How's this for being diplomatic.... it is a famille verte vase made around the 1890's, during the time of the Kangxi revival.

The crackle brown porcelain is the tell....Kangxi porcelain was famously white and pure.

@greeno107  If there are other aspects other than the brown crackle that you noticed that are not Kangxi looking about the decoration I would be interested to know. Thanks! Also, it would be interesting to know if this is one of the pieces you and Giovanni would agree on or disagree about whether it is Kangxi revival or not. Maybe he will chime in about how he views it. 

Dear John, can I say explicitly my thought? I wouldn't buy that vase even for 5 dolalrs.

For one simple reason: I'm sure that when you will be able to distinguish and appreciate a genuine Kangxi or a good quality Kangx revival piece, that vase will end up in the garage and will annoy you every time you see it.

I would just like to make a comment: that woman at the door with the broom is not simply ridiculous, she is pitiful.

But, of course, everyone has its own taste and not everyone will agree with me, then if you like it, go for it.

Regards,

Giovanni

Hi John,

I must agree with Giovanni on this vase.

To my eye it's a modern copy and very poorly depicted.

Mark 

@clayandbrush  Thanks for your thoughts about the vase. I'm just curious why a person sweeping is a ridiculous thing to have in a Chinese painting? Is it just because it is a silly subject matter to feature or is it that you feel it was just executed poorly? 

$285 dollars can buy something nice when patient. 

It is the subject. If you find that on a genuine Kangxi vase I will pay you one million dollars 😊 

I liked it, which is the kiss of death, that horse's eye is just too cute. Don't spend much time looking John, due to the statute of frauds, Giovanni's offer would have to be in writing to be a binding contract.😄

@sharonp  I will be scouring the globe now to find a genuine Kangxi figure sweeping a floor. Giovanni is an honorable man, so he will pay up if I find one. And I'm fine with getting paid in installments. We can work out a schedule that fits his budget. 😀 

@johnshoe  To be honest, I'm with the others on this one ..... this is not a good vase in so many ways that it is not really educational to talk about its merits... or the lack of in this case.

Let me make a suggestion to how I think you should be approaching your Chinese porcelain collecting:

A) LOVE how it looks FIRST... if looking at it doesn't bring you joy and admiration of the artistry, color, and form, you are probably looking at a reproduction or a poor quality example.

B) THEN seek to determine its age and authenticity.

If you are trying to do this....continue to do so...we can chalk this find as an honest mistake.

True story... I have a Chinese friend about 15 years older than me who has been collecting at least 20 years long than I have.  As a native Chinese speaker, he is able to read marks (I can only recall what I've memorized), and knows all the technical aspects regarding glaze, color, foot rim, and the such.  

When I first began buying, he and I would partner, and while we had many successful joint purchases together, in only a year I made the decision to no longer partner.

The reason, and this is important, is that he spent all of his time invested in the technical aspects, but not the artistic.  So, he would buy these terribly rendered 19th c. pieces because they looked 'old', had the right foot rim or had a mark on the base, and then would overlook the finely made pieces that seemed 'new' to him because of the refined look.

It's not that his method didn't lead him to some good finds, but to this day, I do not believe he has ever purchased a genuine mark and period piece.  Worse yet, he has sold some fantastic pieces for absurdly low amounts because he thought they were fakes.  He once sold a large Ming longquan figure of Guanyin for $600 that was easily worth $40,000.

YOU MUST DEVELOP A SENSE FOR THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF CHINESE ESTHETIC IN ORDER TO RECOGNIZE AND FIND GREAT PORCELAINS.

My friends tease me that I find a 'treasure' every time I go shopping - I wish that was true!

In my earliest days of collecting, it seemed like every shop was overflowing with valuable antiques....I just needed to learn enough to identify them.

Now I realize how wrong I was.  The reality is that most shops sell thrift store leftovers because most 'antique dealers' are just trying to double their money they've invested.  A good Chinese porcelain in a general antique shop is a 1 in a 10,000 shot.

Coming home empty handed because there was nothing worth buying is part of the business.

To improve your odds, start with the most expensive and reputable specialist shops, even if they are not Chinese specialists, because they may have contacts or leads to other dealers that may have Chinese items.  Then, work your way down the ladder of quality, and eventually into the thrift stores.

If you shop with reputable Chinese porcelain specialists, even if the price is out of reach to buy and resell, you get a first hand opportunity to see what good quality is .... commit to memory!

Something I have believed for a very long time....finding good Chinese antiques is like bird watching!  If you're not a bird watcher, you probably think I'm drunk.... maybe just a little.  

But really, I'll post my theory in the days to come so you can better understand.

Hi greeno107,

Your absolutely correct my friend!

Too many so-called experts/collectors rely purely on technical aspects without looking at the whole piece. First look at the piece. If it feels right then look at other aspects. If it does not look good or right then no need to investigate further. Of course you need to be able to determine what's right and what's wrong. This can only be done by researching and hands on experience. 

Hope you have your friend or former colleague on a watch list!

Just my thoughts.

Mark 

@imperialfinegems My friend sends me photos on a regular basis and has for years.  Sadly, only about 1 in 50 pieces gets an okay from me, and so he naturally gets discouraged....that's what happened with the Guanyin.

So, the story goes as follows....

My friend set up a booth at the West Palm Beach antique show... I don't generally set up, only to shop, so I came at the first opportunity on the first day of the show.  But, most of the best items sell to other dealers before the show opens.

I get to the booth and my friend's wife is sitting next to a large longquan figure of Guanyin with attendants mounted to the base of an old 1900's lamps (no damage as they ran the wiring through a bent bronze tube). My mind is spinning!

So I asked his wife if the lamp belong to my friend, which she replied 'yes', but that it was sold.  I asked why my friend didn't send me picture of the piece, she replied that my friend knew it was a fake made from pottery because the base had turned orange. And, then goes on to tell me they sold it for $600.

When I asked why he didn't send me photos when just the other day he sent me several, he explained that I had told him it was all junk, so he was discouraged to send me the photo of the Guanyin.

(So, since then I am more careful since then how I send my criticism, but in my defense he should have known the figure was amazing)

I asked if they had been paid, and they had not, but she and my friend would no back out of the deal even after I explained the true value.  It so happened that the buyer was their doctor, a well known Chinese collector, and they didn't want to ruin their relationship with him.

Personally, I would have found another doctor.

This is essentially the piece he owned, but his was almost 16" tall and with attendants...perhaps much better than this Bonham's example:

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19433/lot/8276/

Sometimes it pays to be diplomatic.

Mark 

@greeno107  As always, thanks for the sage advice! I'm getting better about not buying things I shouldn't, such as this vase for example, which I did not buy. And for the most part I am only buying things I am attracted to. So, I usually pass things through the "would I display this in my house" filter before buying. Either that or if I am confident of what it is then I will buy it even if it is just to resell. 

I have concluded the same thing about antique stores/dealers mostly being happy to just double their money, etc. That is why I think great buys can be made in those settings when good things do show up there. So I keep doing the rounds and building relationships, because it seems like there is a clear pecking order to access to the private sales that pop up here and there. I have also even discovered that some of the people who run estate sales will give early access to dealers they know and like, etc. 

As for buying what is pleasing, my tastes are changing as I learn more. Certain elements of quality are now known to me and appreciated, but other areas remain a mystery still, so I am unrefined and susceptible in some ways. Luckily I have all of you and Peter to help advise me. To be honest, this vase seemed to my eye like it was high quality, whatever era it was from. That appears to be not the case based on what you all are saying here with far more experience than me. So, without all of you I would have probably bought it. But now, I will continue studying it in pictures and comparing it to other examples.  However, I disagree with you that it would not be educational going over the actual specifics as to why it isn't a high quality example, because to me that is what would actually be the most help, because clearly I do not have a knowledge or sense of what those specific things are yet. Obviously Mark or Giovanni do not need the elaborations because they already know, however I would find them most useful and important.