Identifying Oriental Ceramics

This section is about commercial workshop and export marks of the mid 19th century and later.

Identifying oriental ceramics.

If you have a piece of chinese or oriental porcelain. See a comparison of chinese and non chinese marks. Ceramics were made all over china and the kilns in the north and south produced different types of wares and glazes. If carefully studied they offer a great help in identifying the date and maker of most chinese porcelain.

Reign marks are usually four or six characters in length and can be found on the base or the side of an item. Identifying chinese porcelain involves more than just knowing the mark in order to decide age and manufacturer as many novices do believe. If we have additional information on the pottery mark or piece you can click the image to open that section. He reigned from 1465 1487.

The aquatic scene depicts arrowhead sagittaria sagittifolia as well as other aquatic plants there is also a leaping shrimp and a flying insect. The identification and authentication of chinese porcelain is a complex process of an overall verification of a number of factors. During the song dynasty 960 1279 for example beautiful celadon glazed ceramics were produced in the longquan area of southwest zhejiang province and also by the yaozhou kilns in the northern shaanxi province. For example there are many pieces of blue and white porcelain with the mark of the ming emperor chenghua.

Many oriental ceramic objects have marks a mark might declare that the piece was made at a certain period. Unless you re familiar with the japanese language identifying japanese pottery and porcelain marks can be a daunting task. Look for the maker s mark on the bottom of the piece identifying the factory in limoges where the porcelain was cast and fired. Chinese porcelain reign marks identification reign marks can play a pivotal role in helping to identify the period in which chinese artefacts were created.

This foliated transitional period porcelain dish is painted with bright enamels. The mark will have been impressed into the porcelain under the glaze at the point when the porcelain was still blank or whiteware. Making sense of chinese reign marks. Hidden within the kanji the characters on the bottom of the piece you will typically find the production region a specific kiln location a potter s name and sometimes a separate decorator s identity.

A ming porcelain dish made for the japanese market chongzhen period c 1635 1645. Offered here is an attempt to identify some of the marks on mostly late trade and export quality porcelain. Scan the index of this pottery marks identification guide to help you identify your pottery or porcelain. I can not tell you how to identify chinese porcelain pieces with a 100 accuracy via this article but i can show you certain traits symbolism commonly used on chinese porcelain that will hopefully help you identify or understand the meaning of symbols used in chinese porcelain production.