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I bought a pair of vase lamps in Palm Beach from a nice house. I'm hoping those with some experience with Wanli and other Ming wucai porcelains can help me to better understand what I have (or don't have). Thanks!

So, my first reaction about the overall design what that is was a bit messy. I have some Ming Swatow ware, so I suppose it wouldn't be unheard of for it to be a bit messy. But, looking more closely, I notice the black lines are rendered much the way I see 19th c. Qing famille verte porcelains.

The red seems a bit orange for Ming ware (more like Qing), the brocade pattern on the shoulder I've seen in Qing ware, but not sure if found in Ming. Howevever, the mandarin ducks and pond plants seem to be rendered in correct Ming style.

Underglazed blue looks to be correct for Wanli, dark with black spots, but mark looks a bit light.

Vase form seems unusual...sort of a blend of a jar and vase. Finished flattened mouth shows that it never had a cover. I can not find another of the same form to compare, so again, I'm leaning towards a later copy.

There are sufficient natural surface scratches on inner/outer mouth, pits that have been blackened, crazing to enamels, and minor surface losses to know the vase has some age (at least 100 years) - previous owners would not have gone to such an extent to 'age' the piece.

Vase is extremely heavily potted with thick foot...feels like other large Ming pieces I've held (although I've only held a few), but the burnt orange foot...fake? real? I have no idea. I did find an example that sold at auction (LiveAuctioneers) for $22,000 that seems to share the same foot attributed to Wanli, but not sure if the sale was legitimate.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/39405326_a-wucai-porcelain-vase

The interior surface is very interesting to me. At first, I thought it was deliberately stained (typical sign of a fake), but photos show that the surface was brushed with a creamy glaze/slip...very much like that of Swatow porcelain. Dark areas are unglazed areas of porcelain that have oxidized and have become soiled. So, I think the inside suggests the vase is Ming.

Good variation size of glaze bubbles around blue....again, I think fire kiln and looks very old. However, green has oily sheen in certain light, what I see in 19th c. famille verte glaze. I'm not sure if this is the case with Ming wucai green enamels or not....I don't see it in my Swatow ware.

I've read earlier discussion on wucai and Wanli on the Forum, so I'm looking forward to some critique. I would much appreciate anyone who can point out my missteps as well as my correct conclusions.

Best,
Tim

Like you, I'm still learning but to me some of the enamel colors look off, and more importantly, the overall decoration looks contrived and disconnected. The foot, rather than red kiln oxidation, looks more like it was chemically stained. You already mentioned the problem with the shape. So we have elements of Ming but also late Qing, and certainly lacking the vitality of transitional porcelains, so I'd say modern.

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