Asian Arts | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries | Message Board



Message Board
Asian Art Forums

AsianArt.com Main Forum Message Index | Back | Post a New Message | Search | Private Mail | FAQ
Group: Message Board
Re: Water absorption test on old? Chinese pottery - Help needed

Posted By: Tim
Posted Date: Sep 04, 2015 (08:05 AM)

Message
Thanks for the info.

Your explanation on how the absorbency test explains the physics behind the method, both porosity and low firing of the pottery are responsible for how quickly 'old' clay absorbs water.

You'll have to take my word that the smell is there when I wet the piece, so it looks to me like I am performing the test correctly, which means that fake potteries can pass the the absorbency test.

Given the technical skill that it must have required to make my jars look like Shang dynasty ritual vessels (that don't exist in pottery form), the potter could have just as easily made a Tang dynasty horse form instead.

In fact, I just bought a green glaze bird form Tang vase (clearly new) that also passes the absorbency test. I'll post a video next week as I'm out of town.

Unless I'm missing some other important detail, unfortunately I thinks this means that modern potteries are now being fired at low temperature and/or the fakers have come up with a method to replicate the absorbency of old pottery.

I'm sure there are a lot of visual clues that an experience collector can draw from that help to identify genuine pieces from fakes, but I think inevitably a TL test is a necessity for authentication once an objects physical form/characteristics pass scrutiny.




Post a Response

Responses:



Asian Arts | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries | Message Board