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In Chinese porcelain, "age" is always an issue, but that should not allow us to forget "quality".
A commonly neglected fact in considering the later Chinese porcelain was that in 1916 there were a serious attempt to reinstate a new emperor in China (Hongxian 1916). The preparations had been going on for years and included deciding on - and actually ordering - new imperial porcelain based on an enameled early Qing dynasty style.
Taking into account the turmoil in China at this time, the available facts seems to support that as much as 1,4 million Yuan seems to have been spent on making 40 000 new Imperial pieces. All left over material after this was used by the Jingdezhen potters in the further process of making high quality porcelain with a diversity of marks.
Now, I am not suggesting that this vase is a Hongxian 1916 period piece - It could be of course, but my best guess is that it dates to the next following high quality period of 1917-29.
While studying the picture please note that the border are hand painted, while later and simpler pieces most often have some kind of transfer printed borders.
The height of this vase is 5 inch / 12 cm and bears the seal of the artists, which would make this, one of the few signed porcelain pieces in the history of Chinese porcelain.
Thank you for your interest.
Best regards,
Jan-Erik Nilsson
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