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Hello,
I've had this vase in a case for over a decade and wondered if anyone knew much about this vase. It was given to me by my parents who bought it in the 70's I believe.

Front and back have a red dragon on it. the sides are also illustrated in blue.

Anyone have information or know someone who can identify it for me?

Thanks so much!

Mark

Hi Mark.

It was probably new when bought.

I suspect it dates to the late 1980's.

Gary.

Thanks so much for the advice. My parents purchased it around 1982 but they are getting up there in years and memory isn't the best. They bought lots of pretty junk and auction items back in the 70's and 80's and I can't tell what is what.

Any idea about these items?

Mark,

The six-characters on the base of your pilgrim flask say "Made during the Qianlong Reign of the Great Qing Dynasty" (Da Qing Qianlong Nian Zhi), but that's about where the resemblance ends to porcelains of the period, which lasted from 1736-95.

From a technical standpoint, I think that period reign marks with everything in a row like this typically would have been written in Chinese seal carving characters called "zhuanshu." The URL below will get you to a website with a gallery of Qianlong marks for comparison.

From the stylistic standpoint, there are a couple of bothersome aspects. First, the handles seem anomalous compared to those on period pilgrim flasks I've seen. Further, the "Dragon admidst Flaming Clouds" motif on the side of your flask is poorly composed, leaving both the dragon and the cosmos over which he rules in a state of imbalance. Period porcelain painters were bound by artistic canon of the time to maintain symmetry and balance in their work. Not so those who copy them.

Regards,

Bill H

URL Title :ReignMarks

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