Wow, that was really interesting.  So glad you said it all in this thread.  I have always struggled with identifying the halo-effect, but I feel a little more understanding of it now.

Thank you!

Dear Julia,

the halo effect is only seen around the overglaze blue. Probably they had problems of adherence and had to treat the surface of the glaze with some acid on the areas where the blue had to be placed.

Here you see it on one side of the bird. You do not see it on the peony below it because the light reflection spot is only on the bird.

As you see, the area closely encircling the blue is opaque because of the acid, then a bit far you see the halo iridescence.

Giovanni

Not sure how this helps , but here is a side by side comparison of your vase (pheasant and peonies ) with one scene from a Kangxi vase in the Marchant 'kangxi famille verte ' catalogue, p60. The painting style is certainly a little different - on yours the drawing is much more precise , and the enamels in general seem softer and thinner on the marchant example.

Tam, that is a very useful comparison, thank you.  There is quite a difference when they are viewed side by side.

Giovanni, thank you for the picture of the halo - I can see it! I think I have been looking in the wrong place.

This is a great thread, I feel I have learnt a lot from you all despite my confusion over those plates!

Julia

Dear Tam,

do you mean that on Marchant's vase the enamels are thinner than those on the yenyen vase?

It is difficult to judge by pictures, without close-up with light reflection.

Anyway, on Kangxi famille verte the enamels are more thick than on later replicas. The blue, the green, the aubergine are thicker. That contributes, to me, to the strong personality that emanate from the Kangxi pieces. It is only the iron red that is extremely thin.

Giovanni

Back about enamels thickness, in the close up that I ahve mentioned, where the blistering surface of the red is seen, it seems that the green and the red has the same thickness. If true, that is completely off.

Giovanni

I had a Kangxi Bowl with Pheasant on Rock motif but so far can only find one image.

If I find others then I'll post if it helps with authenticity.

A not so accurate picture, taken "on the fly", showing the thickess difference between the green and the red. You see that there are no light reflections at the edges of the red, it is completely flat.

Giovanni

Dear Giovanni:

Wow, thank you for pointing out. This is a great forum to learn things, especially for new collectors. Your message has kept me busy for a while, comparing pictures, finding information about halo effects, etc.

Well, I am not too much worried about the foot rim. It is actually flat, but the picture might be misleading, making you think it is round. I have searched quite a few bottoms on Kangxi wares, especially big sized ones, they always seem to have "ribs" on the foot rim. Even if you look at Rob's last auctions, you can see many Kangxi wares have foot rims like that.

Regarding to the halo effects, it is actually caused by Lead in the paint. The older the ware is, the more obvious the halo effects. Normally, you can see halo effects at certain angles. You can rarely see halo effects with the pcitures provided by the seller unless you ask for them. Also, the area around blue color is obvious, but that does not mean other colors cannot have halo effects. I find 2 pictures taken from different angles of the vase, and here you may see the halo effects.

People believe the halo effects will only appear on wares older than 150 years. That used to be true but not any more. Nowadays, the halo effects can be faked too at Jingdezheng, China.

For the thicking of the red color, it is rather flat. Check the picture below, and see the tail of the bird and compare it with the grass below. You can see the red color is rather thin compared with the green color.

Anyway, I think you might be right about the age of the vase. But even if it is a 19th century copy, I will be pretty happy about it, because of the beauty of the vase. This vase can be easily resold for $7500+ as a 19th c ware.

I appreciate your insights. I have learnt alot. Thank you. ? 

Dear Tam:

Thank you for finding the pictures and comparing the two vases. I appreciate it.

Actually, I am not too much worried about the painting of the vase. The vase just carries too many Kangxi elements, including double heads peony, fat bird, white rims around the petals, gradual changing shades of colors on the rocks....So I believe the painting is fine, Although I am not 100% sure about the colors. I have several great albums about Kangxi ware, and these styles can be found on many kangxi wares.

Dear Weiandmengjie,

I think that there are some misunderstandings.

If I understood you well, you are speaking about a different thing than the halo that I have mentioned. I am not talking about the iridescences that you see on the enamel itself, I am speaking about the halo that you see on the white glaze, not over an enamel, and it is only visible around the blue enamel, not the green or else. You can see it in the picture in the post that I sent yesterday, addressed to Julia. If you look at the small bird, you can see at his left that the white glaze is matt, then going further to left you see a multicolor halo. That is only around the overglaze blue.

Note that I have not said that your vase is not Kangxi because of the lack of that halo. I have just suggested to you to look for that when/if you have the vase in your hands. Or ask the dealer.

About the foot, both rounded or flat Kangxi feet of big vases have an even curve. It is not showing the shaping, like if it is cut by a scraper, that I meant by the ribs.

About the red enamel, the picture shown by you is very small, it is not possible to judge the texture of its surface.

I am talking about the detail shown in the attached picture. You can see that the texture of the red is rough, it is not flat as it should be.

I agree with you about the quality of the vase, I said it at the beginning, it is a nice one.

Giovanni

Dear Giovanni,

I am not sure if I understand it correctly, but halo or iridescences are basically the same effect that happen around or on overglaze colors. Actually for any colors that contain chemical component Lead, such as blue, green, yellow and other colors, when exposed in air, will interact with other chemical elements over 100+ years and form some kind of "coat" over the glaze. That "coat", when looked at certain angles, have some halo or iridescences effects.

Please see iridescences around green and yellow colors in the picture above. Also, if the ware is old enough and thus the coat gets thick enough, you can see iridescences over the color too. Please see the picture below for the iridescences over green:

Regarding to the thickness of red color, I believe it is because the red color contains chemical element "iron", which makes the color adhesive. So you don't have to make it as thick as other colors to adhere firmly to the surface of the glaze. So, if I understand it correctly, I am not seeing any benefits to apply thick red if you can use thin red color.

This is just based on what I have learnt over the past few months. I am sorry if I understand it incorrectly. ? 

Dear Weiandmengjie,

that first picture is interesting. I have never seen that. I am sure, also because I can verify it on my Kangxi pieces, that the halo on the white glaze is only seen around the blue and not the other colors.

What is that in your first picture, a doucai piece? The colors looks light.

I know that the iridescences can be seen over the enamels. That is not strictly a sign of age in general, it is easy to obtain it.

About the iron red, what I mean is that the iron red of Transitional and Kangxi is different from that of late 19^th century. The last one is in general thicker and rough.

To be precise, that of the purplish reflection on iron red of Transitional and Kangxi ware is only a personal experience, I have never read about that.

Giovanni

Dear Giovanni,

The first picture was taken on an underglaze blue famille verte bowl dated in transitional period. You know overglaze blue was invented in Kangxi period, so prior to Kangxi, underglaze blue was used instead.

Yes, I agree the colors of famille verte in Guangxu period were slightly different than Kangxi period. The colors of Kangxi period look more crispy while Guangxu period look a little dull, especially the green enamel, which looks yellowish in Kangxi but blackish in Guangxu. But I have seen in albums really good copies in Guangxu period that look almost 90% similar to Kangxi famille verte. For such copies, I am afraid only professionals like Peter can tell. ? 

Thank you for being a treasure to this forum. You have been really informative and helpful to other members of this forum. ?  ? 

Dear Weiandmengjie,

It is not clear to me the exact meaning of the following: "But I have seen in albums really good copies in Guangxu period that look almost 90% similar to Kangxi famille verte. For such copies, I am afraid only professionals like Peter can tell."

I never said that your vase is fake or modern. I said since the beginning that I believe that it is late 19^th century, meaning then Guangxu. I know that some Guangxu copies are incredibly good, even in the paste.

That is exactly the reason why I did a long explication of the points that are leading me toward that opinion. Usually I do not go into such details, because in most cases the painting style is enough. When the copy is so good, then it is necessary to go down into technical details. Which, of course, must be taken with the caution that we are judging by pictures only.

From your last sentence among what reported above it seems that I can’t tell that in my opinion it is Guangxu, as I understand it?

Doesn’t seems so by your last kind words, for which I thank you, I don’t deserve so much.

Giovanni