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Oct 02, 2011
 fURTHER INVESTIGATION OF AGE SIGNS
by: Andrew

Dear Peter,
The crackles fit all your age citeria, as mentioned in the link you provided to me, which I double checked.
As far as the black staining on the unglazed porcelain goes, I scrubbed it with acetone & was able to clean up a small area near an edge(took quite a lot of effort) of which it became white unglazed porcelain with fine ring turning...also I noticed that there seems to be evidence of genuine looking iron spots on the cleaned area of biscuit...have provided an image of this.
Still unsure as to whether old or new, I am trying to be objective, but can't seem to find the new signs!
Looking for any further comments you may have?

regards, Andrew.

PS: For what it's worth,I have a genuine, confirmed, early period,blue & white porcelain boy pillow,with impressed maker's mark, which has a blackened base area underneath as well, but the biscuit here is sandy grained as the item was hand moulded & it's proven very hard to clean as well.
regards, Andrew.
Sep 23, 2011
 crazing
by: peter

Hi Andrew,
No, it doesn't change anything.
Please read the last sentence under "age signs, crackling", and here is more on the subject: https://www.chinese-antique-porcelain.com/glaze-characteristics.html.

If it were sure the crackles are natural, you can still not take them to guess age. Also, you could not take one evaluation item to prove age, even if it were for sure. There may be nothing that proves it is new, to make sure it is antique, etc.
You have to do an overall evaluation. The bottom and inside look suspicious. As if they were made to look old.

One thing you can do is to check if the crackles go through to the surface or if they are under the glaze. It can only prove one thing, however. If the crackles do not go through to the surface, this certainly means they were created artificially, in my view.

Andrew, I think you should give the bottom and unglazed areas more importance. They are a better sign of age, in general.

It seems to me that you are trying to disprove that the item is new, but the proper method would be to find a sign that it IS new. If you can't find any, then it is likely old. But you have to include all factors, not only the glaze.

Proving that one's own item is not what one thinks is difficult, because we all wish that they are authentic. But, it is necessary to take some distance and make an objective evaluation, in order to make progress.

It's the same problem when we see an item that "could" be antique, and we buy it, although we are not sure. We need to reign in ourselves and control these urges and step back when we are unsure.
(I know it's difficult, we all know... :-))

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