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I bought this for 10 dollars on auction, it was advertised as Old Blue White Bowl... I just like the blue and white porcelains and thought it was different that what I usually see. This has been a problem for me to identify who made this. It looks like it could be a Chinese piece made for Vietnamese market, but the painting style is something I have not seen in Chinese porcelain so maybe it is Japanese? Any help appreciated.

I believe there's a good chance your pot was made and painted in Thailand, which has a long history of pottery-making. Its capital Bangkok, also is an historic Chinese population center with cottage industries devoted to cladding pottery and porcelain rims with protective metal shields, usually bronze, as seen on your pot. Hard to get a fix on its size in the absence of dimensions, but it has precedent in the form of 'kamcheng' and 'kat mau' jars that Straits and other Southeast Asian Chinese use as serving, storage and decorative containers.

The two character base-mark seems to be absent from the Gerald Davison's 'The New and Revised Handbook of Marks on Chinese Ceramics', based on a search of the two-character marks. I'm not at all certain about what the mark says, because the first character has such a flow in the blue, but based on the indistinct outline, my best guess is that it might be 羝 (di - the ram or male sheep), while 興 (xing) often means 'prosperous' or 'thriving' but could translate as 'spirit' or 'spirited' if I correct about the first character (but I don't think I'll hold my breath on that point).

For comparison, I have this similar but unmarked late 20th century bowl with B&W lotus decoration, which I'm confident also is from Thailand, because I saw similar bowls when I worked in and around the country during that period. It measures about 6.6" Dia. X 6.3" Hgt.

Best Regards,

Bill H.

Thank you Bill! That sure looks like it is same style. I learned something new today! Take care.

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