Please help me know where these came from!

Hi Guys,

I have had these plates sat around for a fair few years and am wondering what the markings mean, if they are mass produced or antiques.

I'd be gratefulfor any help given

also added my other piece here I thought it might be worth asking about with the Rhino ontop

 

please show us the plates as well............................

 

Managed to get the plates within the 1mb size

 

those wire things are bad for plates....

wait till morning here for the plate gals to chime in !

 

They will be removed in that case! thanks for the fyi


I see what you mean, they havent been removed in years and I can see the mark they have left on one of the plates... sad but thank you for letting me know, I just moved and these have been on my wall for years before

 

I also added another piece in the original post, do you know what this is @komokwa ?

 

The mark on the plate is odd, although it says 'Japan' it doesn't make sense translated in Japanese, it appears to be Chinese instead and it reads RONG HE JIN ZHI (made by Rong He Jin). So they appear to be Chinese decorative items made in the Japanese style and unlikely to date earlier than the 1980's. I found a few for sale on Chinese websites, prices were low.

The Elephant box is by a Chinese company Wong Lee that made high quality decorative items in the older style. They weren't exported to the West until the late 1990's, so are recent. That said they are usually very well made using real hot cast bronze and traditionally fired ceramics. I have have a few over the years, they made some very nice animal/bird figures in mixed bronze and ceramic too. Due to the quality they do seem to have some value and I have always managed to sell them relatively easily even when identified correctly as modern.

I don't have the Rong He mark in my database yet, are you ok for me to use your pic to add it in? Many thanks.

 

Yes no worries feel free to use as needed

I was told they were bought in an auction at japan so im just wanting to find out what I can, what did your Wong Lee stuff sell for on average?

Also is there any way to get it restored with the yellow colour? some of it has rubbed off over the years and I should have taken more care with the piece but I want to bring it back to its original look!

 

Many thanks. If you search in the Chinese (荣和谨制) you will find similar items, they are generally seen on Chinese language sites. The Chinese did copy a lot of Japanese work in the late 20th century so it is quite common to find items which look Japanese but were made in China. They are certainly not old or antique.

The Wong Lee animal figures I had sold around £180-200 each and a bronze mounted dish around the same price, I have not had a box like yours though. It is unusual for the glaze to be coming off, this would need specialist restorers to repair but it is not likely to be worthwhile. I have not seen one with this kind of issue, it would suggest a manufacturing fault, or it being overpainted and the paint is failing.