Chinese pottery ID and how to clean

Hi all,
Purchased this piece that I believe to be a primitive Chinese effigy bowl. Can anyone confirm and from what period? It measures 9×7 inches.

It has layers of caked on dirt and a repaired Crack. Whats the best way to clean it? Thanks

 

If it's really a primitive Chinese effigy bowl , u don't dare clean it !!

 

I knew I would get that response. Lol. I'm a different breed of collector. I clean anything that I put in my home regardless if it would hurt it's value or not. I would do it professionally of course and with minimal damage.

I have totally destroyed the value of antique coins by using electrophoresis and brass brush abrasive. For example I've taken ancient Greek coins and made them luster like they were made yesterday. Coin community hates me.

I rather look at something like I was the person buying it 2k years ago. That's just me.

My plan is to use mild detergent and a wired brush on the heavy dirt caked areas that don't have that orange paint. The colors under the dirt will be mismatched with the other areas but i need to get under that dirt.

 

Brasso ? Why does that conjure up images of a long ago foe ?

 

I should have mentioned it is most likely Terra cotta. Brasso only works on metal right? I should try it on some coins

 

I mine as well post before and after pics so everyone can tell me how much value I lost. Haha

 

Clean if you must but please use a soft old tooth brush and save the wire brush for your outdoor grill. Clean is one thing obliterating the original surface won’t make it any more hygienic.

 

U do U !!
It takes every kinda people ! (r.Palmer..)

try a softer brush 1st though..... better to take it down by degrees rather than turn it to dust in one fell swoop !!!

 

sniped by Desert.....

 

What I usually do is use a wired brush until I get to a fraction of a millimeter to the surface and then use a soft brush like a tooth brush to get to the surface so minimal surface is lost

 

It's pain staking long but worth the time

 

Why bother asking when you seem to have a plan in mind, and don't care about what advice we might give?

 

It will never look the way it looked when it was new.
If you don't like its current look, why not give it to someone who does appreciate its history, and buy something new and clean for yourself?

 

I think you have confused electrophoresis with electrolysis.

You seem to be very proud of your "professional" destruction of history. I just hope nothing of significant historical interest falls into your hands.

 

It was buried in the dirt for 2k years. What history is destroyed? I'm bringing it back to life

 

There's still going to be patina but having dirt on surface is just obscuring what is underneath it

 

With regard to the bowl, maybe nothing, maybe the evidence that would confirm its age and origin. That's the point, you don't know. It might be possible to match soil samples with particular sites, showing where the piece came from. Residues might tell what the bowl once held. Sometimes impressions remain of other materials that were in contact with a buried object, such as textiles or metals. Alternatively, the characteristics of the surface and dirt may be consistent with known techniques of forgeries. If you scour the surface you remove the potential for you, or anyone else, to learn more about its history.

 

That's true if found at an archeological site but nobody is ever testing this pot

 

I really don't understand why you collect purportedly ancient things, and then work to remove the signs of their antiquity. Why not just buy pretty reproductions?

 

The surface looks rather fragile. I don't know if it's 100 years old or 2000, but I'd want to find out before I cleaned it. If you have to do something to it, a soft tooth brush or paint brush would get the loose stuff off, but anything further could actually remove the paint which doesn't look fired on the body. Your piece, your decision. I mean, I polish brass items, but they are decorative really and I'm not doing away with applied patina, nor are they historically important. This thread kind of reminds me of the woman in Spain who wanted to fix the painting of Jesus in the church and painted over it. Hilarious, but reminds us that sometimes it is better to leave well enough alone.