Posted 5 years ago
Myra
(7 items)
Dear all,
I would gladly receive your view on the cloissoné lotus jar pictured.
Do you believe it to be 'authentic' - i.e. an imperial cloisonné lotus jar from Beijing?
I noticed the following details:
1) little black spots; probably due to solder;
2) basic colors plus pastel (pink, light-blue);
3) dark blue colour inside jar;
4) no mark.
I'm studying former posts on the subject.
In case you have specific knowledge available, please feel free to share your opinion with me; thanks!
Best regards,
Myra
The following criteria seem useful to evaluate ming cloisonne
(http://www.asianart.com/phpforum/index.php?method=reply&RId=42281&gId=1&MSubject=Re%3A+Ming+cloisonne+for+your+discussion&PID=42018 - citing 'Lee')
1) Ming and early ching pieces should have a cast bronze body.
2) Late Ching- Republic pieces have solder lines that you can spot on the rim, where hammered wrought copper body have been soldered together .
3) Most Ming pieces are gilded. late Ching pieces are seldom gilded
4) the bronze wire used for ming cloisone were cast than cut and have different diameter along the same wire or between different wires and you often get split wires, probably during firing. Ching wires are more even in size as wrought wires were used.
5) the surface of the ming cloisone is pitted and have black spots because solder was used to stick the wire to the bronze body. During firing this melts and comes to the surface. Ching cloisonne used organic glue to fuse the wire to the bronze, so there are fewer black spots and pits.
6) The surface of Ching cloisonne is finished relatively smooth while the Ming are more satin finished.
7) the Ming cloisonne have the basic white, green, yellow, red, blue and the pink is a mixture of red and white. The colors are seldom mixed in the individual cloisone. In the Ching cloisone there are real pink and there may be more than 1 color in a wire enclosure.
8) the design and style of course is different between ming and ching except for the late ching period when they tried to replicate the ming pieces to supply the antique market.
Based on the criteria would you suspect this plate could be Ming or late Qing?
The detail is beyond comparison, beautiful work on this incredible masterpiece !~
Hi Myra - you have done a lot of work to identify your piece, I can tell you it is a post 1950 genuine Chinese cloisonne, the style is called open work and it is the traditional Buddhist lotus flower motif.
The Chinese collectors who live in USA wrote a book about these cloisonne pieces, their name is CHU. They admire the later cloisonne as they feel there was much more quality craftsmanship than much of the earlier export pieces.
So it is not Ming or late Qing but rather post Mao, People's Republic of China mid to late 20th century. Beautiful example.
Thank you truthordare; it's been most helpful and highly appreciated! :-))
Glad you don't mind the time period, there is a thing with Asian decorative exports, they got sloppy the more they made, many small communities would form groups to make these pieces during early 20th. My first pieces were ashtrays which were part of Chinese cloisonne smoking sets, they were sold in USA by several catalogs.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b7/23/65/b72365fe9734516836ad27543b2115c2.jpg
This one is designed beautifully; every scroll and flower seems in place.
A bargain: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/17319902_an-early-20th-century-chinese-cloisonne-enamel-ginger-j#&gid=1&pid=1