White Porcelain Dogs Chinese?

I have a pair of white porcelain dog figurines that I believe are Chinese in origin. I am familiar with the Foo dogs but these are completely different. These are an off white and fairly heavy for their size. These measure 5 3/8" tall, 4 7/8" long and are 2 5/8" wide.

 

Hi Josh,
These are dogs, "foo dogs" are not dogs but lions. Are there any holes under the felt pads? I wonder how they were fired without the holes to let expanding gases out?
greg

 

Greg, it is actually open behind the teeth and tongue, my pictures just don't show it.

 

Hi Josh,
Thanks. It was giving me wonder.
greg

 

My guess would be Chinese Blanc-de-Chine hounds or Samson copies similar to these:

http://www.rubylane.com/item/586567-RL-000204/19th-c-Samson-Blanc-de-Chine

 

Woohoo nice price....

 

Have these sold? Is there a link? I'm curious.

 

No these have not sold yet. I currently have them listed on Ebay. I will provide a link to the listing, hope that is ok to do.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231503042255?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

 

I think they're very interesting and I hope you have a quick sale. Searching Dehua, I see other dogs that resemble yours. Was it a general search that led you to Dahua?

 

Lol!

I'm sure it had something to do with post #5 (Chinese Blanc-de-Chine) which led the OP to Dehua.

By the way Josh, you're welcome!

 

Technically speaking they are not Blanc De Chine, as this is a French term describing Chinese white porcelain made in Dehua. As they are most likely made by Samson ( which made replicas of Sevres, Meissen, Chelsea, Derby and a buch of Chinese export ) they are more like 'Dehua/ Blanc de chine' style. But I guess it won't hurt using those keywords in the title/description.

 

How do you know that these aren't Chinese? I was thinking they looked Chinese because of the square snouts that very much resemble the styling on Foo Dogs (or lions). The dogs shown in Nuff's link, which apparently are marked France, show a different modelling of the snout.

 

Samson marks are known to have been removed to hide the real identity of the pieces. Some of their products were not marked at all.
To me Op's and the one from the link look the same but I will try to compare them closely.
These are not classic Chinese foo dogs as you already know. Such would never be produced for the domestic market. However, when Chinese did pieces for export they would incorporate Western features, sometimes.
Anyway, the old Samson pieces have their own collectors value and some are selling pretty expensive. They've been sold at Christies.

 

At first glance they looked Chinese to me (and they are), but Samson and many other porcelain makers copied from both the Chinese and Japanese.

Here's a very similar 20th C. Chinese Blanc-de-Chine hound that sold less than a month ago for $200:

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/33889097_chinese-blanc-de-chine-porcelain-seated-dog

 

If the Op's pieces are Chinese, 20th century make sense. But still, early, mid, late 20th century? I would expect to see different bottom on 19th Chinese Dehua porcelain.

 

So you're saying since the features of these dogs aren't mythical, they were produced for the Western market only? If so, I don't believe that's 100% accurate.

Below is an example of a couchant emaciated hound bitch in the Al-Sabah collection dating to the 4th - 3rd century B.C.E. showing very similar features.

 

Almost hundred percent of the old chinese art-porcelain, carvings etc featured auspicious animals like foo dogs, bats, dragons, hoho birds, certain kind of fish and birds and more. Even rabbits, insects, deer and other have symbolism in the Chinese culture. Not sure if the hound is one of them. But I may be wrong.
The depicted scenes were also almost fully based on traditional Chinese patterns related to Buddhism, auspicious animals and flowers, mythological stories, stories and legends from ancient books etc. Also, the Chinese Examination System is heavily featured on the porcelain decoration.
Of course, there are always exceptions. Also, don't forget that Chinese export porcelain dates back to 16th century. Imperial pieces were also different and unusual sometimes.
By the way here is an example of 18th century Chinese export hound.

http://www.precioustreasure.co.uk/antiques.php?product=chinese__hound_dog_18th_century#

 

If you search Dehua Porcelain Dog, you will find photos of similar figurines with 18th C attributions. That certainly does not mean that these are 18th C, and I can't speak to the accuracy of those attributions. A Sotheby's auction catalog from 1989 that I have shows dogs and cats, about this size but with different modelling and amber glaze, attributed to the 18th C. The same catalog shows larger dogs (14") with a streaky amber glaze, no date attribution. I don't think there's any doubt that such figurines were made in China over a very long period of time. I do agree that the date for these is up in the air: they might have been done a hundred years ago, they might have been done yesterday. I would tend to think made in China and newer rather than older... but that's just a personal impression.

The Sotheby's catalog in question is "The Collection of John T. Dorrance, Jr., Important French and Continental Furniture, Chinese Works of Art and Objects of Virtu, Sale #5909, October 20 & 21, 1989. Lots of porcelain, lots of jade, lots of color photos. The jades would take your breath away. A hardcover book and one of my favorite catalogs. A corncopia of eye candy. I'd recommend it to anyone who could find a copy.

 

I'm not sure where you guys are getting this 18th C. stuff from. Nowhere above does it state the Op's pieces are probably 18th or even 19th C. for that matter. Maybe the French Samson link I originally posted caused the confusion?

IMO, they're (Op's hounds) 20th C. (second half) and the link posted in #14 shows an almost mirror image of another 20th C. production model.

Thanks for the catalog recommendation, and thanks Kardinalisimo for sharing your thoughts within this thread. We need more folks around these parts such as yourself who can share such thoughts..... not many here or who care to chime-in when it comes to these Asian objects. We use to have one poster (Chitong) who was very knowledgeable in the Asian Arts field over on the other board who I dearly miss and I'm sure others do as well.

 

I am far from having strong knowledge in Chinese porcelain. But recently started collecting images of patterns on Chinese porcelain - animals, birds, creatures, people's faces, hairdos, geometrical patterns etc. All these are from Chinese websites only, reputable ones. I am trying to sort them by age, type etc. But it will take a while. Also, collecting images of footrims, glazes, age signs etc.
So, from what I've seen nothing is random on the decoration. Every flower, bird, animal, depicted scene and their combination are deeply related to the Chinese traditions and culture.
I've just never seen hounds on domestic pieces. Maybe if there is a hunting scene, you may see some in the ground. Who knows, maybe the emperor or other court official liked hounds and commissioned the work the Jade piece above. I feel like maybe it was an inspiration for the later porcelain figurines. If something is rare and unusual as soon as it is shown to the public someone will start making copies of it.