Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries

Can anyone help with identifying the porcelain mark on the bottom of the attached brush pot picture. I attempted to look up the mark in the book by Gerald Davison "Marks on Chinese Ceramics", but had no luck. I am a novice, but does each side on the brush have a different artists work. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time in this matter

It might help us help you more if you showed all four sides. The mark (which is upside down) appears to read Tian Fang Zhen Cang - The Collection of Rarities Released from Heaven - �ѩ����.

One of the colophons mentions that the painting was done in ZhuShan, which was a centre for Qianjiang school ceramics. But we need to see the whole piece to see if there is more information and possibly a date.

Mikeoz (Code Big 5)

Hi Joe, it seems that your brush pot is decorated with copies of works by some members of the group known as the "eight friends of Zhushan"

The first picture seems to copy the porcelain painter Chen Yeting whilst the fishes is definitely a copy of Deng Bishans painting.

Here`s an original work by Deng Bishan as well as a copy of his seal, the calligraphy on your photo`s is not clear enough for me to work out.

I hope this helps in your research.

Phil.

p.s. I just checked & the bird & flower painting is a decent copy of quite a famous work by Chen Yeting, I would guess your brush pot dates to no earlier than the 1960`s & as these artists are copied in very large numbers the value will be minimal.

Phil.

Thank you everyone for all your help. It is greatly appreciated. I had a feeling each side was a copy of a different artist piece. Thank you again everyone for all your help.

I have a low batting average for these zhuanshu seal marks but a fatal attraction to keep taking stabs at them. The base mark here is shown upside down. When flipped, it might be read in Mandarin from the top right downward as 'Han Ji Zhen Cang', which could be translated as 'Precious collection of the Rare and Ingenious (objects)'. I double-checked and couldn't find it in the Davison book either. I'm pretty sure about the 'Zhen Cang' part of this mark, but less certain of 'Han Ji'.

The two painted sides have artwork in the styles of members of the Republic-era school called the 'Eight Friends of Zhushan', and Zhushan (Jingdezhen) is mentioned in the bird and flowers painting. It resembles works by Bi Botao and Xu Zhongnan of the 'Eight Friends' group. The other one of fish swimming amidst water weeds is in the style of their compatriot Deng Bishan. I don't see the names of any of these artists in the inscriptions and don't have time this week to peck through the cursive script to see whose names if any actually might be there. Here's an image of a jar that I believe has authentic Deng Bishan markings.

The 'Eight Friends' are big sellers, and copies of their works about. This piece should be suspected of modernity until proven otherwise.

Best regards,

Bill H.

I have just purchased a hand painted Deng Bishan water pot. Where can I take it to get its authenticity checked. I live in Birmingham

Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries |