Featured Chinese porcelain vase

I thought this 7.5" (19 cm) vase was elegant, and, while not old, a good find at $12. The tapered 'mouth', the nice shape, the rich color....

Inspecting it in the store I noted that there's no 'seam' that would indicate it was made from two forms, the shape is symmetrical, the glaze is consistent and even. I thought all of these traits were positives....

So I was surprised to find this is mass-produced and for sale online for $22:

https://www.mkporcelain.com/

Can anyone offer tips as to what makes one Chinese porcelain especially desirable / valuable and another one much less so? What should I be looking for?

Thank you helping me to continue my learning.

 

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Ya know... I don't think I was looking at the right vase for $22. The one I have sells for $45.

Pardon my stupid researching skills.

In the meantime, I'd still love to hear any tips for what to look for when evaluating Chinese porcelain.

Thanks

 

That's truly one of the million-dollar questions in today's antique world. You find the real thing and you won't have to schlep it for peanuts on Ebay !

 

I guess the main factors to consider are condition, age and rarity. I just tend to base each piece on it's merits and use Google lens to back up my hunches. The colour of the porcelain on the foot rim, how it looks and the sound it makes. I guess you know all this anyway and I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs. Just search Chinese porcelain on eBay sold items, arrange results by highest price first and spend a while browsing the items. Either that or look at an auction website specialising in oriental ceramics. Gives you a better feel if what's collectable.

 

Also check the clear detailed pics on Sotheby's & Christie's million dollar pieces.High-up billionaire party members in the celestial empire will pay almost anything to get back pieces the colonials appropriated.

 

I dunno. I tend to stay away from Chinese wares because I know so little. That said, if a piece speaks to you, it speaks! I think this is a lovely vase, but the English letters on the bottom would likely make me think "newish." But hey, $12 is a small price to pay for a learning lesson and it's an attractive, well-made piece to boot!

 

Thanks for the advice. I guess we're all in somewhat of the same boat-- it's a hard 'field' of collecting to really, really know easily.

So I guess I'll just be forced to keep shopping!

 

A dealer I know w/ 60+ years of experience (still runs his Mother-In-Laws 65 yr old family shop !) says the mainland Chinese come to Portland in teams and they bring portable high-magnification w/ them (not simply a loupe). They're looking for minute grain qualities of the orig clay used perhaps ?

 

I've seen people like this, for sure. Last week I sold two cloisonné jars to two likely Chinese men. I talked briefly w the one who spoke a little English-- the larger lidded jar was 40-50 years old he said, and the smaller one was over a 100 years old. I was happy to sell them; they seemed happy to buy them.

 

I hope you got a fair price Pott -there's another thing that mystifies me,Cloisonne.I actually still see some at Thrifts,but whats crude crap & what's valuable & old ?

 

Weirdly, I'm a little bit better at telling age and quality on those than on porcelain. Fineness of design, sharpness of color divides, patina...

 

Colors used too. I can roughly guess on Cloisonne with good odds of being right. Porcelains???? I can spot the obvious modern pieces but that's about it.

 

The Middle Kingdom stuff is very well made. I have a piece or three and they are pretty immaculate. Very low value but if any modern era Chinese repro type porcelain is ever going to be valuable in the future as antiques I’d bet this is among it. Like you said they are elegantly potted.

Watch Peter Combs weekly video on Asian ceramics every week for a couple years on YouTube and you’ll have a much better idea of what to look for. What to look for is stuff you’re not going to find though basically. It’s one in a billion. He does cover some slightly more common stuff though. Stuff that’s still likely to be found that’s worth some $ is Chinese export porcelain, including famille rose/rose medallion, better quality soapstone carvings, Chinese watercolors, I see they stuff still. Really though watch even some of the back episodes of his videos. He has some good ones that are like 101 type videos in addition to his weekly videos. They have been a wonderful education for me.

 

Thanks for the Combs tip Dagger-I just subscribed.

 

I hope you enjoy them. No substitute for having porcelain in hand but the videos have helped me immensely in obtaining a grasp on the world of Chinese and Japanese ceramics. He delves into silks, jades, bronzes, carvings, paintings, rugs, and furniture a bit too. When you enough photos of the stuff and hear the terminology and pronunciations and whatnot over and over the stuff begins to sink in. If you can supplement that with going to auction houses and picking the stuff up and looking at it you end up knowing more than you did and feeling a bit more confident than you did.

 

Watched this just now (about halfway thru)-excellent detailed video-esp the closeups of the base & bottom/top rim-superb.

 

I just watched a couple videos--- thanks.

Man, there's some stuff I wouldn't mind owning!! The monochromes, esp blue and green vases, just strike me as so, so nice!

 

Thanks for suggesting this. Not a big collector here, but would like to know more than I do about Asian ceramics.