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Thanks to George's information I was able to buy one of the Temmoku bowls on offer from Koh Antique. Strange enough the items of this seller are not visible in my national Ebay (something Giovanni already noticed in connection with other sellers), so had to use the back door via Ebay.com. The bowl arrived in very short time and once I held it in my hand I was convinced that it was authentic. I once possessed one that was most probably a fake. Every time I looked at it I tried to convince myself it was not a fake, but in the end it unnverved me and I gave it away. This brown bowl from Koh Antique is definitely real. It looks ok and feels ok and I'm happy with it.
On Gotheborg I found a most useful checklist for Temmoku bowls. I wish I had found it years ago as it would have saved me a lot of money. For those of you who also have doubts about their brown bowls, here it is:
Still being an appreciated example of Song ceramics many collectors have turned away from these Song Jian black glaze bowls after repeated disappointments, the fakes are just too convincing. On hand inspection is necessary for a valid opinion. What to look for beside the obvious signs of shape and size are the following characteristics, which might reveal a fake but not guarantee a genuine, are:
1) Sound when tapped- If high pitch, its a fake. Fakes might have a dull thump sound too but a high ring is a sign of a fake.
2) Any glaze age crackles visually and under 10x plus loupe- If none, most likely a fake.
3) Any 'gold' sparkling dust under 10x plus loupe- If yes, its likely real.
4) Any repairs at mouth rim- If yes, its a good sign. Fakes might be repaired too but almost all genuine ones are kiln wasters dug up from the kiln area during the 20th century.
5) Is the base/foot ring soft or sharp when you twist it gently in your palm- If it has any age to it, the foot rim should be worn smooth. Any new pieces straight from the kiln are likely to be sharp. So, while a smooth base is no guarantee for age, a sharp base is a bad sign.
Finally the thick glaze joining the body clay near the base often appears as if they are still shrinking
Birgit
Lovely bowl, Birgit!
Thank you for that very useful information. I am going to copy it so that I can find it easily. Not that I have any or see them often. Although, I do have a lovely glaze on one bowl but the the glaze comes down to the foot rim and finishes neatly. I think it is a reasonably modern studio bowl. Very attractive though.
Birgit,
I also notice that my bowl and some of Koh Antiques bowls have sea life or encrustations attached. These certainly have been at the bottom of the sea for many years in order for that to occur and that would be difficult to copy or fake. I’m glad you were able to purchase one of these at a reasonable price.
George
Beautiful bowl, Birgit, thanks for sharing. I'm still waiting on mine to arrive from Singapore, so very nice to see your fine example.
Can you explain this part a little more?
Finally the thick glaze joining the body clay near the base often appears as if they are still shrinking
Hello Craig
I think that my photograph below may show what is meant by the glaze looking like it is shrinking.
I believe that the advice given in the Gotheborg article may be a bit misleading and may not apply to the Temmoku tea bowls that Koh Antiques are selling. Although the article does not mention the kilns, it does state that the type of Temmoku tea bowls the tests apply to usually have a 'reddish-black' body. I believe that this would mainly apply to kilns in the northern Jianyang county.
Most of the Jian tea bowls sold at Sotheby's and Christie's I believe are from the Shuiji kilns in Jianyang county, as the clay used by these kilns had a high iron content, but I have also read that kilns in other counties applied a dark slip to the buff coloured unglazed part of the body so as to make the bowl look like those from the Shuiji kilns.
From what I understand from the Koh Antiques articles, the bowl shown by Birgit may have been made at one of the kilns in the eastern area of Fujian and this is explained, along with a link to a map showing the location of the kilns, in their article,
http://www.koh-antique.com/temmoku/temmoku1a.html
I don't think that there is any doubt that Birgit's bowl is a genuine Temmoku tea bowl and I know how it feels to hold a piece of history, as the first Temmoku tea bowl that I purchased was probably originally sold by Koh Antiques.
Kind regards,
Jeremy
Thank you Jeremy, that’s really interesting. Now I know why point 3 didn’t apply: there’s no gold sparkling in the surface because he meant the lighter kind of temmoku. But I have always admired the dark or even black ones. Mine has a color like dark chocolate.
Craig I’m sure yours will arrive soon, mine took about 10 days from Singapore (while I‘m still waiting for some Aliexpress items bought 4 weeks ago)
Birgit
Hello Birgit
I wonder if the 'gold dust' effect has anything to do with the pattern, as my shipwreck Temmoku bowl has a hare's fur decoration and has a course type of sparkling gold effect and my oil spot tea bowl has a very fine sparkling effect. Below is a magnified photograph of my oil spot bowl.
As your bowl doesn't seem to have a pattern perhaps this may be the reason, but have you checked the glaze with a loupe as I can only see the sparkles using a 30x loupe.
Kind regards,
Jeremy
The pattern on your bowl is beautiful. Using a 40x loupe I can see glaze crackles and small pits like bursted bubbles but no golden specks. As you said that seems to depend on the pattern.
Birgit
Hello Birgit
Thank you.
From what I have seen of a number of bowls sold by the major auction houses, characteristic No.4 doesn't seem to hold true. Although some of the bowls have a metal ring covering the rim, I have read that this was sometimes put on to cover the rough edge due to the stoneware body and not due to a damaged rim. Also, a lot of the bowls seem to have perfect rims, without any sign of restoration. Below is a bowl sold by Sotheby's that seems to have had a perfect rim as an example that sold for quite a substantial amount.
Kind regards,
Jeremy
Thank you, Jeremy. I do see the "shrinking" effect on the glaze in your photo.
I believe that the advice given in the Gotheborg article may be a bit misleading and may not apply to the Temmoku tea bowls that Koh Antiques are selling.
I think perhaps the Gotheborg article is a bit outdated. It mentions that most authentic Temmoku bowls are kiln wasters (or excavated elsewhere), but as with Koh's examples it seems there's also a fair amount from shipwrecks, including the Lianjiang. I know I've read it at some point, but can't find the page right now, but I believe Koh's site mentions that many were recovered from shipwrecks in the early 2000s.
For anyone interested in these bowls, I'd highly recommend paying the $10 for access to Koh's member content. Their detailed explanations on these, as well as Yueyao, Changsha and other Tang-Yuan wares are the best I've found online.
Craig I’m sure yours will arrive soon, mine took about 10 days from Singapore (while I‘m still waiting for some Aliexpress items bought 4 weeks ago)
Thank you, Birgit! After a two-week extended stay at the Singapore airport, my package tracking shows it arrived in the US early last week. It's funny to think that this bowl's last international journey was by ship and that did not end well. So as much as I'd love to have it in my hands right now, I feel I owe this 1,000 year-old bowl some extra patience. 🙂
My temmoku bowl arrived today, also from Koh Antique. I love it! The glaze is much prettier in person, a very thick and rich black with beautiful streaks of brown around the rim.
It has a small repair to the rim, many assorted scratches, but is in otherwise good shape, despite being a shipwreck piece. It doesn't have the dulled matte glaze degradation common to shipwreck pieces.
It passes all the checklist Birgit (@shinigami) posted above, with the exception of #3. There are no gold specs visible under magnification.
Hi Craig,
It's beautiful looking. You must be pleased as punch!
Mark
Wow, another gorgeous bowl. Congratulations, Craig!
Todd
take it with a grain of salt
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