Crackles and Glaze

Q&A

Comments related to Crackles and Glaze

A: Understanding crackles and glaze may help, but they are only a part of the overall picture of age for a porcelain item. I wish it were as simple as looking at a few pictures or items. It took me a long time to understand age signs. I was hanging out at a Chinese website that is discussing porcelain posted by members almost every day for years, and looked at thousands and thousands of pictures, judged to be either genuine or fake items. Nothing equals experience, except scientific analysis, maybe. I had to start this way at the time because in my surroundings most items are fakes or replicas and I did not have access to items of which I knew for certain whether they were genuine.

Q: On a related note, I still haven't learned, even after reading some of this website, how to differentiate between fake and authentic crackles, so could you elaborate further on this (only by their color?)?
A: It would be better to describe them as "natural" and "artificial" crackles. To me, fake crackles would be something that looks like crackles but is not. Artificial crackles have been around for a thousand years. They have been one of the main features of a couple of famous ancient kilns. Crackles are made to develop during firing, and they are cause by the different expansion/cooling rates of clay (body) and glaze. When they are created intentionally, the crackle color is made to be in a color contrasting to the base color of the glaze. Crackles in a vitreous, transparent glaze can be almost invisible without a different color. Basically, your fake vase seems to be imitating something the Chinese call Fangge (Fang = imitation, Ge = is the name of an ancient kiln producing crackle wares), towards the end of the Qing dynasty there lots of these Fangge wares were made. The ancient Ge wares look different. Real Fangge wares are antiques and have their own value despite their name, but there is a lot of modern fakes also imitating these.
Now to the natural crackles...those two pictures on the website show natural crackles. They occur with age and are sometimes difficult to photograph, especially if only the transparent glaze is crackled. With some ceramic pieces the crackles may be completely invisible to the naked eye, but using a magnifier with light they can be very clear.

Fakers want you to see the crackles, so barely visible crackles are often a sign of genuine items. But don't rely on it! There is a world of difference between high-level and low-level fakes. Even if they are barely visible, natural crackles may appear more pronounced over time because the crackles are subjected to oxidation or soiling and get yellowish or brown.

The point is that naturally developing crackles often don't cover the whole surface, and the discoloration is unequal. The crackles often are unequal in size too.

Q: Also I thought improper photo lighting contributed to 'glossiness' but do fakes(or vintages) really shine brighter than real ones under the same lighting and camera?
A: This is related to the fact that the shine or glossiness of the transparent glaze was different during different periods, and that new items have no patina at all. Glazes were different at different times. Here is a link to a simple crackle vase that should be the real thing. That is the type yours tried to imitate.
(http://gallery.chinese-antique-porcelain.com/CrackleVase/)

You will see that the glaze isn't glossy. You will also see that the brown color hardly reflects the light. This is also typical for this type of wares.
Crackles and Glaze continued.

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