Dear George - 

I am keeping a very ‘open mind’ regarding these marks. The few who have seen images have all said they are either Arabic or Persian, not Chinese …

My HK teacher has suggested I reach out to one of the Islamic specialists at the either V&A or British museums or SOAS university (Society for Oriental and African Studies) … 

Fortunately, I know people who have connections in all three, so the research will continue … 

However, it may well be that they are too badly written to decipher, certainly not unknown with such ink inscriptions … 

Warmest regards, 

Stuart 

Stuart, I find it amazing that both marks appear to be a quickly written Chinese “Yuan” character. Have you entirely ruled out that theory? I may be leading you down the wrong track, but I just find it to be such a coincidence.

George

Although Sotheby’s Islamic department agreed the two ink inscriptions look quite similar, unfortunately the writing is not coherent enough to decipher and make specific sense of in this instance … 

Still, worth reaching out to try!! …

Stuart 

Good to continue your research. I am now 81 and continue my therapy daily. I am glad to have you as a good friend.

George

Dear George - 

Thank you for taking the time to look at the two characters and forward your thoughts on such, which is much appreciated …

I took the liberty of sending images to a contact at Sotheby’s, who has kindly offered to forward them to a colleague in their Islamic department to see if the script can be deciphered and if so, the characters translated. Time will tell …

As I’am sure you aware, many of these Arabic characters are, regrettably, indecipherable and even when they can be read, are usually just names of previous owners …

As an aside; I sincerely hope your recovery is progressing well, and your health continues to improve? 
                  ‘Always keep fighting, and never give in’ …

Warmest regards, 

Stuart 

Dear Stuart, The two black characters on the firing ring could be the character Yuan 元 with someone in earlier times attempting to indicate the date of manufacture.

George

Dear Alan, 

I will asked my restorer to forward images during and after he has completed restoration although, as mentioned, the process will take some time …

Due to the piece coming in from the US both Import tax and Vat were incurred so yes, such additional charges must now be taken into consideration if deciding to bid …

Best wishes, 

Stuart

Well done on another thoroughly researched acquisition. It would be nice to see the results of restoration when finally the charger is done, so I hope you will post some images of it in due course. I find the possible Persian link very intriguing.

Importing to Europe from the USA is something that I used to do, but have since been daunted from doing by the additional import charges that are applied. What are the tariffs that you find yourself facing in the UK (in my case, European rates apply)?

Best wishes,

Alan

The dish arrived earlier today, and I must complement Sotheby’s on the packaging which was exemplary! …

I attempted to take some images in natural light but, as celadon is notoriously difficult to photograph correctly, the true colour is somewhat greener and richer in tone … 

Upon close examination, the base firing ring has two written black ink inscriptions at 9 and 5 o’clock, which may be Arabic or Persian. These clearly indicate the dish was once in the Middle East, either part of the Topkapi Saray in Istanbul, as records show a lot of there pieces were dispersed, or in Iran or Syria …

Intriguingly, Sotheby’s catalogue description made no reference to these inscriptions … 

Stuart