Posts Tagged ‘Chinese’

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Famille Rose decorated mug, c.1750

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

This Chinese export porcelain cylindrical form mug is decorated in the Rose Mandarin style with polychrome underglazed enamels. It is painted using the Famille Rose palette and has stylized flowers and a domestic scene

Over the past 260 years or so, this ceramic survivor sustained a life of clumsy owners, resulting in many large chips along the rim and a broken handle

Mug stands 4-1/2″ tall

The once separated handle is now held tightly in place with the aid of two small metal rivets, repaired in the 1800’s by an itinerant mender

This Chinese ceramic mug with similar form has an intact handle and no chips

Photo courtesy of Artifact

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Blue & white chocolate pot, c.1750

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

For me, the more repair I see on one piece of porcelain the more I like it, and this fine chocolate pot with five separate repairs does not disappoint! This baluster-shaped chocolate pot was made in China in the mid-1800’s but its form was based on German Meissen porcelain of the same period, and was made for export to Europe and North America

A skilled silversmith created a fanciful scallop edged silver spout to replace the more simple original spout, which must have broken off soon after this 8″ high pot was made

Other repairs and replacements which occurred during the next 170 years or so include metal rivets which hold the broken handle back in place; a 20th century plain white replacement lid decorated in blue enamel to match the original…

and a chain attached from the top of the handle to a replaced knob made of composition and painted blue

This chocolate pot with similar form shows what the original spout and lid on my pot would have looked like

Photo courtesy of Richard Gould Antiques

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Chinese footed dish with fort scene, c.1840

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

A wonderful Chinese export quatrefoil footed dish with an unusual fort scene, painted in polychrome enamels and measures 11″ by 8-3/4″ and is 2-3/4″ high. I found this piece in 1995 at the long gone and much missed outdoor Chelsea flea market on Sixth Avenue & 26th Street in NYC. At the time of purchase, I paid more for this dish than any other piece in my collection, but I loved the decoration combined with the many repairs and had to have it. Fifteen years later, it remains a favorite of mine and I have yet to see another example with a similar decoration

If anyone can translate these Chinese characters I would greatly appreciate it

Multiple repairs include metal “cuff” patches mask large chips along the edges…

and crudely made lozenge-shaped iron rivets, which seem to have been mass produced and are different than the more commonly seen staples made from wire

The decoration on my dish could have been inspired by Fort Folly in the Pearl River, as seen in this fine China trade oil painting, c.1840

photo courtesy of Richard Gould Antiques

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Teapot with heavy metal handle, c.1750

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Chinese export globe-shaped porcelain teapot with Mandarin style decoration in the famille verte palette. This teapot, like many others in my collection, is missing its lid. As other teapots I own have replaced or mismatched lids, I find it curious that the many teapots I find missing their lids have remained lidless

Teapot measures 5″ tall

An identical scene on both sides depicts men and boys, some sitting around a table surrounded by many objects, seemingly a variation of the noted “hundred antiques” pattern

The broken handle was replaced long ago with an existing iron handle taken from another object and adapted to fit this teapot. Although it is larger than the original handle was and looks out of proportion with the scale of the small teapot, it does the trick in making the pot once again functional

This teapot, similar in form and design to mine (and also missing its lid), shows what the original handle would have looked like

Photo courtesy of Collect Fair

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Small Yixing teapot

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

This tiny, fully functioning pear shaped Yixing teapot is a copy of one made in China in the mid-19th century and measures a mere  2-1/4″ high by  3-3/4″ wide. It is not a miniature teapot, as is evident from the tiny hole in lid knob which allows steam to escape. Unlike Western tea drinking, the Eastern method is to drink smaller quantities of tea more frequently throughout the day, which requires smaller teapots to be used

When the delicate handle broke in two places, three small gold cuffs were attached to reinforce the breaks and make the teapot function once again

The incised marks on the bottom read: “qie xi bei zhong tong meng chen” which roughly translates to “this small Meng Chen style pot will absorb the flavor of the tea”. Although I bought this piece from a London antiques dealer claiming it to be a genuine antique, a knowledgeable reader recently informed me that it was instead a well done copy of an earlier teapot. Please see his comment below for more information

Hundreds of Yixing teapots were discovered intact during the excavation of the Desaru shipwreck, a Chinese ship with a cargo of ceramics that sank in 1830. The shipwreck was discovered by fishermen in Malaysia in May 2001

Photo courtesy of Ming Wrecks

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Tiny sparrow beak cream jug, c.1750

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

I just picked up this miniature porcelain sparrow beak cream jug last week in Maine. It appears to be from a child’s toy tea service, although miniatures were made for adults to collect as well. This bulbous form jug was made in China during the Qianlong period (1736-96) for export to North America and Europe in the mid-1700’s

Jug is embellished with flowers, butterflies and a bird in orange, brown, black, green and ochre enamel…

…and  stands a mere 2-1/2″ tall, originally with a matching porcelain lid

A tiny bronze handle covered in woven rattan replaces the original porcelain handle, which must have broken off in the early to mid-1800’s

These Chinese export “toy” teawares were also made during the Qianlong period

Photo courtesy of M. Ford Creech Antiques

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Chinese Canton platter, c.1825

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

This large porcelain platter with blue & white underglaze decoration is commonly referred to as Canton. It was first made in China for export to North America and Europe in the 18th century and production continued through to the early 20th century. It was one of the first stapled pieces I purchased and it has travelled from Canton to London to Miami to Manhattan with, most likely, a few more stops along the way.

Metal patches were attached from the back and bolted though to the front, holding the three broken pieces together.

This large platter measures 15″ x 12″.

Iron patches with visible bolts have become loose over the years, not holding up as well as the more typically used metal staples.

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Bullet shaped clobbered teapot, c.1740

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

A bullet (aka globular) form porcelain teapot made in China, started out with a simple cobalt blue underglaze decoration. Later in life, it was “clobbered” in the Imari style, as a more ornate and colorful type of porcelain was in favor at the time. It was over painted in washes of iron-red, pink, orange and blue enamel. Teapot stands 4-1/4″ high

The broken spout was replaced in the 19th century with a new one made of silver plate

A nicely scalloped silver collar was added in the 1800’s to mask the chipped rim

My porcelain teapot’s bullet form was based on European silver, as is evident in this 18th century silver teapot

photo courtesy of M.S. Rau Antiques

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Mandarin teapot with Rococo spout, c.1790

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Chinese export globular form porcelain teapot made in China in the late 1700’s and painted with polychrome underglaze enamels in the Mandarin palette.

Teapot measures 6-1/4″ tall by 9-1/2″ wide.

This unusual Rococo style silver replacement spout was added after the original spout broke off.

As an added bonus, the chipped lid is repaired with three metal staples.

The teapot below shows what the original spout on my mended teapot would have looked like.

Photo courtesy of Richard Gould Antiques

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Nanking reticulated basket, c.1750

Friday, June 18th, 2010

This HEAVY Chinese pierced porcelain basket for fruit or chestnuts has numerous crudely executed cut out holes for ventilation. It dates from the Qianlong period (1736-95) and is boldly decorated in a cobalt blue underglaze decoration of flowers and medallions

Basket measures 12″ long, 9″ deep, 3″ high

The central floral motif is beautifully rendered but the border design is painted in a more rustic style and was perhaps done by another artist

Due to the extreme weight of this piece, it took a restorer 29 metal staples to repair the bottom alone…

17 staple repairs and 5 metal clips (some with blue and white paint to help mask the metal intrusions) to repair the sides…

and a single metal bolt to hold together one of the handles, for a surprising total of 52 separate repairs. So far, this basket holds the record for the highest number of staple repairs on a single piece!

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