Peter, Thanks for your additional comments. This has been VERY helpful to me as a novice. I can see that collecting Chinese porcelain is complicated and multi-dimensional. I'm sure it takes many years to become skilled at recognizing a true antique. I like this vase; should I treat it as a strictly decorative item or does it have value as a collectible beyond the pretty face?
Sep 06, 2011
vase by: peter
Thanks for the additional pictures, Marsuel. They give a clearer picture of the age of your vase. I'm afraid this vase is late 20th century. The painting style is clearly late 20th century, and while the ears' shape is right, genuine antiques almost never have painting anything on them, except pehaps some gilt at the edge, etc.
The fish and plants also are painted in a style not seen in the early republican time. They didn't paint the contours for everything in black first and then fill in the colors, at least not in a manner that makes it that obvious. Much of the contours were scratched into the glaze, not painted at all.
If you start collecting Chinese, I would look for smaller items, first. Actually, most antique items are smaller than we would think from the pictures. Other collectors will confirm that. And there were periods when almost no large items were produced. Late Qing and republican vases are rather the exception than the rule.
