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Comments for PETER COULD YOU TELL ME HOW OLD THIS COPY OF A STEM CUP IS ?

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REPLY TO PETER'S ASSESSMENT OF STEM CUP.
by: Stewart

Dear Peter,

The stem is hollow & unglazed.There is evidence of turning on the biscuit also.
I measured the length of the stem on the hollow inside & compared it to the length on the outside,& worked out that there was about 7 mm.s of paste used to join the stem to the base of the bowl/cup...the join appears flat & smooth.
Does this support your initial assessment?

I am sending you another image, of a flaw, on the inside of the cup & wondered if you could tell me what this could be?
regards & thanking you kindly,
Stewart.
stem cup
by: peter

Hello Stewart,
I don't have sufficient experience with underglaze red items to comment on authenticity. If this is genuine it would have to be Ming or later, probably. The way the stem is stuck to the cup does not look like the method used in the Yuan dynasty. The painting looks more as if it were from an earlier period.

>has black/grey/green patches breaking through the surface

This likely would be rust, if it is genuine (not painted on). You should be able to check this with a good magnifier. If it is rust breaking through the glaze, it should be clearly visible as such. The cause would be iron (iron oxide) content of either the glaze or rather the red pigment.

The small dark spots may be impurities from kiln ash. Saggars were not always in use and items sometimes got sprinkled over with flying ash from the fire.

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