Featured Chinese lumpy vase thing with enamel

Picked this vase up today. It's been converted into a lamp. Grrrr. It is quite impressive though. Probably one of a pair. My guess is early 20th C. but I always say that don't I?! Hopefully it's not damaged under the base and cap.

It's about 30cm tall.

 

In the MCM days-1000's of Asian vases were made into lamps,'drill baby drill'.

 

Many were simply made to be lamp bases. I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of those.

 

I've turned it back into a vase. I think the mark on the base suggests that it was meant to be a vase. Maybe

 

PS found this one without lamp gear attached

https://www.ebay.it/itm/223474630755

 

I believe they may have even started that trend a couple decades previous to that.

An interesting take on the practice is that it may have helped to preserve Chinese vases rather than to destroy many. The theory being that vases were more prone to accidental damage than lamps. Lamps often stayed in one place for many decades and never got moved. Vases got used and moved more and hence were more prone to being dropped, chipped, knocked into, and what not. A lamp shade could also protect the porcelain if it did fall or get knocked into. So while drilling definitely messed up a lot of vases it’s possible that some of those would have been lost to time if they hasn’t been lamped. Just a theory, not mine but it makes some sense. Lamping is often thought to have ruined the pieces but in an odd way maybe it saved them.

 

Oooh. Reverse irony

 

Yes, and the hole isn't 'finished' either. So indeed a conversion.

Yes they did.

 

Lol!

 

Vintage chinese almost a good