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My grandparents aquired this piece during a "People to People" tour of the Orient in the early 1970's.
I believe it to be from the earliest Qing period??

It has no markings and is not signed because it was brought back by them personaly.

There is a set of numbers and letters on back that I believe represent the private collection or library that it came from.

They participated in several events and dinners with various political and elite family's and dignitaries at many of their stops through the Orient.

I can not yet afford some of the expensive books that I have seen that may hold the answers to the piece.

I hope someone within the forum may be able to pinpoint the sculptor or kiln that it came from.

I believe it may be from a kiln just outside of Canton in South of China?

Sometime between 1644 and 1722?? Earlier??

I thought someone here would recognize this figurine. Should I be so lucky as to get information on the sculptor, and value?

Thankyou for taking the time to look at it.

George Ingraham

You may have to copy and paste these url's to see the pictures. Hope that will be ok?

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c325/glyphman/100_1971.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c325/glyphman/100_1970.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c325/glyphman/100_1968.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c325/glyphman/100_1967.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c325/glyphman/100_1966.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c325/glyphman/100_1965.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c325/glyphman/100_1964.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c325/glyphman/100_1962.jpg

George,

Your figurine is not from the Shiwan kilns. It looks like it has had an iron-bearing wash added to the underside and part of the inside, but the ware looks like it is porcelain. Shiwan wares are of a terracotta-type clay that fires reddish brown where it is not glazed.

There seems to be a lot of this sort of thing on the market these days. They may have been made in Japan, or elsewhere around Guangdong.

The sticker on the back of yours could have been a dealer inventory label stuck on where an earlier price tag had been removed.

It would not be from "earliest Qing," that is, middle of 17th century. It could have been 40-odd years old when purchased, but I would guess no older than that.

True Shiwan wares hardly ever have a maker's mark on them. The 'mud men' made for export and the similar brightly-enameled crude small porcelain figurines made in the same area were generally stamped or impressed with just the word "China," but many can be found unmarked that might have had a sticker at one time.

I am sorry I can't identify what the figurine is intended to represent.

Best regards,
Judy

Hi Judy!

Thankyou so very much for your response. I am finding this very difficult to identify. I have been emailing everyone and place I can think of and even paid one site 15 dollars for an opinion. one of the responses thought it was a mudfigure. The other said Shiwan pottery figure from a kiln just outside of Canton in South of China. Just holding it and also comparing it visually to others online it appears to me to be very old (older than anyting I see from the 1900's for sure). I am not even close to being knowledgable enough to make specific claims. I also read that these figures that make their way back to the U.S. without stamps, do so because they were carried back instead of being purchased from overseas from a store and such. I had read that since the hands and face are not glazed and have a dark redish color to them that it gave support to the Shiwan from the Canton kiln of South China. That same person also emailed to share that he believed it to be from the Quin dynasty.
I am learning that identifying these figures is very difficult and varies. Another email response said he is going to look for a book he has that may identify the numbers from a number of different types of collectors/museum inventories.

This is really a lot of fun. I am going to be passing this down to my daughter, the great grandaughter to the grandparents of whom this was one of several gifts from via various dignitaries and elite family members while visiting on their tour to te Orient. Another item given as a gift while on the tour is a three hundred and fifty year old Japanese (procelain/clay?) hand warmer that I am going to try and identify the history too after this one.
It does not get any better than this. Now if I only had the money to play with towards purchasing more of these type of items!

Does anybody else have a thought about this lady?

I have seen several books that I could select from online. Would anyone consider suggesting one that would have a pretty good chance of having something in it specific to this figure, or perhaps someone has seen another that appears similar? I can't really afford (at about 100.00 a book) to start ordering them at random.

Anyway........ Forgive me if I seem impatient.

I have found one other forum that discusses Shiwan and Mudmen figures, but would rather not pay to post. If anyone would like to recomend yet another forum, that would be great too!

Ok then....... Thankyou.

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