Commenting is deactivated.

Please post all new topics and queries to the
Discussion Forum

A pair of old Chinese Urns (vases)

by Sal Kahil
(Vancouver BC Canada)

full picture of the pair

full picture of the pair

I have these 2 beautiful Urns.
they look very old
they are
20.5" high approx
15" wide approx
very heavy and thick
what can you tell me about them?
maker period?
are they worth lots!

Comments for A pair of old Chinese Urns (vases)

Click here to add your own comments

Jan 29, 2011
 vases
by: peter

Hi Sal,
The vases may be beautiful, but they are not antique, in my view. They are made to look old...the bottom is never like this, with real antiques.

The pictures are a bit small and it would need closeups of the people's faces, etc. Still, there are three reasons to think these are modern or 20th century items.

1. As mentioned above, the bottom looks blackened, possibly to give the appearance of antiques.
2. The mark is off center. That is never the case with real Chinese antiques. They are always in the center. For this reason I think the vases were not made originally to give the impression of antiques.
3. The attire of the persons is Qing dress. Real antique vases of this type would mostly show people in Ming dress.
Only export porcelain made for the west shows Qing dress, usually, most notably those of the Qianlong period. But here the tireat is painted in a completely different way. The large majority of decorations made for use in China show the figures with Ming dress.

I'm afraid the vases cannot be too old.

Click here to add your own comments

Return to Ask a question or contribute - archived 2011.

search by keyword