Red Rare Chinese Porcelain Marks

Chinese porcelain reign marks identification.

Red rare chinese porcelain marks.

Theoretically any mark at the base of a piece of chinese porcelain should be the reign title of the emperor during which period the piece was made. Reign marks are not limited to chinese porcelain they can be found on anything from jades to lacquerware from bronzes to cloisonné enamels. The many types of antique porcelain marks from private kilns show that private kilns were generally more open to free expression. In the best of worlds pieces carrying the mark da qing qianlong nian zhi should thus have been commissioned by the chinese court to be used by them during the qianlong period 1736 95 of the qing dynasty.

If you see red marks the piece was likely created in the mid 19th century while pieces with blue marks were likely made later. Consider the color of the marks and how they were applied to the porcelain piece. The shende tang was completed in 1831 thus making daoguang pieces with this mark attributable to the two decades between 1831 and 1850. Their content shows more diverse information or traditional symbolic meanings inherent to chinese culture.

Reign marks are usually four or six characters in length and can be found on the base or the side of an item. Antique chinese porcelain antique chinese porcelain vase white and red 4 claw dragon ming dynasty 48 000 add to wishlist antique chinese porcelain vase with red and white 4 claw dragon there are kiln firing faults and maker fault as it seems like the neck got hit while it already dried which resulted in distorted shape in the shaft. 8 where a yellow glazed bowl with cranes bearing this mark is illustrated from the collection of the victoria and albert museum london. The position of the mark would depend on the piece itself but generally speaking for vessels like vases bowls or plates it can be found on the base but there are instances where pieces bear a single line mark to the rim or even on the interior.

Reign marks can play a pivotal role in helping to identify the period in which chinese artefacts were created. Some chinese antiques porcelain marks or pottery marks contain dates of the chinese 60 year cyclic calendar but these are actually quite rare cyclic calendar dates started to appear mainly on qianjiang style dated porcelain in the second half of the 19th century. Apart from the marks containing the reign name there is a wealth of other marks with content that cannot be used for dating purposes. In general the marks will be red or blue and hand painted or stamped.

See ming wilson rare marks on chinese ceramics london 1998 cat.