Old Looking Gingers Jars no lids

How old dyou reckon these are? They certainly aren’t white anymore xD

My guess is 18th Century but definately a guess, I never look at this kind of stuff xD

Would love to learn a little.

 

I have a couple. Mine are more "faded" looking - the blue decoration isn't as dark and I don't think the "white" was every truly "white" as yours look. Mine also have pale blue single character marks underneath. The bottom of the one you showed bothers me.

I wouldn't think 18th century - but keep in mind this is MHO only.

Perhaps we should call on @Mat and @Asian Fever for their thoughts.

 

Maybe my non-existent Asian antique knowledge has been fooled by a reproduction. Haha

Hope they know some more info

 

Well, I don't really know, which is why I'm calling on them.

But I do know that 18th century (the 1700's) seems too early.

 

These are often found on the Thames foreshore. From memory, they had wax seals,not lids. 18th into 19th C, very common, so not high value, but I really like them.

 

If that’s true then I suppose it ain’t too bad not having the lids. Or the lids that didn’t exist anyway.

 

OBB is correct about lids not used on these. I can't recall ever seeing a truly old one with a lid. If you see a ginger jar with a lid, it's not old.

 

Well I didn’t know that! That’s a helpful easy field tip

 

I think some had corks or wooden stoppers under the wax. Those, of course, didn't survive immersion. A lot of these came over as ballast.

 

Good morning Nathan.
Of all the Chinese ceramics, this style is my favourite. The under-glazed cobalt blue, the graphic illustration (which is usually an elaborate landscape or family or scholarly design), the overall proportions and the weight of these jars make them very special and I think collectable. I have several in my collection which I have bought over the past 20 years and in different countries. Unfortunately they are in storage or I would have posted pics for you. Overall, it is really difficult to tell if they are genuine or one of the thousands of reproductions.
Because these jars were originally very functional and used for export, there are many around, with and without lids. Cat Street in Hong Kong is still full of them.
Wax sealing on ginger jars was common for food stuff on the Australian (and Californian) goldfields in the 1850's where Chinese prospectors flooded into the country. I have a couple of these "goldfield finds" but they were more often in a dark green glaze.
As the quality of reproduction "ageing" is generally so good, I always check inside the jar first. I generally use a small torch I always carry with me (along with a tape measure). Is there a lot of dust and dirt? A good sign. Are there any stains or discolouration? Another good sign. Clean and smooth would be a caution. Are there moulding ridges on the inside wall like finger marks from the turning of the pot or machine marks? These little clues give you an indication on authenticity. Obviously, the outside is important. Yours seem to have a fairly regular colour and ageing around the neck and base. The few little base chips seem quite clean and fresh, but also look for dirt in other chips as a good sign.
If these jars were used commercially they sometimes had labels attached to the base to identify their contents. Is that a hard paste/glue residue I see on one of yours? A good sign. The overall colour between them seems a bit different to me, which is good.
I'd like to see lots more pics, but I suspect these do not have a lot of age, (maybe mid 20thC, but could be yesterday). The one of the right looks older to me based on the first photo.
However, when I asked a well respected archaeologist friend once about collecting only genuine as opposed to fake Asian ceramics, he said, "Always love the object first, then it doesn't matter."
I'd grad your ginger jars in a heartbeat.

 

Luckily I like them but with the popularity of Asian items I might miss out on them I’ll make sure to take photos when I go to the viewing though

 

Hi Nathan,
Have they given a price estimate as yet? Auction or for sale?

 

I didn’t look at them in the end we were in a bit of a rush. This auction house gives super low estimates to everything to encourage people so the estimate doesn’t mean much here

I’ll see what they go for but I’m pretty sure they might have been new by the glance i got in the cabinet it was in

 

I think they look fine for mid 19th c. Here in this article are some similar ones from a shipwreck (yours are not)... http://www.chipstone.org/images.php/416/Ceramics-in-America-2008/Ceramics-from-the-