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I found this very decorative interesting vase at a recent estate sale and am hoping someone can identify the backstamp and its age and style. This is very heavy about 5 pounds and only 10 1/4" Tall. Any help would be very much appreciated.Thank you. WD

Wendy, this vase is an example of a late 20th century or subsequent stab at Neoclassicism, maybe on the part of a Chinese factory, although it could be a Chinese blank that was decorated elsewhere in Asia. In any event, it's a purely decorative piece, with what looks like a transfer-printed motif that may have been colored by hand. The shop mark is rather weak but appears to consist of one large character on the left, perhaps read "Xiao," and two characters stacked on the right, "Shang" & possibly "Yue." I did a quick web search, using both the character forms and their transcribed variants. This produced hits on a number of people with the surname "Xiao Shangyue," but none of them had any apparent connections to porcelain-making.
Regards,
Bill H.

If this piece is supposed to be Chinese and its bottom stamp is supposed to be in the style of a Chinese seal, then I wonder if the picture of the stamp may be reversed and the correct seal should be the mirror image of the one posted? (see pic 1)

On most Chinse seals, the surname on the chop mark (when stamped on paper)will appear on the right-hand side while the other names will be on the left because in ancient China, you read Chinese from Right to Left, then from top to bottom.

Therefore, may be the correct way of the stamp displayed (or seal mark) should be reversed. (pic 1)

If that is indeed the case, then the name will be Xiao Shang Min �J���� instead of Xiao Shang Yue �J���� (see second picture).

However, anything is possible.

Bill

Bill
Good show! I like your explanation a lot better than mine. On Taiwan, Chinese is written from left to right, and I considered whether the mark, as I'd read it, might indicate a Taiwan product. However, I've spent enough time living and working around the island to believe that even the worst kiln there should be capable of making a more convincing copy of a European vase than this one. Now I wonder if this piece might have been made in Thailand or Indonesia, where not all kiln workers are able to read Chinese, thus errors like this one are more likely to occur.
Regards,
Bill H.

Hi, Bill H:

Thanks. I know nothing of ceramic, so your guess is probably better than mine. However, when you said in Taiwan, Chinese is written from left to right. That is indeed correct because in Hong Kong or even in China, the Chinese had picked up the Western custom and started writing Chinese from left to right. I will do the same if I write Chinese horizontally. It is also true that many recently published Chinese jade books (published in China) they would also print it (from left to right) just like English books.

However, I am certain that for many other Chinese novels, fictions that are printed in Taiwan or Hong Kong (or may be even in China), if they are printed vertically (from top to bottom), then the first column will be started from right of the first page and then moving to the next column on the left. Also, the front cover of the book will be on the right side with its sleeve facing right, exactly opposite to that of a English book. I joked with my American friends when they asked me how come I read backward when they saw me reading a Chinese book, I told them it was not I who read backward but they were the one who read backward because Chinese invented paper and printing, therefore would have printed books earlier than them.

I also do not know that in Taiwan they will do their seals with characters reversed so the resulted chop mark will have the surname on the left instead of the right of the chop unless they went western in the last twenty years in Taiwan.

Cheers.

Bill

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