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I would like to hear your opinions on this little (diameter is 10.4 cm) bowl or cup with a Jiaqing mark and the 8 auspicious symbols on it. I see great similarities to a bowl Bill H. had posted once with a Shendetang mark. Is this one related somehow? I think the quality of the decoration is quite good...
Thank you very much!
Mat

I've put together a better package of photos (link) showing the bowl I believe to be made by the Imperial Kiln during the Daoguang Reign (1821-50) and marked for the Hall for the Cultivatation of Virtue (Shendetang), said to be the Emperor's favorite spot at the Summer Palace. For comparison, I've also added a scan of a Qianlong-period example of a bowl in the same form and with identical ruyi scepter-head borders, and with principal decoration on the sides of calligraphy. It comes from a 1986 Taipei Palace Museum catalog for a special exhibition of famed Qing Dynasty Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong porcelain wares.

Apart from varied motifs painted within the ruyi borders, the major difference between these bowls and yours appear to be:

-- The imperial bowls have no gilding on the topside of their upper rims.

-- The gilding on the imperial bowls appears to be much more evenly traced than on yours.

-- The Mainland-published "Dictionary of Marks on Historical Porcelains" shows no standard script four-character official kiln mark for the Jiaqing period, and the four-character seal-script marks shown are within square borders.

-- The enameled decoration on the imperial bowls is generally much better perfected than on your bowl. I would note that my bowl has a hairline crack and old discolored restoration to the rim immediately above the peaches in its "Three Abundances" (San Duo) decoration. Only around the restored area does the gilding show significant variances. The vase with ribbons and lotus blossom shown on the side on yours reveals a heavier hand wielding the brush as compared to the delicate work in the San Duo motif. Interestingly, the medallions in the cavettos of both these bowls represent much the same floral design, though the imperial kiln example is noticeably better detailed.

All things considered, I suspect your bowl probably was made at a minyao kiln circa the Guangxu period (1875-1908) and decorated by a fairly good painter or painters, but with less steady hands.

Best regards,

Bill H.

URL Title :Shendetang Bowl

Dear Bill H., thank you very much for your excellent evaluation of my bowl and for showing the detail photos of your piece. Comparing the pictures of your bowl I can clearly see the difference in quality, especially in the gilding, so you must be correct that mine is not imperial. However I find it interesting that the decorator of my bowl must have been familiar with imperial pieces like yours...
Regards, Mat

Taiwan's well-known Chinese porcelain authority, Prof. Liu Liang-yu writes in his survey of "Ch'ing Official and Popular Wares" that Guangxu-era official ware became available beyond the palace because of the Empress Dowager Cixi's habit of presenting these wares as gifts to her ministers on the occasions of her birthdays. Eventually, the forgers who reproduced the Guangxu wares, extended their forgeries to Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong wares.

It also is well known that corruption was widespread within the bureaucracy during the same period, so there's no reason to believe that access to Imperial Kiln drawings of official patterns was unavailable to Jingdezhen commercial kilns at that time. Its availability undoubtedly was influenced at the end of the Qing dynasty by what was the Porcelain Capital's already long history of making "Official Old Wares", which were high-quality reproductions of Ming and earlier porcelains, which pieces were sought by members of the bureaucracy and aristocracy who were not authorized to possess imperial porcelains of their day. However, what the commercial kilns usually didn't possess before the Republic Period were potters and painters with the skills to produce the perfect wares demanded of the Emperor.

The new photos you've shown help identify your bowl's pattern as "Precious Objects" of Buddhism. So I've attached pictures of another probable Guangxu period bowl in a more festive version of that same pattern with a six-character Guangxu mark on the lid but a deviant reign of "Qian-Xu" on the base; obviously a slip by a calligrapher who had already written one too many bogus Qianlong marks that day.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Sorry for my late reply and thank you again, Bill H.! That explains the use of imperial patterns on my bowl!
Regards, Mat

Hi Mat, does all the color overglazed enamels esp the green and pink have colourful iridescence ? many of the sophisticated fakes lack this feature.

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