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Hi all,
I've been wanting to post this for a while. As some of you may know, I've started throwing pottery on the wheel recently. One of the things I've been taught is to cut my thrown pots in half to study the cross-section for errors and where there is room for improvement in my technique. It's not often you get to see and study a perfect cross-section of a 19th-century vase.
One issue many throwers have is that there is too much clay left at the bottom, resulting in a heavy vase, or very uneven walls, creating structural concerns down the line... These issues can be caused by pulling up the clay body at uneven speeds, or varying the turning speed of the wheel when pulling up, or maybe even putting uneven pressure while pulling, etc.. There's a misconception that I had that 19th-century Chinese porcelain decreased in quality during this stage, but look at how even the walls are. There is only a 1.5mm variation from the bottom of the vase to its widest part. (8mm to 6.5mm) Also, see the "floor" of the vase - it is the perfect width (6.5mm), and very even with the exception of a slight bump in the center, where the potter would've started to "open the floor" of the vase. Even so, it is a .5mm difference. These potters were clearly masters in their trade! Considering the fact that you don't know how thick a wall/floor is exactly unless you cut it in half, this is very impressive. Their experience is almost palpable.
Let me know if you'd like different angles/photos. I'm currently working on restoring this one.
I seriously appreciate the craftsmanship of this vase.
Apologies for inundating with posts today - I have a tendency to post in waves.
Kind regards,
John
Thank you John, that’s something I didn’t see before (or don’t wish to see if was my own vase). I have often thought that the potter has always given his best while the painter was often sloppy. It’s not the potters fault if he had lower quality clay to work with. In late Qing there are some incredibly badly painted items for the export market, Ebay is full of them. They used to think: why lose time in painting, the Westerners will buy it anyway. But the porcelain bodies are always well made.
Birgit
That's rather beautiful in its own right, John. I could see the two pieces, one showing the form, the other the decoration, framed and displayed. That was interesting to see, thank you.
Of course! I'm glad y'all enjoyed this as much as I did. I did try to show the decoration more, but it looks like I didn't add it. Luckily it was not an accidental break! I was just trying to stabilize it. I could hear the porcelain creaking whenever I moved it. The vertical line straight through the middle was very lucky!
Here's the little photoshoot I did before I dismantled it: (I recommend clicking the first photo and using the arrows)
Kind regards,
John
Workmanship at that time was outstanding in many regards. Just look at old furniture. It's rock solid. Thanks for sharing your insights.
@johnshoe Of course - I'm glad to share. I've never had the opportunity to handle old Chinese furniture yet, so I appreciate you bringing up their construction. That's not the initial thought I would have when looking at old Chinese chairs, for example. They look so fine, as pieces of art, that you forget they were utilitarian and built to be used. Especially given the flimsiness of some modern furniture!
@bartholin I was thinking of even old European and American furniture, which I have seen a bit of and usually strikes me as extremely well built from those earlier times. I have not been around much older Chinese furniture yet, but clearly it is very well built, as it can last hundreds of years and in some cases look almost brand new in terms of condition. It's astonishing.
I like the way the flames are rendered on your vase. Actually I like the whole thing. Can you show the base?
@johnshoe Interesting - I'll have to see what old furniture I can handle. I find that area very difficult, so I've been hesitant about diving in to that. Even with all of the interesting posts here on Chinese furniture, I feel lost.
Here's the photos! I actually got this vase from our friend, Tim, during his blind auction. I couldn't resist the variety of foo lions on it. I'm practicing restoration on a mandarin punch bowl and a kutani censer, so I can actually make this one as perfect as possible.
@bartholin Nice! Well that's not surprising, as Tim has a good eye and finds great things. Congratulations. And that's good you are getting into repairing. Maybe when you get your chops down we can all start hiring you to fix up our things as well!
Thank you, John! I agree - he finds wonderful things. I will certainly update you all when I'm able to do restorations at a higher level! The Gotheborg forum has actually been an amazing resource for trying different techniques.
I'm going to shoot you an email re: restorations, just since I'm also working on a few pieces....
This is a very interesting post, it has always intrigued me when buying broken pieces, what the quality is of the body and the way the glazes/enamels are layered. I had a beautifully formed late Qing bowl, flawless in form that had the ugliest enamel work, so ugly I in fact suspect the artist may have been drunk, but the body was so perfect, the foot was trimmed with such precision I could have sworn it was an imperial ware. I will look for photos, though this was maybe ten years ago, I ended up giving it to my friend who collects oddities, and I believe it broke.
Jeremy
Sounds good, Jeremy! Looking forward to it.
Since you mentioned it, I'm also interested in the magnification of these cross sections. I'll take some magnified photos of various pieces and provide them here later tonight. It might be fun to compare those 😀 My years in laboratories taking photos through microscopes will pay off soon. I'll do that in my light box too.
Hi all,
As promised, here's some close-up photos of the breaks I was able to take photos of. You can really see how finely-levigated the Kangxi porcelain is beneath the glaze. It's very smooth to the touch. You can see how it gets progressively more and more coarse and gritty over time. Also posted a modern porcelain break for example. It's especially interesting that this modern clay is still not at the level of Kangxi porcelain. I'm having trouble seeing a difference in thickness for glazing or enamelling, though.
Also posted an odd spur mark on a Qianlong plate. It's very gray and not see through... is this what is considered "soft-paste"?
Kind regards,
John
Just as a challenge for anyone, guess the age of this piece:
Kind regards,
John
@bartholin Spurs where clay not porcelain. This is probably the contrast you are seeing.
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