterp]

Indeed I would assume this to be late Kangxi.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, better yet.