Wednesday, February 04, 2009

HELP NEEDED! Celadon ?

Ok, so this is another non-PB&S collection piece that has snuck its way onto my shelves and into a blog posting. The thing is, I need some help with identifying this one and after the success i had with my Dianne Cross vase (thanks Archimandrill), i thought i'd put this one "out there" to see if anyone can help!? It may just be modern-ish, or even an attempt at fakery, but my hope is that this is more than it appears to be. It is very simple in form and colour - kind of a light grey - but that may actually be an indication of its true identification. I'm hoping it will turn out to be a piece of old (very old?) Chinese Celadon ware. Certainly, the crackling of the glaze is typical of Celadon wares, and although unusual because it's grey and not green, the colour is within the realms of possibility for Celadon. The shape, is very simple and striking, like much of early Chinese ceramics - bit it's quite tall, so i don't know if it's just TOO tall to be the genuine article. There are no markings or indication of date. There is a small chip at the base rim, which bizarrely, has been glazed over rather than the potter throwing the pot away. In fact, the glaze is so thick towards the bottom of the vessel that you can't even feel the chip because the glaze pools to fill it. The base is glazed within the circle of the bottom wheel rim. The crackles are not uniform in colour, some are quite dark, and on close inspection you can see small bubbles in areas of the glaze. All this info is given because i'm hoping it will help someone identify this piece for me and put my mind out of it's ignorant misery! Where is David Battie when you need him? ( or Lars Tharp - he's a wizard of the Oriental stuff too).
Ru Ware? i wish....Guan ware? who knows, "i know nutting"

3 comments:

Fabio said...

How's friend, I know the same as a porcelain vase, you have discovered that type of china have ? labatefa@hotmail.com

The Ticcy Knitter said...

hi fabio,
no, unfortunately, i have been unable to identify the maker/country of origin/date of this vase. I sent a picture to the BBC Homes & Antiques Magazine, but it was not chosen for inclusion in their Q&A pages. I'm still hopeful someone will be able to give me some clues about it. Or perhaps I will take it to an Antiques Roadshow day later in the year.

Anonymous said...

I have a very similar vase, much smaller, and with the 'oxblood' red that shows through when there is too much iron used in the firing.

I can't be positive, but I know mine is quite old (according to a local Chinese Antiques Proprietor) and it is different only in the sense that you can definitely tell there is a red clay underneath the glaze (instead of ceramic, etc.)

Yours still may be quite old, but I know that the really old ones are made of a soft red clay underneath which you can usually see around the ring of the bottom.

Hope this helps.

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