Antique Chinese Imperial Ming and Qing Porcelain I am writing this guide to share with you the years of knowledge that I have acquired with the hope that you may benefit from it. You may apply it to Doucai, Wucai, Fencai or any other type of Chinese porcelain. Also know that there are always going to be exceptions to what I have said. So take each item methodically and mechanically from top to bottom and good luck. 1. Large porcelain items can have some warping at the edges and sagging in the middle. 2. Center of turned porcelain bases should have a protrusion (nipple) on the top and bottom. 3. Glaze should contain a variety of large and small bubbles. a. Antique porcelain will have large and small bubbles and some large solitary bubbles. b. Newer porcelains usually have smaller consistent size bubbles throughout the glaze. c. Antique Ming porcelain with usually have a thick glaze without stenciling marks being obvious. d. Qing porcelain will have stencil marks evident through a thinner glaze appearing as a groove under the blue painting. e. Antique porcelain will appear discolored or cloudy when viewed in front of a bright light. 4. Porcelain should be of the highest quality without cracks. a. Chinese porcelain usually chips before it cracks. b. Ming porcelain clay appears glassy at the exposed areas then new porcelain which appears opaque. c. Glazes should not contain large crackle unless it is imitating Song Dynasty wares GE wares. d. Some crackle will appear on over glaze colors seen with a 10x loop magnifier. 5. Footrim should have a slight brownish red color on unglazed area from iron leaching or adhering during the kiln firing. a. Base porcelain color can shade from bone color to dark reddish brown (Rice paste base) 1. The lighter the brown color staining the higher the quality the clay and saggar clay. 2. The darker the brown color usually means poorer quality porcelain clay and saggar clay. b. Bases sometimes have large glazed spots on the bottom underside from interior glaze leakage through drying cracks. 1. Base cracking can occur during the drying stage or kiln firing on older porcelains. 2. Imperial foot rims are often filed flat before kiln firing to keep the item from rocking back and forth after firing. 6. Blurring can be evident from kiln overheating and can occur outside, inside or on the sides. 7. Heaping and piling is often present on antique porcelains. a. Underglaze blue is often burned black, silver or brown where it breaks through the glaze and is exposed to oxygen. b. Fakes often to simulate heaping or piling, refer to item a. above. 8. Imperial porcelain should have a overall beauty and look of being made by a professional. a. Flowers and trees should look freely painted as though you can see the wind blowing them. b. Branches should contain curves and not straight lines. c. Foliage should be evenly spaced throughout the porcelain and be finely painted with multi colored leaves and branches. d. Dragon scales or bird feathers should be curved and painted in, not straight just lines with dots e. Dragon teeth should be pointed and not flat like horse teeth. f. Dragons should appear flowing and powerful, not stiff looking. g. Designs should not contain mismatched animals, dragons or plants that do not belong together. h. Concentric curves should be parallel and without crossover or running together especially on waves. i. Birds should have their feet wrapped around branches, they should look realistic. j. People should look at each other and express some kind of emotion as though they are interacting with each other. h. Always look for the most perfectly painted art possible. Porcelain to the Chinese was the canvas to the oil painters. i. Examine a porcelain as though it is a fine oil painting and disqualify the ones that appear to be painted fast and poorly. 9. Marks should be centered on the design of the porcelain so when reading the mark and flipping 180 degrees the front should be centered. a. always look for high quality marks when possible, these were painted by professionals. b. carved marks should look professionally made and straight and uniform. c. Marks can have similar characters but be painted several different ways and styles that should match the style and type of porcelain they are on. d. Always look for solid painted lines of a mark. Hollow lines or missing parts of a line can point to new item. e. Remember that even though marks can be flawed they can still be on Imperial porcelain. f. Painting on porcelain is said to be like painting on chalk so look at the mark and porcelain the same way. g. Why buy a porcelain without an Imperial mark and then try to define as Imperial, Its not. h. Impressed marks were used by the Japanese on porcelain to imitate the Chinese. The Chinese did not normally impress porcelain with marks. i. The Chinese did carve or impress marks on items made to copy older archaic styles. 10. Because electric light was not present long ago ancient colors will seem different in natural light then new colors. This is especially noticeable with Ding yao porcelain and other white wares. When seen during daylight hours they will appear one color and as night falls will gradually change color and appear a totally different color hue from very slight impurities within the clear glaze. Color can change from white to a dark amber color or have a red hue when seen from different angles. 11. The more perfectly made the porcelain is, the higher degree that it's imperial and conversely the thicker and more poorly made the porcelain is the better chance its not imperial. a. The above statement excludes warping and porcelain firing cracks which is actually a good thing to see. 12. Some porcelains can take years to make from start to finish, These include over glaze types such as Doucai, Fencai, Wucai etc. a. Imperial clays are mixed and left to ferment for up to seven years before use. b. Porcelains can be left to dry for up to a year before painting and kiln firing. c. Several years can pass before one vase will be completed even though several hundred or thousand were actually made at one time. d. Over glaze porcelains need to be fired many many times to fix the colors before completion. 13. There is a major difference between Imperial workshop porcelains and all other porcelains. a. Imperial workshop porcelain is made of the best clay and glazes. b. The painting is on Imperial porcelain that it appears perfect it looks like a modern decal. c. The best Chinese artists were used at the Imperial workshop. d. Imperial porcelain is often very glassy looking and very smooth to the touch. 14. Imported cobalt ore appears bright purplish blue when viewed from a digital image of the item. The blue pops out like neon. a. Look for thicker lines that appear more blurry then clean crisp lines. b. Ming reds should appear blood red and Qing reds are somewhat lighter and brighter. Every item that I have listed to identify porcelain does have its exceptions and caveats. Education is really the key to knowing and finding Imperial porcelain. I would always suggest buying excellent books with large color photos of the items with marks. Also it would help to take a pottery making class or two to really understand the actual processes involved in making porcelains. Please do not ever use antique dealers or auctioneers to get appraisals or expert opinions on your items. thank you, Chris W. Madonna