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Ming?

by j redman
(lincoln, england)

My mother died and I have a pottery tray with 6 little plates. On the bottom it says "ming" and below this there is a gold edged squashed diamond shape with a dragon in it. The pattern on the plates and tray is of blue dragons. The glaze on the tray is crackled. Any ideas?

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Feb 07, 2011
 Ming
by: Juan

I have recently acquired a pottery plate measuring 23 cm. in diameter showing a mark representing a blue dragon such as described by J. Redman. It also has printed "Ming" and "Made in England". The plate is decorated with blue dragons similar to the one in the mark found on the reverse. I am sure it belongs to the same set. I have not been able to trace its origin. I`m sorry for not being qualified to upload a picture of it which would surely help to solve the mistery!


Hello Juan,
What do you mean with "not qualified"? Everybody may upload, whether we can help is another matter. :-)
This said, if a mark says 'Made in England' it is European even if 'Ming' is also written, even if the decoration looks Chinese. It could be Chinoiserie (European porcelain copying Chinese designs).
Although it is not possible to judge the origin or age of Chinese porcelain by looking at the mark, this in fact the way to go with European porcelain. Chinese porcelain was using marks often more for decoration, while European used them as manufacturer's logo.

So, if you do a Google image search for European porcelain marks, this will turn up a number of pictures of marks. Start searching for sites listing European marks this way.
Basically, it should be easier to find an European mark than a Chinese one.
Feb 03, 2010
 any pictures?
by: admin

As the saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words". Please understand that all aspects related to porcelain are visual. To check if an item is familiar pictures are indispensable. They can be uploaded from the same blog forms and it is fine to upload repeatedly if once is not enough.

Peter

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