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Hi! I just love this Chinese porcelain vase? with lid? It is so unique and colorful. It stands 13" tall with the lid on. I am wondering if someone can help me. My first question is, what is it? Second question: what does the cute guy on top symbolize? What is he doing? Third question: can someone translate the mark on the bottom? It is blue and I believe was fired under the glaze. Fourth question: does anyone know who made it and when? Thanks so much for looking and for any help you can give me.

Link :Chinese Lidded Vase TinyPic Album

Hi Caroline Anne,

The vase is intriguing but doesn't look very Chinese to me. It rather resembles 19th century and earlier European chinoiserie or perhaps contemporary copies of it.

The colors are reminiscent of 19th century French Bayeux porcelain (see an example at link). The six-character mark of "Made during the Great Qing Jiaqing Reign" (1796-1820) has been rendered well enough to look okay from a distance but gets less plausible up close. Smudges at the edge suggest it might have been applied using a transfer or decal. The guy on the lid seems only to be filling in for the foo dog I'd usually expect to find there.

Worcester and some of the Staffordshire kilns made similar vases in past centuries too, but I'm unsure about how they (and the Bayeux kilns for that fact) marked such production. In addition to modern European producers, Japanese makers and some Chinese factories are currently capable of producing a product like this.

Maybe someone else has actually run across one of these and has a better fix on the period.

Regards,

Bill H.

URL Title :Bayeux

Hi Bill H., thank you so much for your help with this item! I see what you mean re: the "smudge" to the mark on the bottom...and yes, I agree it is a modern piece...it would be too good to be true if it were really from 1796-1820...lol! I wonder who would have marked the bottom like that?

And I see what you mean in the link you provided...the colors are very similar. In my limited experience, just by the vase's "character" (look & feel) for lack of a better word, I would date it mid-20th century. But wdik? And that mark on the bottom had me puzzled, but now I know it is useless to date this item as it is not truthful. And doesn't help determine who made it, I had assumed Chinese because of the bottom mark.

As you said, maybe someone else has come across this mark on another item and will have some input.

Thanks again so much for taking the time to help!

Caroline Anne :)

Marks saying that reign on plenty much-later pieces. Not indicate a maker or time made.

European man replacing lion on vase cover reminds of rare African ivory containers with such European man on cover. Were auction or exhibition sensations for European/American collectors 10 or 15 years ago. Could make idea for your piece.

This adds to suggest possible European origin of vase. Is very strange combination ideas.

Good luck,
Cal

Hi Cal, thank you for your response! So you think the man on top of the vase looks European? I thought he was Asian...he looks Asian to me, and he appears to be dressed in Asian clothing. Even if I don't ever know who made the vase and when it was made I will continue to enjoy it. Thanks again Bill H and Cal for helping me with it! :)

Caroline Anne

Your photo with part of person not show any detail but clothing look Western.

Chinese and Japanese makers would not put person there except make for tourist.

Good luck,
Cal

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