For want of being competely stupid as often I am, I am starting to think this is a piece of a one arm person presenting a gift. The way the sleeve just hangs down sort of empty in fashion makes me think. I have seen a similar piece with an equally looking missing right arm. Other than that. If its not as described above it is Cypriot or Italian "Susancai" and I'm afraid I am already well out of my knowledge zone. I mean really now ignorant...Send for the Gin.

I think we need Birgit to come in and solve the puzzle!

Errol 

Not Ming , Not 19th century , For sure a Kangxi piece the white porcelain , the fine thin mat glaze and it's a model of a man .

That's about all i know without reading all the other comments.

Carl

P.S  Brinjal not sancai?

Dear Erroll,

the statue is surely Kangxi. The later ones doesn't have those facial features.

The base is not really egg&spinach, because it lacks the white. But this is not a well defined point, since opinions can differ. Actually, it is true that susancai is more correct for this statue, but sancai is also accepted without problems by many.

He is not a man dressed in female rope, he is just a man, the rope is correct.

I believe that this statue is representing some personage in Chinese iconography, but I do not know whom.

I am not a potter and I may be wrong, but I think that biscuit are not true porcelain in the sense that true porcelain is fired at about 1350 degrees Celsius while for the same piece, if meant to be decorated as bisquit, 1000 - 1100 degrees is probably enough. Not sure, though.

Giovanni

Giovanni

Dear Giovanni:

I very much hope you are right about the figure being Kangxi. This would be one case where I'd be delighted to be wrong! However, someone with a lot of experience told me that the fugure was too "refined" to be Kangxi. I don't know enough about these things to be able to say one way or another.

As for "egg and spinach" Gotheborg implies that all that is needed to fufill the criteria for that pattern is splotches of yellow and green. However, I do agree that white is usually present also and as in the bowl they use on the Gotheborg website as an example of "egg and spinach" brown may apparently be present too. In other words, the colors are the sancai or susancai colors but apparently not carefully painted on.

As far as the difference between biscuit and true porcelain is concerned, that is way beyond my knowledge. I'd be very interested to know the difference though because I have a wonderful pair of emerald green Qing parrots that are described as "biscuit" and I have always been curious as to what that meant exactly.

You are inching closer to the solution to the riddle. I know how much you love Catawiki and I'm hoping you can win the 20-cent voucher so you can bid on an item there really soon! As you know, you can expect an expert opinion on any item there  that strikes your fancy!

Kind regards,

Errol

The basket seems awful small to be for fruits. Are those chestnuts in the basket, not fruits? Todd

Oh, maybe its a eunuch then. 

And if that’s the case, those aren’t chestnuts. Oh no...

Posted by: Watership

And if that’s the case, those aren’t chestnuts. Oh no...

That would explain his lack of a beard...

Posted by: ErrolL

Craig: The person is as Chinese as they come!

When Errol said this, I thought it was a clue that it was a famous person from Chinese history. I started going down the list from Qin Shihuang, to Confucius, to Laotzi, to Mengzi... but they all had beards!

Errol,

Can't solve your mystery but as Catawiki do not accept registrations from Australia as yet, they obviously still think we are all convicts or bush rangers, so the prize would be of no use to me. Biscuit porcelain or Bisque is unglazed. It was very popular in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries during the classical revival. It was meant to make the figures and objects look like pure white polished marble. It was very  expensive as the objects had to be absolutely perfect as no glaze could cover any small defects. The term biscuit is a misnomer as it is from the french  'bis-cuite' which means fired twice but true Bisque only needs to be fired once. Maybe in Chinese ceramic's Biscuit is closer to its meaning in French and applies to objects that been fired twice the second firing to melt and set the enamel. Objects that have unglazed area's can also be referred to as Biscuit or Bisque. I have seen this on some Chinese figures where the face is left unglazed mostly on male figures I have read that in some periods of Chinese history this was considered more masculin. No prize for me but your mysteries are fun looking forward to the answer.

Cheers

Michael

Hello Michael:

Thank you - that is most informative.

Believe me - Catawiki has done you a favor. They are the gang who can't shoot straight.

Errol 

Hi Brett,

Raised the issue with Peter awhile back and have seen no progress.

There may be some issue with GST (goods and service tax 10%,) and the changes made six or so months ago.

As you are aware, the onus on GST falls not with the buyer but with the seller for items sold with a value of less than $1000AUD.

EBay collects said tax at the checkout. No way around this.

How this actually works is a mystery to myself. There are no bar codes on the package to state the tax has been paid just item description and declared value. No mention anywhere that I have paid said tax.

Items over $1000 are not taxed on behalf of the tax office in the same manner as items under $1000.One would have to engage a tax agent dealing with freight imports etc.

Strange I did do a dry-run on a pair of imari vases from Chamberlain antiques that was sold to me in their last sale for US$1188. Sailed straight thru customs without being checked and no tax was paid.

Will try again and see if it does again soon.

All very odd with the changes made. No other country places onus on the seller. Perhaps Catawicki won't play ball or perhaps in their eyes we are all convicts and have kangaroos roaming the main streets and regularly change our prime minister.

Mark

Hi Watership:

I looked more carefully at the basket's contents using a magnifying glass. There are two fruit items enclosed partially by leaves that look by their shape as if they could be peaches since I have famille rose figures where the fruit looks similar but has the reddish-yellow (or peach) color of peaches. Here obviously because of the susancai nature of the decoration even the peaches (if that's what they are) have a brownish color. As I'm sure you know the peach is a very important element in Chinese mythology being a symbol for immortality and long life. The God of Longevity (Shoulao) is often shown holding a peach (see photograph below from my collection) or sitting on a peach. The peach in my figure has a broken leaf!

Regards,

Errol

 'A Peach a day helps you work rest and play'

The Puzzle is that we must determine what is incorrect about Chamberlains description. 

"This listing is for a beautiful and highly-detailed Chinese porcelain statue dating to the Kangxi period. The statue is of a woman standing upon a plinth and holding a basket of fruit in her hands. She is shown wearing a long robe and a bird atop her headdress. The exterior of the statue is finished in vibrant Sancai colored glazes that display beautifully. It stands 12.75 inches tall.

He only states several facts:

Porcelain

Dates to Kangxi

Vibrant Sancai glazes

12.5 inches tall

A woman

( A basket of fruit, Bird on head, standing on Plinth) 

I think each was addressed in great detail. So Please please say what is the mystery, other than most items have some mystery. 

Hi all:

I'm afraid no one has won the 20-cent Catawiki voucher!  When I won this item at the auction I assumed the figure was that of a woman as was described in the summary. However, the masculine facial features puzzled me. It was a situation similar to that of my last mystery piece, the Amsterdam Bont bowl, in which I knew there was something odd about the bowl but only established recently what that was.

This matter would not have come up for me for further attention had I not a couple of years after the first purchase seen, liked and won at an eBay auction set up by a UK seller a 12-inch Famille Verte Wucai Porcelain figure that I also found to be somewhat puzzling in appearance (see photographs). The seller had described the figure as missing a rod or scepter in the right hand.  The figure seemed in some ways to be similar to the mystery figure I presented today. I sent the photographs of both figures to a friend of mine who is of Chinese ancestry and who lives in the USA. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of Chinese art and porcelain and of Chinese history and is a truly gifted person.

She replied immediately that the missing item in the right hand of the second figure was a fruit basket and that both figures represented, Lan Caihe, one of the eight Chinese Daoist immortals or Ba xian.

Lan Caihe it would seem from various interpretations (SEE LINK) 

was apparently a real person who would nowadays probably be classified as a transgender individual. He/she wore female attire, apparently spoke with a male voice and could never be considered either male or female.

The one constant feature of Lan Caihe in Chinese art is that he/she always carried a basket of fruit or flowers in one hand.  He/she was a strolling singer and flutist and became patron of the indigent. All the money Lan Caihe received while performing on the earth was given to the poor.  Lan Caihe is shown second from the left in the Qianlong porcelain serving dish decorated in the Rockefeller pattern shown below together with the other seven Chinese immortals.

So for me the mystery was solved and I now own two Lan Caihe figures. I find Chinese figures absolutely wonderful. Not only do they have a great appearance often, but the stories behind them can be very intriguing.

I hope you all enjoyed this small voyage of discovery as much as I did. 

Regards,

Errol