Featured Chinese porcelain --what form is this, etc.

Thrift purchase, has damage but was just curious what it was for and possible age. Assuming Chinese.



Looking down from the top. Missing a lid? Took photos before cleaning.



Under the base:


Something broken off of both sides:



Approx 5.5" tall. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

Yes, I think Chinese. Missing a lid and may have been handles that broke off. A censer of some sort perhaps?

 

Yes it is Chinese, and once a beautiful piece. Well, it still is.
I think it is 18th century, but let's wait for the others.

Ditto.

Looks like it.

 

Agreed.
Different type of censer, but possibly similar handles and lid

 

It’s in a Kakiemon palette which was used by both Chinese and Japanese. My feeling is Japanese 18th century

 

Thanks, everyone.

Would be amazing if 18th century. Something in the hand does have sort of an older quality about it.

Not sure what I'm doing with it... damage is extreme. But this is a good start!

 

I'm with you Lucille-I've got a drawer of shards and fragments-the only value in them is beauty. Like a bowl full of broken seashells or any other cluster of detritus that enhances living.

 

Oooh that is quite interesting, especially for a thrift store find. I’m oscillating between old and newer. The decoration is quite good and complex. Not great but quite good. I feel like they would have likely spent more time on the kirin in the 18th century but there’s a chance they may not have. The red being so vibrant and undisturbed around the top rim looks off. It may have been protected by a lid for most of its life though and that is a good explanation for it being so well preserved if so. Some of the other colors and their vibrancy is bugging me a bit but my eyes could be mistaken. The wear to gilding looks honest. The porcelain looks to be of high quality and the open work is really nice and crisp. The foot rim looks good and the dirt looks right. However the dirt extends to up inside the foot rim. That is generally a sign of a fake. The fakers rub dirt on foot rims but they don’t think about the fact that honest grime would only accumulate on the very bottom. It wouldn’t also get up into the inside edges most likely. They’ll rub foot rims over a rough surface to give them lots of scratches and whatnot to approximate what age and sliding an object over a table or counter countless times would do. Then rub the dirt in. On your piece it almost looks like it may have literally been sitting outside in dirt though. In that case the object settling down into the dirt could explain the dirt extending up into the sides of the foot rim. In person does it look like it literally was sitting in soil? Being outside could also explain the extensive damage and losses. I’d call the color pallet Wucai enamels. I’m torn. I’d think a republic period or even later copy might make more sense but I’m far from knowledgeable enough to know for sure. It could be older as others have suggested. If you want a professional opinion pay Peter Combs $18 to asses it. You can google him. Just send good naturally lit photos to him via his website. Even with this damage it could have a fair bit of value because of its lovely form and decoration. Worth getting a good pair of eyes on it I think.

Does the porcelain have a bluish celadon hue or are my eyes deceiving me? I keep seeing it on the underside. Nice grab either way!

 

Ah, didn't realize there was another response here. Thank you @J Dagger

I'll take another look!

 

More photos! Definitely has some blue. I would say the camera picture here corrected it somewhat to look more blue than real life, but definitely has a blue hue inside. What does that tell us?


Another look inside. Since cleaned. I can say that it was very dirty inside. Maybe a plant or flowers were in there?

I can't imagine this having been put outside though for any length of time. I think the glaze would show more damage than it does. So that does question the dirty base.


The pierced part


A chip close up, in case that tells us anything:


I really don't know Chinese items at all. I would say this feels a bit extra heavy in the hand if that tells anything.

What does that blue hue tell us?

 

There were periods when the white was more blueish. I can't remember which.

It isn't celadon, which is pale green. Celadon can be blueish green or greyish green, but always pale green. It is called after Celadon, a character from a French play who wore green clothing.

 

AJ is spot on. There were periods when porcelain paste with a bluish hue was more prevalent. I don’t know them off the top of my head and they are only a clue not a hard determinant. I actually found a website that explained the periods this was common that I was going to post in reply to your query. I got side tracked and now I can’t find it. I had to word the search just perfectly to find it. Otherwise you get lots of results about cobalt and celadon glazes. That is all I can find now unfortunately. Most glazes are pretty impervious to things other than contact I think. Some colors fade more than others over time. For example if it sat untouched on the ground in a place that didn’t freeze it could probably survive pretty well without damage. That’s my understanding at least. I may be wrong. That said it feels a bit too “fresh” to me. I don’t trust my opinion enough to bet on it though. If you can spare the $18 for a pro appraisal I think this is one it’s worth doing it on. There’s a lot of potential upside if it is old.

 

Thank you AJ and J Dagger.