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Hi all

I recently bid and lost on the pictured object, on a website that will remain nameless but which we all know well. It was listed as a punch bowl, 19th century, 41cm wide.

http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/jlim2397/library/Scumble%20Bowl?sort=3&page=1

I bid on the object because I was intrigued by it.

One, is this an antique Chinese bowl at all? Is the porcelain too white, and is the footrim falsely stained red to resemble Ming wares? Alternatively, could it even be non-Chinese?

Second, if it is real, is this really 19th century ware? Something about the painting style really appeals to me somehow - it is not quite like the "firm line" style of Kangxi, nor in the playful "cartoony" style of Wanli - indeed, the quality of the line seems almost non-Chinese, like a Western ink-sketch.

Could it perhaps be Transitional Shunzhi object with a slightly ruddy foot? Or could it be a Kangxi piece by an individualistic painter?

Regards
JLim

attractive bowl. despite my ignorance, might it not be Japanese?

Probably late Qing or Republic, fired in a gas-burning kiln. The cracked ice & prunus border doesn't show delineated cracks. Instead, the painter sort of rippled the blue between the blossoms with his brush. While the presence of delineated cracks probably doesn't guarantee that your bowl is old, I believe the absence of them strongly suggests that it isn't, because most old examples of the pattern seem to have clearly defined cracks as far as my experience goes.

Here are a couple of pictures to show the differences I'm talking about, a late Qing-Republic planter without the cracks and a jar in the Kangxi style with them.

Now, if there's someone out there who knows better, let's hope we hear from them.

Best regards,

Bill H.

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