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I have enclosed photos of a vase in my collection. I would greatly appreciate your input regarding it. It is 18 cm (7") tall.
It is rather heavy for its size; it was made in two pieces and was put together with a seam that runs horizontally mid way up the body.
The foot is unglazed except for a spot of glaze in the middle. The glaze is rather greenish in color and there are numerous imperfections in the glaze. The blue is grayish/purplish and there is good wear to the glaze and enamels. It appears to be Transitional but the zigzag border at the neck and the meticulous stiff leaf border at the neck say "Kangxi" to me.
Have you seen this combination before or is this a later copy?
This piece is difficult to authenticate since it combines several different features.
The border you mentioned and the overall impression is Japanese in style, but it does not strike me as a Japanese piece either. One possibility is actually that it could be a Japanese market export piece from early Kangxi or slightly before Kangxi.
The most revealing feature is the glaze that is poured over the rings on the base. Normally a base like this would not be glazed at all (thus the spiral pattern) or glazed and even, still this is not an entirely impossibly base for a small Transitional piece.
Still my best guess is that this might well be a recent replica, but if it is a Japanese copy of a Chinese Jar or a Chinese copy of a Japanese copy of a Chinese Jar beats me.
The paste and base does look like 17th-18th century Chinese. The decoration looks like a Japanese version of a Chinese decoration. The white porcelain body could actually be Kangxi or late 19th century.
The shape and the general mixture of everything point at a date around the 1930's if I have to take a guess at something.
Do not take this as entirely negative, it is not intended to be so. It is an absolutely perfect collector's piece, which will merit many and long discussions. If you ever find out exactly what it is, though, please tell me :-)
Sincerely,
Jan-Erik Nilsson
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