Chinese or Japanese 48.5 cm Charger.

[Stan]

Hi peter, I just picked this up at an antique store, the owner said it is Chinese and that she had an expert tell her that it was Chinese export to Japan, the colors would look right for late 18th century Chinese porcelain but the bottom has the same 4 rings found on Arita porcelain Chargers, three on the out side of the bottom foot and one on the inside, this charger has age marks of 19th century and there are no spots on the bottom where it would have been supported in the kiln, like old Japanese Chargers, your expert opinion is needed on this one, thank you for you expert opinion.

[Stan]

Here are more photo's.

[Stan]

Here are more photo's.

[Stan]

Here are the last photo's, thanks again.

[peterp]

I support your view, looks Japanese. Not only the decoration, but also the base and the shape of the rim. Chinese export hardly has this type of rim.
You have to be aware that many antique dealers now little about shape, base, etc. In the west many may be more decoration-oriented, so they cannot use these for judging. The blue tone seems also not Chinese, by the way.

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I compared the Charger to some of the Japanese blue and white and it is a perfect color match but what throws me off is there are no kiln spots on the bottom, on all my other old Japanese porcelain Chargers they all have spots on the bottom from being set in the kiln, this is the first one I have seen with out kiln spots.

[peterp]

There are exceptions, Stan. Some have no spur marks, so they may have been standing on the foot rim, during firing. Japanese porcelain is odd in this respect. Many items have both an unglazed foot rim AND spur marks (support points). Basically, the latter are only needed if the whole bottom/foot rim is glazed.

[Stan]

Your right Peter after a more thorough inspection I can see where the supports were on the bottom, thanks for the information, the price I paid for this was very affordable even for Japanese, BTW have you noticed that Good Japanese Antique Porcelain is escalating in price and it is becoming harder to Find.

[peterp]

The market may be shifting because of China's attitude; I mean flooding the world with fakes... and preventing the export of genuine items.