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authentic or forgery?

mroe pics

The red bowl is a contradiction of sorts, because a black mark usually signifies death, according to Tony Allen's latest book (Allen's Antique Chinese Porcelain -- The Detection of Fakes), and this mark says "For the Qing Imperial Kitchen" (大清御膳房 - Da Qing Yu Shanfang), which makes me wonder if the cook went to the emperor's chopping block.

Gerald Davison's "The New & Revised Handbook of Marks on Chinese Ceramics" has three marks listed for kitchens, one is "Imperial Kitchen" (Yu Shanfang), and the others are "Inner" (Nei) and "Outer" (Wai) kitchens. Hard to believe a mark like yours went unnoticed if it's for real, but it isn't in the Davison book or my Mainland-compiled book of marks on historical Chinese porcelains.

If you google the charaters I've given above for this mark, you'll come up with a host of bowls being offered by mainland sellers and under discussion by Chinese-language forums, such as the one at the link below. Most of the respondents in this forum seemed to think it is new, and I agree. One seller was offering such a bowl for 1,898 Chinese Yuan (US$275.61).

Best regards,

Bill H.

URL Title :Imperial Qing Kitchen Mark

Please share the bowl's dimensions and provenance.

Bill H.

It is 4.5" wide and about 2" in height.

most probably recent replica. the foot rim are too perfect

I did a tour of of Live Auctioneers and Christie's archives without finding anything in this particular green color without other decoration. However, there were plenty of monochrome bowls in apple and lime green to be found. Anything in darker green had incised decoration of dragons on the sides.

My copy of "From the Dragon;s Treasure" by Gunhild Avitable, which served as catalog for a 1987 sale of late Qing wares from the Weishaupt collection, showed a larger Guangxu mark & period bowl with dark glaze described as "leaf green". It had "whitish grey" glaze inside and on the base, whereas yours seems to have more of a blue tint to its white. Your bowl's mark also varies distinctly from the Weishaupt example, which also showed some of the characteristic small kiln flaws found in Guangxu era wares, which diagnostic condition issues seem to be missing from yours.

All things considered, I'm squarely behind Lee's assessment of your bowl as a recent replica.

Here are some items FYI from my review:

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-lime-green-glazed-dragon-bowl-guangxu-mark-5142924-details.aspx?

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-chinese-green-glazed-bowl-guangxu-six-4471683-details.aspx?

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-green-glazed-incised-bowl-guangxu-six-character-mark-4566275-details.aspx?

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/35492448_a-chinese-porcelain-tea-bowl

Best regards,

Bill H.

Examples of these bowls are illustrated as modern fakes on Page 308 in my latest book; Allen's Antique Chinese Porcelain; The Detection of Fakes.
The five character mark was translated for me as "Great Qing Imperial Kitchen".
Regards
Tony

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