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Hi, I have a vase that was brought across the Pacific by my great aunt's family when they came to the US in 1906. They were English missionaries, and this was one of several that they obtained while on mission in China. I don't know anything more about it, really, except that the damaged top was damaged in the 19-teens or so by great aunt's mother, and the pieces were wrapped in newspaper and laid inside. My mom was given this one in about 1990, and now I just want to know more about it. One is a shaving cream-enhanced maker's mark, then one of each side. You can see a poor repair of the top executed by my mom, who said it could be easily reversed and repaired properly if it turned out to be important.

I'm interested in knowing just how old it might be, where it came from, etc. I tried to contact the local art museum's asian art folks, but haven't gotten a return call or email, and remembered that I'd posted here before.













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Your vase has decoration probably based on the classic "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". It was produced circa the Guangxu reign (1875-1908) and has an incised apocryphal mark of the Ming Chenghua reign on the base.

A lot of vases of the late-19th and early 20th century had similar decoration and crackled glaze with faux bronze diapers and molded applications. In my opinion, yours is superior to most, ranking in the top ten percent quality-wise. Unfortunately, Im not sure restoration of the damage would be cost-effective in this case because even quality pieces were produced in fairly large numbers.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Dear Danny

I think this vase depicts an incident from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which the warlord Cao Cao presumes to use the Emperor's own bow during the hunt (the Emperor was a virtual prisoner of Cao Cao at the time).

A servant ran to get the arrow when it had hit its target, and the shout went up: "It is the Emperor's own arrow!"

This was seen as an example of Cao Cao's overweening arrogance. He later proclaimed himself an Emperor.

Question: you mentioned "an incised apocryphal mark" on the maker's mark--what exactly does that mean?

The four-character mark incised into the iron-brown square field on the bottom of your vase reads down from the top right corner in two stacks as "Cheng Hua Nian Zhi" (Made in the Chenghua Reign). The mark therefore is apocryphal. In other words, it is "untrue". The Ming Chenghua emperor was long dead when this vase was made. The Qing dynasty's Guangxu emperor was on the throne.

Best regards,

Bill H.

You can look in a home dictionary or do an internet search for alternate meanings of "apocryphal."

In this case it means that its meaning (indicating a reign during which it was made) is not to be taken as true. Putting reign marks, from former times, is very common on Chinese ceramics, including to the present day.

While your vase was probably new when your relatives bought it in the early 20th century, vases with usually a crackled glaze and similar imitation-bronze-fittings (the dark matte clay areas) were also made in the 3rd quarter of the 20th century. There is an example in the Victoria and Albert Museum in England that is placed in that time period by Museum staff, and similar items from that time period have been found in excavations at the Jingdezhen kiln complex. They are not rare, but not as popular in the West as items with more gaudy, crowded decoration.

Good luck,
Cal

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