Re: Download Tang Shan Jie Quan Dao
Gema Shisila
With 'lead warning' label. In 1997 a HK Concumer Council Report was released about that some decorative porcelain with heavy lead content may damage health. Labels like this seems to have been added from that time. Compare also mark # 309Click here to see large picture.
The mark Dayazhai (Studio of the Greater Odes) has been associated with the Dowager Empress Cixi. No such hall has been identified but a wooden framed plaque has been found in the Imperial workshops, bearing the characters Dayazhai and with one of two seals reading Tiandi Yijia Chun. The findings was published in 2007, and according to the authors, in the 12th year of Tongzhi (1873) work began on the restoration of the Summer Palace Yuanmingyuan, and by 1874, the interior of the Tiandi Yijia Chun would have been in need of furnishing.
Rosemary Scott has suggested in 2008 that the new-style Dayazhai Porcelains were not produced until the Guangxu reign, and by the second year of Guangxu, 4,922 porcelains were produced bearing both Dayazhai and Tiandi Yijia Chun marks. As the restoration of the Yuanmingyuan had been halted for economic reasons, the vessels would have been delivered to the Forbidden City.
The ground colour yellow, is probably the rarest to find on Dayazhai ceramics because of the long-established Imperial connotation of using yellow on objects and textiles associated with an Emperor or Empress.
The porcelain figure are likely to have been made in China and decorated at the Overjoy Porcelain Factory or maybe at Ah Chou Factory(The owners of the 2 factories are related). These two porcelain decoration 'factories' specialized in decorating blank porcelain dinnerware and objects, such as the cats, flower pots, vases, candlesticks, etc., mainly for foreign "expats" who had moved to Hong Kong. The blanks for the dinnerware came from Japan, while the blanks for the other objects usually came from China. There are sample patterns, or customers can make up their own design, or the factories will also copy any pattern the customer prefers. They were proud of the fact that the enamels for decorating their wares all came from Germany, thus were safe vis a visfood consumption, unlike some of the dinnerware from China. The blue that is painted on this cat is the standard dark non-cobalt blue that they used, and still do use. If one wanted they also had a lighter cobalt blue. Info submitted by: Sarah Parnell, 2003Click here to see large picture.
This mark belongs to a period when private kilns at Jingdezhen were organized as cooperatives. The cooperative movement at Jingdezhen began in late 1952, continuing into 1956, maybe into 1957. In this mark the name for cooperative he zuo she is abbreviated to he zuo. The character for factory chang is not yet simplified as it would be with the introduction of simplified characters in 1956. (Information courtesy of Freda Murck, Beijing, 2004)Click here to see large picture
Buddhist temples are made up of several buildings, of which any central temple would have this name displayed right across at the top center. See also # 305.286. Mark: Yi Xiang Yuan Joy Beauty Garden / Paradise of Joy and Beauty. Mark on Chinese porcelain erotic cup. 1970 or later.284. Transformed style of seal mark, hard to make out the meaning but, could be "Hall of Hundred Tortoises". It is 20th century and could quite possibly be a Japanese mark imitating a Chinese. The cut off corners of the double framed seal is a significant feature which the painter seems to be unaware of.323. Re Shen Zhen Cang,-"Re Shen (name) Precious Treasure". This mark is found on a large group of blue & white porcelain. The mark first appeared in the Kangxi period and became popular in the Late Qing to the Early Republic period (1900-1950). Widely used in modern replicas.
Hong Kong, Decorated in (written in Western characters)Since adding enameled decoration on white porcelain is a small scale business that could be set up anywhere with very little capital, porcelain decorators probably moved from Canton to Hong Kong to set up shop there immediately by the time of its founding in the 19th century. The Hong Kong porcelain trade hit its peak in the 1960s, with just over a hundred workshops in the Territory only. At this time the demand for Hong Kong decorated porcelain forced the workshops to also import white porcelain from Japan to be decorated in Hong Kong. Some trading agents specifically ordered plain porcelain from Japan. The quality and price appears to have been the same as the Chinese.
The porcelain trade thrived until the 1970s when trade, stocks and shares and the whole city began to take off in mid 80s, gradually making the HK properties the most expensive in the world. At this time porcelain trading, who requires large shop areas, was gradually pushed out of the game.
Under this headline we will try collect all marks used by the Hong Kong enameling workshops.368. Stanley, Hand Decorated in Hong Kong. Mid 20th century.56. W.S.L. DECORATED IN HONG KONG179. "Decorated in Hong Kong", mark on modern porcelain spoon272. "Decorated in Hong Kong", mark on porcelain dish dated by Mr. Kung, porcelain merchant in Hong Kong, to 1960.
Two dishes and marks # 272 and # 273
Click here to see large picture.
Kangxi marks are by far the richest group compared to all other period marks. Many also consider Kangxi porcelain the peak of Chinese porcelain and some Kangxi fakes are the most difficult of all to tell.
Genuine marks from the period: During most of the Kangxi reign the emperor's mark was not allowed to be used, so other symbols, or frequently the nian hao of the Ming emperor Chenghua's period took its place. There could also be used just two empty circles with no mark within, or even no mark at all, or 4 character hallmarks or other symbols or marks of commendation. Late in the period the order was rescinded and a 6-character reign mark was permitted. The only time a Kangxi Imperial mark appeared without the circles was on the peach bloom wares and certain other scholar's table items and it is (almost) always 6 characters, written either in two horizontal lines or two vertical columns. Some Imperial pieces decorated at the Palace Workshops that were made late in the reign had a four character reign mark, but they are always enclosed by a double square and are almost always written in over glaze blue enamel.
Copies and later marks: As a general rule, all four character Kangxi Nian Zhi marks written inside double circles or without circles are from the end of the 19th century or later. Items made in the manner of or style of Kangxi in the 19th C many times do have four character reign marks. This makes it easy to tell at a glance in most cases whether the piece is really from the Kangxi period or not. Some of these pieces are very close in style to the originals but if you compare them to genuine Kangxi wares the paste, glaze, footrim and the blue is different.
Crude attempts to mimic Imperial marks are sometimes found on minyao wares but generally this is not the case on export wares, as most bear no marks. Red four character Kangxi Nian Zhi marks within a square becomes particularly popular during the 1970s.
Daxin Department Store was one of the biggest and most prestigious department stores at the time, like Harrods and Selfridges of London, with shop in, I believe in Shanghai, HK and Singapore. Large department stores in Shanghai were first established by foreign investors. After 1916, local companies established successively four department stores at Nanjing Lu - Wings, Sincere, Xin Xin, and Daxin -- each of which covered an area over ten-thousand square meters. The stores strove to compete with one another by enhancing both quantity and quality of commodity, services and facilities. A new style of consumption was thus formed. Shopping or window shopping on weekends became a popular life style in the city. Around year 2000 Daxin, now "Number One Department Store" was the largest department store in China.
The first official Hong Kong Schools Sports Day was held on 29th Nov 1933. In the prize donation inventory, it was recorded three of the Four Super Department Stores had made a contribution. They were Sincere, Da Xin, Zhonghua Bai Huo. (The remaining company is likely to be "Wing On")
Source: HK Central Roads and Streets History, Joint Publishing (HK) Co Ltd, 1989.
The additional characters on the bowl are, horizontal from right : Guan Jia Yi Pin-Official Title increased by one rank.
Vertical: Jiangxi (surname) / Mao Yuan / Ke-Jiangxi Province (surname) / Mao Yuan / Guest.
As for the "Ke = guest", many porcelain painters tried to make a living in Jiangxi during the Republic period, they came from other provinces and hoped they did not have to stay too long. They liked to address themselves as Guest Artists, showing their home coming desire. Click here to see large picture
The reign mark "nian hao" of this period has been drawn on porcelain ever since, up until today. Later porcelain with this mark are often called "fakes" however the occurrence of this mark on later porcelain is most of the time seen as part of the decoration and not to be taken serious.
The following marks are in zhuanshu (archaic seal script) which technically speaking is a drawing and not 'hand-writing'. None of the following marks are of the Qianlong period despite that they say so. See comments next to each individual mark for an approximate date.
1990-2000.
Qianlong, Da Qing The mark is referring to the Qianlong period (1736-1795) during the Qing dynasty. However, in these marks the Nian Zhi [period make] of the regular mark is omitted. So far I have not seen any mark of this type that appears to be older than the 1970s. It is worth remembering that during 1965-70 was the period of the 'Glorious Cultural Revolution' in China and not much porcelain, and certainly not any with any Imperial references, was made inside China proper during this time. I think that any porcelain with Imperial Chinese references in the mark had their decoration added outside of China.134. Mark: Da Qing Qianlong - "Great Qing Dynasty Qianlong Period"382. Mark: Da Qing Qianlong - "Great Qing Dynasty Qianlong Period". Late 20th century. The mark appears to be next to identical to those used in Hong Kong in the 1960-70s, but in this case, in underglaze blue. 758. Mark: Da Qing Qianlong - "Great Qing Dynasty Qianlong Period". Late 20th century.Click here to see large picture