Chinese lidded jar

Picked up this a while ago and put it to one side as the more I think about it, the more I think it is a big mistake. A fool and his money are soon parted so they say.

Inclined to think it is modern tat but I am intrigued by the raised mark on the base. It stands at 17cm tall.

 

Can't attest to the authenticity of the jar, but I checked some Chinese websites to learn about raised seal. It is a mark of Youxianju (有閑居), a workshop that was originally established during the Kangxi reign to produce porcelain for the Old Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan (圓明園). From my research, it looks like the workshop continued to produce high quality porcelain up to the end of the Qing dynasty (1911). Some porcelain was also made with this mark during the Republic period in the early part of the 20th century. The blue characters state that this piece is from the Qianlong period, but I would not believe that. While this particular item does not look very elegant, it wouldn't hurt to get it checked out by someone more knowledgeable.

 

Okay thanks for the info. I was ready for donating It back to a charity shop. I will forward it to Bonham's auctioneers to see what they think.

 

Hi there
I eventually got round to sending this over to Bonhams for appraisal yesterday and received this reply:-

"Thank you for your enquiry, from your images it appears that you have a 20th century version of an antique Chinese pot and as such is of decorative rather than antique value. Probably under £100 at auction and as such is too low in value for a Bonhams auction."