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I'd appreciate comments and feedback on this wine cup and cover both carrying an underglaze blue six character qianlong seal mark. Question being is this of the period and inspecting the cup and cover, I have some reason to be optimistic though also some reasons for concern. Overall the form, palette and potting seem ok. The brown rim is of the period and the foot rim on both look of the period. The subject matter and illustration seem good and early qianlong, not too busy and a period depiction of the dragon/foo dog seem right. Now on the down side, the glaze seems quite lustrous and thick though I might be a little critical with this, The seal mark is good in some respects, cobalt has a good hue and is hand drawn though the positioning is a little off centre which would always have me worried. Also there are some anomalies with the actual seal it self, the character DA has no nubbin on top and whilst this is a bit unusual, I have seen genuine marks drawn in the same manner. The water radical looks quite different, drawn with one line instead of the usual broken three. Overall the glaze on both pieces is white and quite pure with minimal occlusions which seem to fit with the period. I add up all the facts and they lead me to hope rather than certainty and if not of the period when might the cup and cover have been made considering they have obvious age.

Thanks for looking,

Gerry

This is a little mysterious.Firstly the mark will not necessarily line up with the design unless it is Imperial.Secondly the mark is strange and I do not think the footrim is Qianlong.The colours and good quality of decoration suggest a Republic piece probably fairly early.Would be inteersted in some other comments as I am not absolutely sure about the date except that I am fairly sure is not Qianlong.

Hi Oliver, thanks for taking the time to reply. I hear what you are saying and you could be right. Though from my experience a lot of imitation Qianlong marks in the first quarter of the 20th century were stamped in iron red. Is this not just a copy but an actual attempt to fake an imperial piece? Most copies I have seen would not have the brown rim edge which is synonymous with the Shunzhi period to early Qianlong period. Although on this point I think the brown maybe a little to light in colour for early Qianlong. You are definitely correct in saying it holds some mystery to which perhaps others have an answer

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