Kaishu character mark

[calder]

This bowl has an old repair was offered to me for 60.00 Euro.
I like it- but not sure if its a fair deal.
Thoughts?

[calder]

Sorry- bowl is 16.5 cm

[peterp]

Good bowl! If it were perfect its price could be fairly high. At 60 Euro I would take it anytime, even with the repair.
I cannot tell for sure if it is 18th or 19th century, but 18th to about mid-19th century.
Mark is the same as the one shown in site section under menu item "Marks", bottom left picture. This is found on minyao porcelain used in China, and it also seems to have been a standard mark on porcelain exported to Vietnam.

The decoration gives the distinct impression of Bleu de Hue. That is, it was possibly specifically made for the nobility in Hue, then the capital of Vietnam.

[calder]

Thank you Peter for your wealth of knowledge.
Hopefully it will be sitting on my shelf soon.

[shelley Kong]

Peter,
I notice that the character "Inside" has "man" and not "enter", which is a mistake. Is it a sign that it was written by someone who is semi- illiterate because it is people's ware?

[peterp]

Shelley, I have seen marks with a completely wrong character...rare, but they do exist.
What the ? and ? problem concerns. You are right, but the character on the mark is also right, I'm afraid. :-)
According to the Kangxi dictionary it should indeed be "?" as you mentioned (that character is a simplification of an earlier, more complex character).  But it seems to be a fact that many if not most people write it with a "?" in handwriting, nowadays, except perhaps when writing with a brush. That is at least so here, in Taiwan. in print it is normally the character you said.
On porcelain we sometimes find variations of characters which were written in a simplified form already in the past. I'm sure you are also aware that some of today's simplified characters used in China are written like some old variations used in the past, or were even derived from them.
I think this is not sufficient proof that this is not old, because all other features are right, and of course some of the simplified characters that China now uses were in existence already in the past. It would be necessary to prove that the said character was not in used in the past, which may pose some difficulties.

All the above is valid for porcelain made in private kilns.
If it were imperial ware, that would be a different matter. These followed strict rules and we know that a few official reign marks were written differently from those in general use.

[shelley Kong]

Peter,
Your knowledge oc Chinese is amazing! How did you learn all that?