Gotheborg.com Antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Collector's
Help and Info Page
This is a Collectors Help and Info Page for other Collectors of antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain. It offers an extensive archive of translated and dated Japanese and Chinese porcelain marks, a glossary of porcelain terms, Chinese porcelain history, Chinese travelogues, tons of pictures and Question & Answer pages, and a very active Discussion Board and research archive. Towards a small donation you can ask for personal help or become a full member of our porcelain collector's Discussion Board. To just search and read this site and most of the Board Archive is for free. For a display of some authenticated antique porcelain for sale, you are also welcome to our Collection section. To find your way around on this large site, use any of the available search boxes, the navigation panel to the left or the scroll down menue. Or, you can just scroll down this page and start reading.
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Quick jump to main sections:
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Or, if you need personal help on some porcelain
related question, you can contact me directly for a quick email consultation.
Most welcome to Gotheborg.com
Jan-Erik Nilsson
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If you need a quick personal consultation on any Chinese porcelain related question you might have, you are welcome to email me personally at chineseporcelaininfo.com. A donation of $15 per item towards the running of this site is appreciated. Click here to Ask A Question.
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Marks section, with more than 1000 translated and dated Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Marks. Illustrated, dated and translated.
 Click here to go directly to Chinese Marks, and here for Japanese marks.
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The Gotheborg.com Discussion Board is a member's driven social platform where several hundred active members together with around ten specialists / moderators discuss their own pieces. With more than 100,000 messages and pictures in archive this is one of the best resources on the Internet for the collector of Chinese or Japanese porcelain to make friends with other people with similar interests, and to find out what you really have. This discussion board is from the collector's point of view. No advertising or no commercial posts are allowed. The purpose is that we as collector's team up and share each other's knowledge. For full participation, the membership fee is only $25 USD per year. [ Start by signing up for a Guest account here and upgrade to full read and post rights when you know this is for you ] [ Visit Board ]
Our last 10 posts:
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Glossary of Chinese Pottery and Porcelain Terms, Decorations and Symbols. More than 520 terms explained and illustrated. The glossary is constantly updated. Click here to go directly to the Glossary.
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Large Q&A Porcelain Info Section with pictures of Chinese and Japanese porcelains, popular styles, shapes and decorations.
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Trade, ships, wrecks, ceramics and Marine Archaeology. On-going and past.
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An ever growing list of recommended books on Japanese and Chinese Pottery and Porcelain. There are definitely more good books around, my point is just to tell that in my view; these books deserves a place in any collector's library.
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The Letters of Père d'Entrecolles (1664-1741) here for the first time translated, commented and available in full on-line.
Being a French Jesuit missionary while spending some time in Jingdezhen Father d'Entrecolles got to know the porcelain industry of the early 18th century well. His reports was sent to and published in Europe in 1712 and 1722.
These two Letters of Pere d'Entrecolle are the most important accounts we have on the Chinese porcelain manufacturing of the late Kangxi period during the two first decades of the 18th century.
During September to December 2005 an exhibition of Chinese pottery and porcelain was held at the Wumen Exhibition Hall, Palace Museum (Gugong) in Beijing.
The exhibition focused on 18th century Chinese porcelain exported to the West but highlighted Neolithic pottery and some Imperial wares, from a rare example of ruyao, to Qianlong in Export porcelain in Swedish collections.
Welcome to browse the on-line version of the catalog, here courtesy of Gotheborg.com.
The 17th of July 2006 the rebuilt replica of the first 'East Indiaman Gotheborg' arrived from Sweden to Boca Tigris in the Pearl River delta outside Canton, to later pass the old ancorage at 'Whampoa' to come to rest opposite the White Swan Hotel in the center of todays Guangzhou (Canton).
During the last part of the trip HRH the King and Queen of Sweden joined the crew on-board.
The entire project of recreating an 18th century Swedish East Indiaman and sending her to China again and back was all started as a private project by a small group of enthusiastic professionals, based on the excavation of the original East Indiaman Gotheborg.
Since I was one of them, here is my story on how the whole project started and some of what the research has yielded so far ...
[ PROJECT ] [ ARRIVAL IN GUANGZHOU ]
Jan-Erik Nilsson
Visit to the City of Canton, 2006
In July 2006 the rebuilt Swedish East Indiaman 'Gotheborg' finally arrived in Canton. Since I had the pleasure to be very much involved in the starting of the project, as one of my personal musts when it arrived I really wanted to explore the City of Canton and see if I could navigate it, by using this rare export porcelain dish as a map...
The dish in itself is from the latter part of the 18th century, possibly around the 1780s and but I feel portrays a city where the European factories were not yet there.
The source for this painting is not known, but in the collection of the China Castle in Stockholm, Sweden, dating to the 1740s there is an album leaf which shows a high degree of similaritis. [ more ]
Visits to Jingdezhen 1991 and 1992
Only a few yards from this spot at the river banks of the Chang River, flowing through the city of Jingdezhen, the Chinese Imperial kiln was built during the Yuan dynasty.
The production grew and continued here during the entire Ming and Qing dynasty. At this very spot the porcelain was loaded onto the same type of small boats as you can see on the picture, to be sent out all over the world, from the 13th century and onwards almost up until today.
For the last 1000 years all kinds of Chinese porcelain shards and kiln debris has been dumped here as the city grew. So much in fact that the city of Jingdezhen are now resting on a thick layer of it, 30 feet deep or more in places. Click here to visit my report from Visits to Jingdezhen 1991 and 1992
Text & Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson.
Visit to Singapore and Hong Kong, March 2001
During March 3-12, 2001 I had the pleasure of visiting Singapore and Hong Kong. The purpose of the visit was to deepen my understanding of the Straits Chinese Porcelain and the related culture.
I also wanted to study 19th and 20th century Chinese porcelain, products of less known "provincial" trade porcelain kilns in Southern China, and to get a first hand impression on the trade in antique Chinese porcelain fakes, to visit several important scholars and collectors in the area, to learn and to take part of their specific knowledge.
Here is a short travel report to summarize some of my thoughts. Click here to read the report from my Visit to Singapore and Hong Kong, March 2001
Text & Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson.
Visit to Sten Sjöstrand off Tioman Island, Malaysia, Sept. 2001
In September 2001 I got an invitation to visit the base camp of Sten Sjöstrand's marine archaeological and salvage expedition in Malaysia. I did and I am back. After a much needed shower and some rest I put together the following report.
I got to see piles of Si-Satchanalai (Sawankhalok district, Sukhothai) pieces, still in storage from the excavation of the Royal Nanhai 16th century cargo of Celadon ceramics - plus the very reason of my visit - a surface sample collection from the recently discovered 19th century and possibly "Straits Chinese" cargo. Now that can't be said to have been the case, but it was interesting anyway.
Click here to read my letter to the gotheborgList after my Visit to Sten Sjöstrand off Tioman Island, Malaysia, Sept. 2001
Text & Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson.
Visit to the ancient city of Malacca, Malaysia, May 2002
In May 2002 I mentioned to a Singaporean family I know well - still carrying the Portuguese name Cordeiro - that I was planning to visit Southeast Asia again to among other things visit the very important historic trade city of Malacca on the west coast of Malaysia,
The pace of life in Singapore is fast and one hour later I got a call back. Everything was arranged. They would take the day off and if I could sleep for four hours after arrival in Singapore we would leave for Malacca by car at 4 am in the morning, so we would lose the morning traffic and have better driving temperature and that it would only take some three hours of driving anyway ...
So, I arrived after some 20 hours of air flight from Sweden via Amsterdam. A few hours later I was whisked off to Malaysia - still fast asleep - to wake up to breakfast and Kopi-O (black coffee without milk) just a few hundred meters from where a beautiful Ming princess and her tourage was set ashore to marry the Sultan of Malacca some 500 years earlier. Which was one of the reasons why I wanted to see this place ...
Click here to follow me to Malacca, Malaysia, in May 2002.
Text & Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson.
This is the full text from the document called "Twenty Illustrations of the Manufacture of Porcelain" , written on Imperial command in 1743. The author is Tang Ying, the celebrated superintendent of the Imperial Porcelain factory in the Jiangxi province during the years 1736-1753.
The translation was made by S.W. Bushell in 1899. Since the original pictures from 1743 has been lost the text is accompanied by pictures where applicable, taken by me in 1991 and 1992 when I had the privilege of spending a few weeks in Jingdezhen together with Professor Bo Gyllensvärd.
A keen understanding of the ancient methods of porcelain potting is essential for the recognition of fakes and modern replicas which is why I publish this section on how the antique Chinese porcelain actually was made.
Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson 1991, 1992
Q&A Porcelain Info Section with pictures of Chinese and Japanese porcelains, popular styles, shapes and decorations. Selection of JE Nilsson's replies to email questions. These plus Glossary are all accessable via the search box. See also Ask a Question and Discussion Board
- A Beginners Help on Chinese Porcelain collecting
- August the Strong - Dragoneer Vase, Ex: Johanneum, Dresden
- Authentications:
- Bargain hunting in China
- Black glazed vase - Mirror Black
- Blue and white, Chinese "provincial" mid 19th century ware
- Blue and white, Chinese "provincial" 16th and late 19th century ware
- Blue and white, Chinese early 18th century export charger
- Blue and white bowl with copper clad rim
- Blue and white Comb's box
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Blue and white, Chinese Export porcelain from mid 18th century
- Blue and white, Chinese Export Kangxi, Yongzheng or Qianlong copy of Ming - Total fake
- Blue and white Kangxi charger, found in rubbish
- Blue and white Kangxi bowl with Chenghua mark
- Blue and white lidded jars with Kangxi mark, not of the period
- Black glazed wares found at the coast of California
- Books for beginning a serious study of Chinese Porcelain
- Books, The 100 best, on Chinese Porcelain
- Bowl with high foot, c. 1900 Food serving tray
- Bowl with high foot, c. 1850-75 Food serving tray
- Brush pot, Green glazed
- Brush pot, Green glazed "Wang Bing Rong"?
- Burnt red foot rims on Ming
- Burnt red foot rims on Ming copies
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Candle holder/Porcelain dog figurine in Rose medallion
- Celadon, glaze
- Celadon platter supposed to be from the Ming Dynasty
- China, Chronology and History
- China, Three Gorges
- Chinese Export Armorial porcelain
- Belfrage, Sweden, 1804
- Cedercreutz and Campbell, Sweden, 1750's
- Ehrenbill, Sweden, c 1770.
- GEB - Carl Gustaf Ekeberg, Sweden, c. 1750-70
- Grill, Sweden, 1760's, Jean Eric Rehn, design by
- Gyllenborg, Sweden, c. 1755, Count Fredrik Gyllenborg
- KJ - Initials within a star
- Höpkens, von, Daniel Nicholas, Sweden, 1730's
- Klinckowström, Leonard, Sweden, c. 1740
- John or Christopher Lethieullier, Britain, c. 1725-1730
- Nordencrantz, Sweden, 1730's
- Pott, England, 1780's
- Werngren and Wimnell, Sweden, c. 1765
- Wirsén, af, Sweden, c. 1812
- Wrangel af Sauss, Sweden, c. 1740
- Chinese Export Special Designs porcelain
- Chinese Export Porcelain patterns
- Chinese porcelain making in 1743
- Chinese porcelain of the 17th to 20th century
- Chinese Porcelain, when was is first made?
- Cleaning of seal-marks and tarnished gold
- Cleaning old pottery
- "Clobbed" Kangxi
- "Clobbered" wares
- Crackled glaze vase with enamels and brown mark
- Crackled glaze jar with enamels and brown mark
- Crackled glaze porcelain tea caddy
- Crackled lidded jar with enamels
- Cups, with two handles
- Date 20th century pieces, How to
- Dated vase with bird, 1909
- Damaged porcelain
- Damages and their effect on the value of a piece of antique porcelain
- Daoists' meditation Vase
- Decoration, Famille Verte and Famille Rose
- Decoration, Rose Mandarin
- Decoration, Wucai
- Doucai "garlic neck" vase with Daoguang mark
- Doucai "garlic neck" miniature vase
- Dragon and Flower's vase
- Dragon decorated lidded dish
- Dragons, rare Xianfeng
- eBay, Internet auction site for selling and buying antiques
- Enamel decorated teapot
- Eight Friends of Zhushan"
- Eggs, porcelain, marked "Satsuma" and "China"
- Eggshell Porcelain, background
- Eggshell porcelain
- Eggshell, White bowls with gold rim
- Enameled "Rooster" tureen, with unusual mark
- Erotica on Chinese Porcelain
- Fahua pottery Lamp foot jar
- Fakes, writing a book on
- Fakes, dealing with
- Fake, modern Ming copy sold as "Song?"
- Famille Noire Jar
- Famille Verte Kangxi / early 18th century bowl shaped dish
- Figure from Harbin, China
- Figure, Fujian Club You Chang Zi
- Figure, Late 19th century God of War
- Figure, modern Chinese porcelain
- Figures, Chinese porcelain
- Fish decorated dish, 1930's, Chinese porcelain
- Flower pot or fish basin of the Guangxu (1875-1908) period
- Fujian Blue and White Water Flask
- "Garniture"
- Ginger Jar, Kangxi period
- Ginger Jars, Late Qing Dynasty
- Ginger Jar, Double Happiness" Wedding Gift, mid 19th century
- Ginger Jar, 1860 to early 20th century
- Ginger Jar, mid 20th century
- Ginger Jar, Chinese Imari 18th century
- Ginger Jar, stamped decoration
- Gold, what did the color represent?
- Granaries
- Green glazed figures
- Green glazed jar
- Green, Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) figure
- Guangxu to Early republic blue vases
- Hot water plate
- Hsien Feng period (1851-62) Chinese porcelain basin
- Hua Shan - modern vase
- Imari, Antique Chinese or later?
- Imari, Punch Bowl
- Is what I am buying really old?
- Jar, Martaban, South East Asian, Brown glazed
- Jar and Dish with red and green decoration
- Jar, big, glazed modern
- Jars, Archaeology and background of Martaban Jars
- Jars, Family Heirloom Jars from Borneo
- Jiangxi Min Ci (1940-60) enameled porcelain bowl with export approval seal.
- Kangxi looking blue and white porcelain
- Kangxi mark in a double circle, on a Hawthorne jar
- Kangxi (1662-1722) period dish or a Ming fake?
- Kangxi looking, broken vase from old Cathay?
- Kangxi plates with raised center Oyster plates
- Kangxi Teacup with dish and cover
- Kangxi Teacup, maybe fakes
- "Kitchen Qing" Straits Chinese Dishes
- Kraak fake, recently bought in China
- Kraak porcelain Ming Wanli copy
- Laughing Buddha
- Limited-edition plates by "Zhao Huimin"
- Lowestoft, Chinese
- Make money on Chinese Porcelain, How to
- Makuzu Kozan mark Vase, yellow with ducks
- Mao, Chairman, Porcelain of
- Marks, 20th century on Chinese Porcelain
- Mark, Conch shell
- Mark, "Foreign"
- Mark, "Made in China"
- Mark, genuine Qianlong period
- Marks, are all pieces with raised marks fakes?
- Marks, valuable Chinese Porcelain without marks
- MARKS section, more then 500 illustrated and translated Chinese and Japanese porcelain marks
- Martaban type or "Neolithic Period" trade pottery?
- Meiping vase with enameled decoration
- Ming bowl, Kiln reject or both?
- Ming dynasty, Chenghua 1465-87 authentication
- Ming dynasty, Chenghua 1465-87 wine cup
- Ming dynasty, Yongle 1403-24 period, bowl. Mid 20th century copy
- Ming dynasty, Xuande 1426-35 mark, faceted vase
- Ming dynasty dish, late 16th century
- Ming, fake bowl with underglaze blue and white decoration
- Ming, fake jar with clumsy underglaze blue and white decoration
- Ming, fake jar with well done underglaze blue and white decoration
- Ming style enameled jar
- Ming style blue and white cup stand
- Ming style green glazed vase
- Ming tiles, How common are
- Mirrored / symmetrical pairs
- Modern high quality enameled vase
- Modern high quality enameled vase with artist's seal
- modern good quality replica red Feng bowl
- Moulding copies
- "Mudmen" from the Shiwan potteries at Foshan
- Monochrome, excellent, red, late Qing dynasty bowl
- Monochrome, red "Sang-de-bouef" Vase
- North Chinese Provincial ware Cizhou style underglaze blue
- North Chinese Provincial ware Yaotou ware
- Oil lamp, brown glazed
- Over-the-wall (Guoshi) decorated dish
- "Ox-blood" or "Langyao hong" Copper-red vase, late Qing dynasty
- Phoenix and dragon decorated enameled vase
- Paste, how can one determine its quality?
- Pigments used in the glazes
- Pillow, blue and white head or hand rest
- Pottery figure, Ming lead glazed roof tile
- Printed decoration
- Qingbai glazed vase, yuan dynasty
- Red, square, rubber stamped Qianlong mark
- Red Rooster plate Wa Lee factory, Hong Kong
- Repair cracks using pure gold
- Rose Medallion, candlestick
- Rose Medallion, decorated in Macao
- Rose Medallion, decorated in Hong Kong
- Rose Medallion, landscape panels
- Rose Mandarin, early 20th century, Red Mansion decoration?
- "Salts" and their use
- Samson copies of Chinese Porselain
- Seasons Cup, Ge glaze, late 19th century
- Selling Ming porcelain found in South East Asia
- Simon Ng: Some pictures from the Shiwan kiln outside Canton
- Song dynasty, Temmoku
- Song pottery, authentication
- Spoons
- Straits type late 19th century SEA enameled export porcelain
- Tang dynasty marbled ware
- Tang pottery - Authentication without TL-test
- Authentication without TL-test, a non conclusive experiment
- Tea ceremony bowl, Late Transitional/Kangxi period tea , ca 1680
- Teacup with lid from Jiangxi Porcelain company
- Teacup with saucer, Kangxi eggshell
- Teapot, Blue and White
- Teapot, Rose Medallion
- Transitional looking Meiping vase
- Tureen and Wine pot, Question of age
- Underglaze red manganese decorated vase
- Vase, blue and white Kangxi copy
- Vase, blue and white vase with Qianlong mark
- Vase, blue-and-white pheasant
- Vase, enamels and a Chenghua mark in brown
- Vase, enameled decoration of flowers and Chinese characters
- Vase, enameled decoration of ladies and poem
- Vase, Fu-dog decoration in underglaze blue and white
- Vase, high quality enamels from late 1950's
- Vase, rose pink ground
- VOC marked blue and white porcelain
- Wash basin from late 19th century
- White porcelain, Fujian Dehua "Blanc-de-Chine" sacrificial cup
- White porcelain, figure and bowl
- White porcelain, Song/Yuan
- White porcelain, with hidden decoration
- White porcelain, wedding cups with hidden decoration
- Worcester, First Period, with Chinese design
- Wucai jars, Possibly Kangxi period
- Wufu - five bats - decoration
- Wufu - five bats - underglaze red decoration
- Wreck finds, Kangxi in Florida
- Yuan/Early Ming style pear shaped vase
- Quality, What distinguishes a desirable Neolithic or Han piece from a run-of-the-mill one?
- Xuantong (1909-1912) period vase, dated 1909
- Xuantong (1909-1912) period bowl, dated 1911
- Yixing City Fruit Skin Bins
- Yuan dynasty blue and white
Sundry
Antique Japanese Porcelain Questions and Answers
The Ms. Sam Armijo Legacy; on: Occupied Japan
Collector's Letters to the Editor
INFO SECTION
HISTORY
SPONSORS
MARKS
BOOKS
SEARCH
FAQ
GLOSSARY
COLLECTION
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