Chinese Crackle Glaze Console Bowl with Cameo Medallions

Porcelain : Chinese

 

This example is a new, decorative fantasy piece available from retail outlets selling items for interior embellishment. It was made strictly to be a table ornamentation, as it was not produced in a way that would allow actual usage for the serving of food. This bowl exhibits strange design element choices that one would not expect to be present on authentic antique pieces.

The cameo medallions present a genteel lady and gentleman in apparent colonial attire, which suggests the West, while the floral decoration in the interior is more in keeping with ware from its actual place of manufacture in the Orient. Besides the question as to East or West raised by the medallions and floral sprays, we see the 'simple' country-style elements incongruously joined with heavy applications of gold enamel, and geometric designs juxtaposed overall that are uncharacteristic for the other style elements present.

The maker's mark on the base, which looks like a Chinese reign mark, could by anyone unable to read it be assumed to mean the item may be of some age. Those who know better, however, would recognize it as a current and rather garden-variety manufacturer's mark.

Chinese porcelains and pottery bearing counterfeit reign marks are nothing new on the collecting scene. They go back almost to the time when clay vessels of any note were being produced in that country and greatly desired by many. Spurious marks have of course become particularly popular in modern times. Replica items once carefully made in old styles and given specious reign marks out of respect for original makers have now become big business. Today the demand for them is so good 'Chinese' articles are even made in other countries. So it is quite possible to buy a 'Chinese' reproduction on the market today that isn't even Chinese, at all.

As with other types of collected objects, of course, the mark is the last aspect that should be considered. Most especially if one is unable to decipher what it actually says. As this particular mark is fairly easy to recognize visually, just knowing it is an example always found only on non-authentic, solely decorative, fantasy items can be helpful.

Considering the obvious characteristics of this bowl, as should be done for any type of pottery or porcelain object, you should ask, do all elements honestly seem to belong together?

Other than the 'not quite right' nature of the decoration there are other aspects to consider. Contemporary items like this bowl are often given a false 'age-crackle' effect in the glaze, so they can easier assume the look of an 'antique.' On this piece the places where the design broke at application, too, making it possible to see that the decoration is transfer printed, not painted by hand. The body is thick and heavy and a brownish stain has been applied to the foot-rim to disguise its newness. If you could run your fingers over this area you would be able to feel some unevenness or roughness, which is not consistent with the application of the stain. Presumably if this item were old, both coloration and roughness could be expected to have worn smooth where the bowl met surfaces continuously over many years. Such an unglazed foot rim might be stained, but entirely smooth, or smooth with areas of stain worn completely away, but realistically both an over-stained foot and roughness is illogical.

See below for information on things to look for on this, or other similar types of items. But rest assured that if you see the maker's mark illustrated in this listing on an article, that item cannot actually be as old as it may appear to be.

This oval bowl measures as follows; 10 5/8 inches long 6 ¾ inches wide and stands 5 inches tall.

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Here are some tips to keep in mind when interested in buying Chinese 'antiquities':

1. If the design is entirely or partially transfer printed, not entirely hand-painted, this should automatically suggest contemporary manufacture, though there may be found a few (very few) exceptions to this. Authentic, old Chinese porcelains were entirely hand-painted. Use of the transfer process to apply decoration to porcelain is a technique attributable to very modern Chinese factories.

2. Watch out for an application of wipe on 'patina,' which is to say a colored stain applied at manufacture to disguise newer, white paste of non-aged bodies and bases. This can usually be particularly noticeable on foot-rims or on the unglazed interior edges beneath lids.

3. Check the foot-rim for rough stray pieces of clay, kiln frit or grit. One should expect these to no longer 'stand proud' on this area, which should have experienced significant friction wear over the course of a century or two, even if carefully preserved and treated with great care.

4. If the mark says, "Made in China" expect a contemporary age. It is not old. And be advised that some modern wares are also stamped simply, "China," as well. While items from the early 20th century were marked with the one word, so have been items from the present day.

5. Always keep in mind that it is just as easy to place a mark on a new item that denotes an age for it of, say, 1796 to 1820, as it would be to place a mark on it that reads, "Made in 2008."

6. "I was told this is......(fill in the blank) does not constitute provenance nor assign instant authenticity or age for an item.

7. If one aspect of a piece is wrong for the date given by the mark, such as a glaze color never used during that time period or a stylistic element that belongs to another period, consider it to be suspect and most likely a fake.

8. If a seller lives in mainland China and they are offering to sell and export outside of that country anything pre-dating 1795, suspect everything they sell to be non-authentic. It is forbidden in China to sell/export antiques made before 1795.

9. For items dated as made between 1796 to 1949, there are government export regulations that must be met. Antique objects that date from 1796 to 1949 can be sold and taken out of China, but they must bear a small red seal from the government which denotes the item was examined by the proper authority and it was certified as made after 1795.

10. Little red seals can be faked easier than a maker's mark on a ceramic piece. If an item to be exported to you from China bears a wax seal said to certify it as made after 1795, an official Certificate for Relics Export from the Beijing Cultural Relics Bureau (BCRB) should also accompany the piece to declare it to be a legally sold antique item.

Item ID: 2007RP00036