Posts Tagged ‘Chinese’

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Tiny Chinese Imari teapot, c.1700

Saturday, June 22nd, 2013

Though this octagonal-shaped Chinese porcelain teapot from the Kangxi period (1662-1722) appears to be a miniature, it is indeed a functioning vessel. Tea was only for the wealthy in the late 17th century; brewed in highly concentrated batches in tiny teapots and consumed in small amounts. This fine example, which stands nearly 4″ high, has cobalt blue underglaze decoration with iron red and gilt detailing. The remains of the original porcelain spout have been replaced by a much smaller silver cap, most likely in Amsterdam in the 1800s. As a precaution against loss, the lid has been shackled to the handle using a fine-link chain. This embellishment may have been added at the same time as the replacement spout.

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This nearly identical teapot with the same form, size and decoration as mine shows what the original spout looked like before the addition of the silver replacement.

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Photo courtesy of Pater Gratia Oriental Art

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Posted in teapot | 3 Comments »

Magnificent Yixing teapot c.1700

Sunday, May 26th, 2013

This is one of my favorite and, as it turns out, one of the rarest pieces I have in my collection. I purchased it last fall at auction where it was among a small but impressive collection of early Yixing teapots, most with silver mounts.  In total, over a dozen items were being offered; at least half were museum quality. I ended up with 2 teapots, each with multiple replacements, and I paid dearly for them. I only wish I had been able to forgo my monthly mortgage payment and purchase the entire lot so I could keep the assembled collection intact. But at least I acquired this breathtaking teapot, which in my opinion is the best of the lot, along with another rare gem, which I will post at a later date.

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Made in China during the Kangxi period (1662-1722), this Yixing teapot of hexagonal form is decorated with six relief molded panel designs on a thunder pattern ground and depicts spear and sword carrying warriors on horseback. The matching lid with a beautifully carved Buddhist lion finial has a thunder pattern ground. The teapot stands 4.5 inches high. The intricate details make this piece special, but the exquisite silver mounts and carved wood handle make this piece magnificent.

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When the original handle and spout broke off sometime in the first part of the 18th century, a silversmith of the highest level created these outstanding repairs and replacements. The wood handle is carved with what appears to be a scrolled leaf on top and a tiny grotesque head at the bottom, attached to the body using chased silver mounts. The spout is repaired with silver mounts at the base and at the tip, both handsomely engraved.

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There is a small hole at the top of the body near the spout, which I have seen on other Yixing teapots. Some of these other examples have a small silver mount covering the hole. Does anyone know if this is to allow steam to escape or why on some pieces the hole is covered?

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This teapot with similar form shows what the original loop handle would have looked like on my teapot. For more information, please take a look at other Yixing teapots I have previously posted to see a variety of forms and styles and to learn more about Yixing clay and its unique qualities.

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Photo courtesy of Christie’s

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Porcelain blue & white jug c.1785

Saturday, May 18th, 2013

Chinese porcelain baluster-form hot milk jug with sparrow beak spout, made in the mid to late 18th century during the Qianlong Period (1736-1795). Delicately decorated in underglaze cobalt blue, it shows a large vase sitting on a carved wood table and filled with precious objects surrounded by flowers and a pair of bees. The scale of these objects is a bit off-kilter, which adds a whimsical quality. Jug measures 5-3/4″ high and 4″ wide to the end of handle.

The original porcelain handle was replaced over one hundred years ago with a woven wicker-covered bronze replacement. I have dozens of examples of wicker-covered metal replacement handles in my collection, as this was a standard form of inventive repair; and at first glance, the handles all look pretty much the same, but upon closer inspection, you will see a variation in the pattern of the weaving. This handle has a straightforward checkerboard weave, while some of my pieces have the rattan in more than one color and woven in a more intricate pattern. I think a post dedicated to showing the many variations of woven-handle styles would be interesting, don’t you?

This blue & white decorated jug with similar form still has its porcelain handle and lid intact. Before my jug became an example of “inventive repair” it would have looked much like this one.

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Photo courtesy of eBay

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Pair of armorial sauce boats, c.1790

Sunday, April 7th, 2013

As collectors, we all have stories of “the one that got away” and for me it happened in June 1991, on the very first day I started collecting antiques with inventive repairs. Having landed in London the night before and still jet lagged, I stumbled down Portobello Road and wandered into a crowded stall selling porcelains. I spotted a pair of Chinese Export sauce boats each with a replaced metal loop handle. Pleading with the dealer to sell me just one, which I could barely afford, she broke up the pair and I happily walked away with what would be the start of my collection. Even then, I immediately regretted not being able to afford its mate, but I was pleased to at least own the one. To this day, I keep hoping I will come across the orphan I left behind and be able to reunite the two. So, if anyone can help me locate the long lost twin, I will be forever grateful and you will be rewarded for your excellent sleuthing!

The lone survivor of my maddening “Sophie’s Choice” moment

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You can imagine how happy I was to have been recently contacted by dealer Polly Latham of Boston, MA, offering me a pair of Chinese Export sauce boats, each with identical replacement handles and decorated with an armorial coat of arms, no less. This pair, a part of a larger dinner service, was made for export to the English market at the end of the 18th century and bear the Arms of Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839). Maitland, a noted statesman, politician and controversial social and political critic of his time, criticized the clergy, condemned slavery and was an ardent supporter of the French Revolution. The motto under the coat-of-arms, intricately painted in polychrome enamels with gilt highlights, translates to “Wisdom and Courage”. Each measures 2 inches high and 7.75 inches long.

I am pleased to proclaim that as long as I am the caretaker of this fine pair, they shall remain unseparated. You can click here if you want more info.

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The replaced handles are made of forged brass, covered in woven rattan, and pinned to the end of the sauce boats with two metal rivets. The rattan covering is not only decorative but also used to insulate the metal handle from the hot contents.

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Take a look at the rest of the large dinner service, all bearing the arms of Maitland, including a pair of identical sauce boats with original handles intact, located in the center of the middle shelf.

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Photo courtesy of Polly Latham Antiques

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Chinese coffee cup, c.1760

Saturday, March 2nd, 2013

This Chinese porcelain coffee cup was made during the Qianlong period (1736-1795) for export to North America and Europe. It has polychrome enamel decoration in the Famille Rose palette and an inner rim with an iron red band and gilt Greek key detailing.

The decoration on the front of the cup shows a vase holding flowers and a box containing what looks like a teapot or an incense burner.

Cup is unsigned and stands 2-1/2″ high, with an opening of 2-1/2″.

The remains of the original broken handle have been filed down but are still visible even after the addition of a replacement handle, made from a single piece of scrolled metal. I particularly like the added flourish at the bottom of the handle.

My cup would have originally had a matching saucer and a loop handle, much like the example below.

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Photo courtesy of Ruby Lane

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Wucai teapot with misplaced handle, c.1690

Saturday, February 16th, 2013

This early porcelain teapot was made in China in the late 1600s and is a good example of an original form shifting to become current with the next generation. It is decorated in the Wucai palette, consisting of five enamel colors outlined in black and measures 5.5 inches high and 7.25 inches from handle to spout. What I love most about this piece is that by the time the original fixed upright handle broke off, it was replaced with a rattan-wrapped metal handle attached to the side of the teapot. Most likely the break occurred over one hundred years after the teapot was made, which explains why the placement of the new handle is more in keeping with teapots of the early 19th century. This act of altering the original form of a piece is reminiscent of clobbered wares; a practice of painting over simply decorated porcelain with multi color enamels to appeal to changing styles. An added bonus is the presence of long meal staples at the top of the neck, holding together two broken pieces back in place.

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This teapot shows what the fixed vertical handle on my teapot would have looked like before the replacement handle was attached to the side.

Photo courtesy of Grays

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Twice repaired bombe form teapot, c.1730

Saturday, January 26th, 2013

I am a sucker for a double “make-do” and this one delivers a one-two punch! This thick-walled porcelain teapot was made in China during the Yongzheng period (1722-1735) and boasts an unusual square-paneled, bombe form. It is delicately decorated with a blue floral motif and measures 5″ high by 7″ wide from spout to handle. At some point in its early life it was regrettably dropped, breaking the spout and rendering it unusable. Luckily a silversmith was able to fashion a finely made replacement spout and once again the tea flowed. That is until many years later when the lid dropped. This time a tinsmith created a new metal replacement, incorporating a small turned-wood knob as a stand-in finial. The replacement lid is much cruder than the new spout and I believe about a century separates the two repairs. Although I pity the people who let the teapot and lid slip from their grasps, I am glad the owners had the good sense to remedy their unfortunate situations and repair both pieces in such an interesting fashion.

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Clobbered Canton plate, c.1800

Sunday, December 9th, 2012

This Chinese porcelain plate started out life in the early 1800s with traditional blue underglaze Canton decoration. It was later painted over or “clobbered” with overglaze washes of red, green enamels and gilt highlights, without much thought to the original plate’s decoration. As the demand for more colorful wares increased throughout Europe, enterprising merchants painted over their slow selling blue and white ceramics. Much of the over decorating was done in the Netherlands, where the pieces were referred to as “Amsterdams Bont” (colorful wares from Amsterdam) . Plate measures 8-3/4″ in diameter.

After the plate dropped and broke in to 4 pieces, it was made whole again by the addition of 9 metal staples.

A “Chinese” mark on the bottom is actually part of the Dutch clobbered decoration.

This Canton plate shows what mine looked like before it was embellished.

Photo courtesy of Antique Helper

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Chinese-English “monster mug”, c.1780

Saturday, November 24th, 2012

This is the story of a forced marriage between an 18th century Chinese porcelain mug and a 19th century English pottery jug, joined together by a mad tinker to live out the rest of their lives as one. The Qianlong period (1736-1795) mug with cobalt blue underglaze design stands 5-1/8″ high. The original handle, most likely in the form of a dragon, broke off sometime in the early 1800s. I imagine a clever repairer (or Dr. Frankenstein?) found a damaged English stoneware pottery jug, skillfully removed the intact snake-shaped handle and, using two metal rivets, reattached it to the body of a Chinese tankard…creating a hybrid Anglo-Asian monster mug!

This is what the original dragon handle on my Chinese mug would have looked like before it broke off. Photo courtesy of Ruby Lane

And this Mason’s Ironstone “Hydra” jug, made in Staffordshire, c.1830, shows the serpent handle intact. Photo courtesy of Selling Antiques

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Nanking sauceboat with multiple repairs, c.1750

Saturday, September 1st, 2012

I have often expressed that I am a sucker for pieces containing more than one form of early repair and this little beauty does not disappoint, as it sports three separate repairs and a signature to boot. Chinese porcelain sauceboat, made for export in the mid-1700s, was originally part of a large dinner set consisting of up to dozens of place settings and serving pieces, including a matching pair of sauceboats. Painted with cobalt blue underglaze in the Nanking pattern, it measures 7-3/4″ long from end to end and is 4-1/4″ deep.

Repair #1: Metal replacement handle, which may have once been covered in woven reed, was riveted to the end of the sauceboat, echoing the loop form of the original.

Repair #2: After the sauceboat was dropped a second time, an eighteenth century china mender carefully applied six 1/2″ staples to adhere the two large broken pieces near the spout.

Repair #3: Three tiny 1/4″ metal staples affix another large piece which broke off at the end of the sauceboat. They were overpainted in blue to match the decoration and over one hundred years later have held up quite well.

Etched on the bottom is “Cove 835”, which I am assuming is the mark of the china mender or tinker who was responsible for one or more of the repairs. I have not been able to find out any information on this cryptic signature but will continue to search and I welcome information anyone can provide.

This porcelain sauce boat from the same period shows what the simple loop handle on my piece would have looked like, before the addition of the metal replacement handle.

Photo courtesy of Ruby Lane

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