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I was told that the ginger jars I have are Rose Medallion Ginger Jars. Could anyone help me confirm this and if so do you know if they are 19th or 20th century? Also, what kind of value are placed on these??

Thanks for taking the time to read my posting, your help is appreciated!

Marcey

Hello Marcey.

Normally I'm the one here who asks the questions. This time I trie to give an answer , hoping to be corrected bij the real experts on this site if needed.

Your jar or lidded vase (I don't think it's a jar ment to keep ginger in) is indeed rose medallion (panels with flowers, birds and butterflies combind with panels with people/mandarins ). The mark on the bottem says that it is made during the reignperiode of Jiajing (1796 - 1820). Most rose medallion (/-Canton/-mandarin) items of the 19th. ct. isn't marked. The ones at the end of the 19th /begin 20th ct. are sometimes marked with "china". The later 20th ct. ones are often marked with red seales. The kind of seal used on your vase is often seen on items comming from Macao in the periode 1960/1970 but I'm not totaly sure that is the correct date for your vase. Who?......


regards,

Arjan

Arjan,

Thanks so much for responding, I will take all the help I can get.

Marcey

Arjan nailed the dating of the jar very accurately. Nothing more for me to add here ;)

Any idea on the value?

Just wanting to clarify, was said that the mark on the vase say's it is from reignperiode of Jiajing (1796 - 1820), but you think the vase could be made around 1960/1970??

Just a little confused, sorry :o/

The mark reads JiaQIng however the jar is from the 1960's - 1970's. It's very common for Chinese manufacturers to put earlier imperial reign marks on their items.

Marcey,

I'm also rather new in "this world" but I want to try to explain using the knowledge I learned in a few months.

First to know is that only porcelain made for the reigning emperor was allowed to wear the reignmark of that period. So to find one that is marked with one and is of the periode is very rare. A lot of people think that all (proper) chinese porcelain is marked but the opposite is true; most porcelain isn't. Altough potters waren't allowed to use the reignmarks of the periode on porcelain what was not made for de reigning emperor they sometimes did use marks of emperors who reigned before. Not to cheat(at least not in the older times) but as an honour to a former emperor.You can find Chenqua (Ming-periode) marks on Kangxi (and later) porcelain and f.i. a lot of (4 character) Kangxi-marks on later 19th. ct. porcelain. In the 20th. ct. you find everything (a lot of them are sealmarks). To find out if an item fits in the periode what te mark reads you have to know:
- what kind of porcelain they made in that periode (shape, colours, decoration a.s.o.)
- what kind of marks they did use in that periode (4/6 characters, seal?, color)
if this don't fit you have to find out;
-when did they made that kind of porcelain and/or
-when did they made that kind of marks
In your case:
-(most of the) Rose medallion is made after the periode of your mark (1840 and on)..
-the kind of marking (stamp) is not from the periode. This: http://www.teadust.com/edu/marks/QingMarks.htm is a nice site to see a lot of known original reignmarks(for others; they have the Mingmarks as well). If you click on Jiajing you see the difference with your mark.
-the kind and shape of your mark is already known and discribed and can be found on internet.

Comparing, offcourse, works best when you have items in your hands to do so. I own a Rose medallion plate of the Tongzhi periode (no mark) and a -bowl of (about) Guangxu (marked China) and if you compare them with later Hongkong and Macao examples you can clearly see the differences.

hope this is a little help,
greetings

Arjan.

Sorry.... I noticed I wrote a few times Jiajing but it must be Jiaqing.

I agree-1970's Macau style spurious mark and enamels. As far as value, I guess for decorative purposes from 25.00-100.00, unfortunately not very many collectors look for this type of piece.

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