What I know re.Chinese Ceramics u could chisel on an Aspirin with a crowbar, BUT

[ben]

Hi All

First time poster here.

I travel to China a lot on business and on a recent trip I asked one of my suppliers I have been doing business with for almost 20 years where I could see some genuine Chinese Antiques.  He suggested that one of his Staff (also a relative) have rooms full of old Chinese ceramics / Porcelain in his home.  He said that this man's father spend all his pay and his whole life buying this stuff and died broke, claiming he was leaving behind a small fortune to his children in carefully  selected investment ceramic / porcelain.  The son claims little or no knowledge of the value of specific pieces, and when I offered to buy a brown vase and a couple of other pairs of matching vases, quoted me USD $1000 - USD $3000 depending.  I guess his age to be mid 60's which means his father would have been "amassing his treasure trove" anywhere between 1930 - 1980 (approximately).

Because I have no specialist knowledge in this area, however, have a keen interest in collecting art - not to mention capitalising financially on a good investment, I took a lot of photographs , hoping to get some advice.  Attached is the piece I liked most an example.

Can anyone advise me how I could get a detailed analysis of the  photographs by someone with a lot of knowledge in this area?

Cheers

Ben

[peterp]

Welcome to the forum. First I would recommend to be careful when buying antiques, especially directly from Chinese and China. There have been many "collectors" on China's antique roadshow telling stories about items they inherited or claimed an origin a long time ago, and then the concerned roadshow specialist told them the item could not be older than twenty or so years, after inspecting it. They would not even blush at this!  Chinese fakers are expert at making items look old; this includes burying items for extended periods and some even let you see how they "excavate" them, etc. Just be careful. Many collectors do not really know for sure if their items are genuine, themselves.

This said, export rules are currently too strict to allow genuine antiques of value out of the country, legally. Even within China registration of certain antiques is required now.
Please read the post at the link below; this is valid also when buying directly in China. If you get something of real age and value, and you are caught taking it out, then you may be in big trouble.  People I know to have imported quantities of genuine antiques from China to Taiwan, ten years ago, now have switched to recently made items or import from other countries. It is virtually impossible to get anything good and real, legally, directly. Even what is sold online directly from China, with or without a certificate, is mostly fake. This is just as on overview of the current situation.

Please see http://antique-asia.com/forum/index.php?topic=4990.0

[peterp]

For an opinion on the item below, please upload pictures with a full side view, and a good image of the bottom.

[ben]

Thanks Peter

After doing business in China now for almost 20 years I know all that you have told me is accurate.

Please see another couple of pics I have of this particular vase - I can share many other pics in higher resolution privately if you would like to take a look.

Thanks for your advice

Cheers

Ben

[ben]

One more pic.

[peterp]

First I need to say that I have never seen such an item before. Where there seem to be animals with ears on the shoulder, there would normally be some type of dragon (looking more like a lizard).
The unglazed bottom color looks like nothing I know. If that brown color is the original clay body, and not something covering the latter.
The item does not appear to be from a mainstream kiln. There is a chance that it is from Deqing kiln, which made similar black wares. (See tinyurl.com/tvnlqln)  This is the result page of an image search in Chinese, using "Deqing black ware".

There were thousands of individual kilns in ancient China, so it is difficult to tell anything for sure if it is not from a mainstream kiln. But, if this is indeed from Deqing kiln, it might be from before the Tang dynasty. If it is later, then it is more likely 'five dynasties period', immediately following the Tang dynasty and from another kiln.

Dynasties information: https://www.chinese-antique-porcelain.com/chinese-history-timeline.html

[ben]

Thanks Peter

That's all very helpful.

Is there any way of knowing for sure if this vase is older than 100 years or even than a few decades?

Would you be interested for me to send you some of the other photos of the products he has, in higher resolution (or in lower resolution through this forum)?

Another couple of pics by way  of example.

Thanks again for your valuable time.

[ben]

And another

[Stan]

Hi Ben, thanks for posting, it would help by starting a new post for each separate item, and please post pictures of the bottoms showing the inside and out side of the foot rim, these could most certainly be 100 years old but can't say for sure without the additional photo's, please post any age signs and close ups of decoration, thanks again.