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Subject:Re: famille rose vase
Posted By: Bill H Wed, Aug 29, 2018
The mark reads from the top left down and across as "Cai-ci Yuan-gang", (彩瓷員崗)translatable as "Yuangang Famille Rose". I found a handful of Chinese online forum discussions from the past several years, involving people who'd found the mark and hadn't a clue as to what it meant. One of the forum members had a dish with a "Made in China" marked above this one.
An online search turned up a Yuangang Village in the Guangzhou suburbs, which further research might reveal whether or not the place is a kiln site. There certainly are plenty of other porcelain factories in the Guangzhou suburbs.
"Yuan" has a principal meaning of an "official", and in some contexts just an average "employee". However, it has another meaning for mapmakers as part of a "border". "Gang" is a "hill" or "mound", but in combination with other characters can mean a "police box" or a "policeman's beat".
I'd have to study Chinese Cartographic History to get a handle on actual etymology behind the term, but for the time being I think "Nob Hill" will have to do. Well, at least "nob" has the meaning of "A person of above average position", and "Nob Hill Famille Rose" has a nice ring in it for your pretty vase in the motif of millefleurs on a black ground. But sorry to say, it a transfer pattern, looks no older than the late 20th century and only has decorative value. I've uploaded some Guangxu-period examples of the same pattern for comparison.
Good luck,
Bill H.
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