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This is perplexing me. The bell has what appears to be a factory flaw or repair at the rim, however, it rings like a bell. Has anyone ever seen this sort of repair/flaw on Chinese porcelain. Also, I am not sure if the mark is an older one or not and if anyone has any ideas about that I would appreciate the info. It is in the middle of the bottom though it looks off-center in the photo. Thank you!!!

This appears to be an early 20th century version of a dish in a "butterfly amidst melon vine" motif that probably was in production by at least the late 19th century. The motif seems to be related to the Guangxu-period "over-the-wall" melon vine pattern, which still pops up occasionally in auctions, but yours apparently lacks the vines that spill over the rim from outside to inside the bowl. See the attached photo for an example.

I've pasted some links below to other examples of your pattern in a variety of dishes. The painting of your bowl seems to me to lack the finer brushwork of older examples, and its white glaze on the base looks much cleaner than that of older dishes I think.

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/18111649_group-of-small-chinese-sauce-dishes

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/25716485_chinese-famille-vert-dish

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/14021554_a-chinese-famille-rose-leaf-form-box-and-cover

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/10327949

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/2833167

As to the fault, as long as there's no associated hairline crack, there's no reason the bowl will not ring like a bell. It may be that this was a large area of fritting, when the glaze ran thin and simply popped off the biscuit upon cooling. Since the biscuit would have been fused in the kiln, it would ring just fine too.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Thanks to all for the responses!

Most likely a later repair with an epoxy filler compound rather than a flaw in manufacture. The workshop that made the bowl would not have taken the time to decorate a kiln 'waster' with overglaze enamels and add a reign mark. Consider having it restored professionally because it's a nice piece.

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