Need help identifying Chinese vase age or origin.

@AJ
We disagree. I am familiar with Japanese men's various hair style, flowing pants, and several versions of the MING marks, even the ones that are archaic and not of the century.
The overall impression of this vase and it's decorations, and its marks, is very sloppy, of low value and I doubt genuine Chinese or Japanese. Keep in mind I have a lot of experience in all the variations you can get in this Asian category. MY opinions are based on actually buying, owning and selling these for years.
P.S. The black pants and leggings are a Ninja combat style garment, not quite what we see in the colorful vase renditions.

 

The tobi is one piece, there are no leggings. The tobi are known as 'workman's' trousers.
Black trousers for ninjas are not traditional, but an invention of Japanese Bunraku puppet theatre. It could well be that movie ninjas wear the same, I wouldn't know. But a real ninja would never have worn a tobi.

Did I mention I owned an Asian antiques shop in the 80s? Involved a lot of buying, owning and selling. I had to close because of my health but never stopped collecting. I did steer away from the style of this vase, not my thing and too recent for my taste, but that is just personal. And I agree on the quality.
I bought and sold Song, Ming and Qing, if I was lucky my favourite Yuan. I also sold the more demure Japanese styles. After I stopped my own shop, I was asked to do some buying for other shops, even though I was the youngest in the trade. But that became too much after a while too.

 

I did no know as you did not mention it recently and I am a new member, if not new to the subject. @AJ.

Explains a lot about your fountain of knowledge in this field and easy source of information. As I said on another thread yesterday, we all have something to contribute, this should be supported because it's not a contest.

Edited: The black pants are from a recent photo of Japanese new garments for sale, with a description that matches yours. I find it hard to believe that any kind of outdoor worker would wear all black from the waist down. Now or way back in history.

We are mixing traditional Japanese facts, with recent examples in images.

I don't feel the need to continue splitting hairs about this, I think we both have made our points, based on our own sources of knowledge and beliefs.

 

They wore different colours, but mostly black and dark/navy blue.

 

Just thinking about the dirt, and laundry......lol

 

Just think how much trouble it would be if they were white or even hot pink.
Traditional workers and farmers clothes in 'my' part of the Netherlands were also mainly blue and black.
Like the man on this van Gogh painting, painted not far from where I live:


(no, that is not a metal detector)

 

I love Van Gogh, never seen this painting of his. Metal detector....ha ha!
I also love wearing black clothes, so know first hand, how easily they look frumpy.

It's a culture thing I suppose, and once worn long enough, they probably did not look completely black or dark blue, even if clean. Our farmers and laborers wore brown, tan, or denim, same thing once well worn, colors were forever changed.

Funny story about my uncle, married to my godmother (a Canadian Embassy staffer), who was French from Marseilles, and worked for the French government as an attache to the Indochina colony (think spy). He sent me a book in French, written by a young French guy who stayed in China for several months and lived in the countryside, this is after 1950. He was very surprised and then happy that washing and wearing clean clothes was not part of their daily rituals. No reflection on the Chinese, this is what was said in the book published in the 1970s.

Anyway, glad we can joke together.

 

Do you think it has any value?

And the way they are wrote is odd ,two in one column and four in the next column, I couldn't find any like that. I do agree with you though.

 

@Bobby Stone
I did not to go into great detail about my mark comment, because the mark makes no sense.
The first and second character down on the right side of AJ's example, are typically found on most 6 character Chinese Ming Reign Marks.
It's also used on Japanese cloisonne, with 2 characters, the first two, which translates to 'The Great Ming', in homage to the Chinese cloisonne masters, which they closely followed at first in mid 19th century. I showed one of those on the cloisonne thread on the base of a vase.
You can see the second character down on the vase is vaguely similar to the Ming mark, with two side by side, rectangular boxed shapes with extensions on the right side. The first right mark for 'the great' is like a large T, with wide lines on each side, these can also be seen in a similar form on the vase top left, except the side bottom lines are not attached.
I was trying to convey, that this was a poor attempt at a Ming mark, that's is all. The real Chinese and Japanese potters knew better than this, I would think. Value, no, unless as a study piece you can keep.
@AJ
Since I don't believe it to be either Chinese or Japanese. There is no issue there for me.... lol

 

It is a detail of "Lane with Poplars near Nuenen". Nuenen is down the road from me (literally).

Especially if you have a permanently shedding Siamese cat, like I used to have.
Worse whenever she got a fright, there'd be an extra white cat shape on the floor.

 

@AJ
Black was fine while I worked many years in an office full time, in our main city Toronto, but once retired with two long haired dogs, one blond, it's an exercise in futility to look clean for 5 minutes wearing black. They love to get close....lol
Understand about the cat too. Me and my vacuum can't keep up either.

Here is a picture I took a few days ago, from the bottom of our fenced backyard. Our house is on a hill, bigger exterior in the back than the front bungalow street level.

 

Oh, they are really nice, the blonde one looks like he/she is saying: why is she holding that thing in front of her face.....
Nice house too, and I love the big trees.

 

Thank you AJ.
That is Northern Ontario pines and spruces that were planted on the property, they grow really well here. The front has a really large maple tree and flower beds. The zone is not great for a lot of varieties of plants, summer is too short, and not hot enough.
That was funny trying to take the pictures, the dogs kept coming towards me before I had a change to click the shutter. The blond is a boy, 5 years old, the red is a girl, 4 years old. Makes a nice retirement family, my step daughter calls us 'the dog family', dad is crazy about his dogs.

 

Thank you all for your valuable input on my inquiries. You have answered my questions and I hope the expertise you all contain may help others as well.