Old Asian themed vase with crossed swords mark

I purchased this vase at an estate sale in my old neighborhood in Kalamazoo, about 6-7 years ago. It drove me crazy trying to sort through all of the crossed swords marks. I never was able to find one that matched this. I would like to get an estimate on how old this vase is and if anyone recognizes the mark. Also I am curious as to why the faces are gone on the people, do glazes fade? The vase is about 10" high and 5.5" wide. It looks on this inside like it was turned on a wheel and the clay seems to be a tan color. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

I don't know from that mark, but this vase looks Chinese to me.

 

& the top rim is seated for a lid.....so...not a vase..

 

I found it on Gotheborg, but it was in the Japanese marks section.

Scroll down to "Ei" (apparently the Chinese character.)


http://www.gotheborg.com/marks/20thcenturyjapan.shtml

 

Thats awesome, thanks!

 

I would guess that most of the color is fired-on enamel, but final details (such as the faces) were added in cold paint after the firing. Cold paint is paint just lying on the surface and very fragile - easily worn away.

 

Here is some info on the maker - Ei-Sei-Sha from Himeji... http://modernjapanesepotterymarks.blogspot.com/2016/09/himeji-ei-sei-sha.html

 

This is of course true with cold painted works, however this piece wasn't decorated that way. On Chinese porcelains (and obviously Japanese copies too) faces were quite often delineated in iron red with details picked out in grisaille.
This red, which is much softer then the surrounding colours, is not only fugitive but due to the softer composition it is far more susceptible to harsh cleaning so it never fares quite as well as the other enamels.
Even though this is a Japanese production, it is decorated identically to and imitates Chinese porcelain decoration of the time, even down to the type and colour of enamels used.