Chinese Ceramic Vase Markings

Decorated with tian an men square and hua biao surrounded by a group of sun flowers.

Chinese ceramic vase markings.

A complete guide to antique pottery marks porcelain marks and china marks. See a comparison of chinese and non chinese marks. The most comprehensive reference book on chinese reign marks is gerald davison s the handbook of marks on chinese ceramics first published in 1994. Reign marks can be found on chinese ceramics mainly from the early ming dynasty 15 th century through to the qing dynasty 1644.

Chinese craftsmen began using porcelain marks as early as the first century as a way to reference the date of creation. Porcelain a white vitrified ceramic comprised of fine clay was invented in china over 3 000 years ago in the years since artisans have consistently improved the way they craft and mark porcelain objects. The qianlong porcelain vase brought to bainbridge s auction house a premium of 8 6 million. 53 1 million was the price fetched by this chinese porcelain vase.

Text on balloons with ribbons are chairman mao lives long life the communist party lives long life and mao zhu xi wan sui chairman mao s. Marks on chinese porcelain pieces are even and regular while marks on japanese porcelain will include an odd number and may be in different colors. It lists around 1 800 marks including all the major ming 1368 1644 and qing 1644 1911 dynasty imperial reign marks in addition to the many studio marks hall marks and myriad miscellaneous. 10 understand this understand this is a difficult process and there are no shortcuts to becoming familiar with chinese porcelain marks.

Another factor to take into consideration is the fact that there is no price discovery mechanism when it comes to chinese antique porcelain meaning a vase may sell today for 1000 but a month later that same or similar vase could sell for 5000 or even 10 000 so its virtually impossible to put an accurate price on a piece in a market so erratic. Inscriptions and marks of varying types appeared on chinese pottery and porcelain with increasing frequency from the tang dynasty 618 906 ce through to the republic in the early years of the 20th century. The antique marks reference. Identifying chinese porcelain involves more than just knowing the mark in order to decide age and manufacturer as many novices do believe.

The identification and authentication of chinese porcelain is a complex process of an overall verification of a number of factors. From imperial marks to the many hall and auspicious marks used by scholars collectors potters and artists this is the essential book for all professional buyers collectors and.