Just sharing my latest finds.

heavenguy · Apr 17, 2024, 23:55:18

It's been awhile since I post anything in here but I'm kind of proud of what I found this past week so I wanted to share it with you guys. This is part of a bunch of items I bought in a local estate sale in my city. Luckily for me, most people are not interested in any type of Asian item where I live. The provenance of the items its also good. Not a fan of using my credit card but this estate was so good that it was worth it. Mostly Qing items and a few republic pieces. There were some really cool Kangxi pieces in really good shape. anyways hope you guys enjoy looking.

peterp · Apr 18, 2024, 17:03:12

Hi, maybe you could upload pictures of one of the pair of bowls in the foreground? Looks like a rare shape to me...

heavenguy · Apr 18, 2024, 19:28:04

sure thing. I was doing research on them and yeah they are very tricky.

heavenguy · Apr 18, 2024, 19:33:45

the provenance is really good. All pieces on the table were from an estate sale from were a live. bought almost all of her collection. luckily for me, where I live people don't appreciate this type of things so I can get them for cheap and almost no competition. lost the page where I saw one with a similar shape on one of the large auction houses, it said missing lid but not sure if they had one or not. anyways they are pretty good looking IMO.

heavenguy · Apr 18, 2024, 20:06:01

ah just found one reference to the shape again. For what I can tell the shape was based on a shape of a ming dynasty bowl.

The following link its from the university of South Carolina collection: (I'm assuming their collection is well researched)

scalar.usc.edu/works/exhibiting-historical-art/media/ming-period-bowl-with-five-clawed-dragon

I'm still trying to find the the other bowl I saw. it was blue and white with and kangxi mark. I'm guessing this is a 19th century piece because the endless knot doesn't have a double circle.

I know that in kangxi reign they honor a bunch of ming dynasty pieces designs and shapes so I don't know.

peterp · Apr 21, 2024, 11:38:49

I'm afraid my view on this differs somewhat...
Basically, I think this is a late Qing mark and dragon. I think we can forget the five claws, because in the Guangxu reign the rules applying to some of these prerogatives of the court were not always oberseved anymore. (Possiby not enforced due to internal turmoil?)
The Chinese knot mark appears also on some items of the Tongzhi and Guangxu reigns. If I remember right I saw them on high foot tazzas of that period.
I think the head of the dragon is also more resembling that of dragons of the late Qing period.
Not sure about this, but the tone of the blue color resembles somewhat that of Dehua kiln. Maybe you should try to research that. What I find a bit inconsistent is the crackling, as this does not resemble crackle ware, really.

heavenguy · Apr 21, 2024, 22:31:34

No, I Agree with you, I think with luck this is a 19th century piece. I'm working to get the receipts from the estate sale organizer for the items I bought. I know the good stuff was already grabbed by the bank. The lady who used to own this pieces hired high-end home designers from California to buy the stuff for her around the world and big auction houses. Maybe some of the stuff were fakes or bought recent copies and maker her pay high end prices. IMO, they all good decent antiques. Most were bought in the 70 or 80s. Anyways,

I found some other bowls in the British museum, they are also ming:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_PDF-A-678

The second photo has 3 bowls, one blue and white with the lid. So I guess originally, they had some type of lid.

The crackle I used to see and handle is like the first large vase on the photo. The second jar I also got from that estate sale. It is a pair of mirrored ginger jars. I think these are also 19th century. the crackle in this one is more grayish than the bowl.

heavenguy · Apr 21, 2024, 22:45:40

I'm also trying to compare the foot rims and how they were trimmed and the foot rim of the bowl is really smooth and well rounded compared to the jar and vase. Don't worry I'm not trying to convince myself it's a Kangxi piece, I just want to make sense of all of this. I'm starting to have a passion to understanding the materials, glazes and how they were potted and trimmed. I was also looking at the Dehua blues you were mentioning and yes, they compare in color. Still the way the crackle looks is very diffentt from all the 19th century examples I looked. I guess until I don't see a similar piece around I tend to think this is more of a modern reproduction than a 19th century piece.

peterp · Apr 22, 2024, 07:44:32

The two jars with wooden lids below look much better when viewed from the side. Viewing the shoulder decoration in the other photo it looked a bit odd, but the side view shows that they are okay. Fangge (Ge imitation) glaze was quite common, and the blue on white ground decoration is typical for such wares too.
What I see of the vase seems to be another type of Fangge vase. Is the double ring Kangxi mark on this one? That is not so common on such wares, though.

Do you have a good marks book? If not tell me, I will check mine. I use the Chinese one that is or was the most commonly used one hereabouts. Heard it is out print now. As you know shapes and decorations can and are copied at different times. That doesn't make items automatically fakes. The current faking industry started really only in the 80s.

peterp · Apr 22, 2024, 07:48:43

The temple jar in the background, may I see a front picture? If its lid is old hand-carved hardwood it might well be worth more than some porcelain items nowadays.

heavenguy · Apr 22, 2024, 22:57:27

I have the Gerald Davison Book. I have a small collection of reference books, nothing fancy but they help. And of course your e-book.

The lid looks hand carved. It is a little oval in shape and the dry weather from where I live has dry it and bent it a little. I guess I need to oil it up for its own sake.

heavenguy · Apr 22, 2024, 23:04:57

And in case your are curious about the temple jar. nothing fancy either, its one of those late Qing early republic Kangxi revival jars. I think I got two real good kangxi blue and white jars, I posted them on my instagram if you want to check them out, antiquecollector9.

www.instagram.com/antiquecollector9/

peterp · Apr 23, 2024, 08:32:37

Never saw such eyes. May be a bit on the later side.
As o the lid, due to the color I thought it might be Suanzhi or Zitan, but the underside looks as if it was dyed. So it may be common wood.

I looked up the Chinese knot mark in my mark book, which shows them all as photographs on real bottoms, shards or other. There was only one and it said Daoguang to Guangxu. So still late Qing but Daoguang is less likely with the five claws of the dragon.

heavenguy · Apr 23, 2024, 21:07:09

Thank you Peter. That helped a lot. I appreciate all your help.

On the wood side kind of stuff, this hand carved statue is one of my favorites.

I think it is a late Qing Rootwood statue of what I think it is Shou. It had this beautiful earthy brown red color. Since it was a little bit dry I apply some bee was and orange oil mix and it change the color a little bit to this kind of rosewood color. but still I think it is a beautiful piece nonetheless. Like how they use the root part as part of his attire.

heavenguy · Apr 23, 2024, 21:10:29

This is how it ended up looking.