Posted 8 years ago
painter51
(1 item)
This bowl is fascinating - the humorous figures of musicians and related persons are continuous around the outside of the bowl. The design is without repetition and seems to depict a street scene. It is 8" in diameter and 3.25" high, chipped around the top edge from lots of use. The inside of the bowl is plain white. I found it in a hospital thrift shop in British Columbia, so there is no provenance available. Any ideas on where or when this might have been created?
Welcome to CW :-)
Beautiful bowl! I'm thinking "bleu de Hué".
You may explore Gotheborg site:
http://gotheborg.com/marks/20thcenturychina.shtml#bleudehue
Forgot to say the mark in pic#1 is upside down...
it is written
fang gu zhen cang (simplifoed/modern chinese)
this is your mark:
http://www.gucn.com/Service_CurioAuction_Show.asp?Id=8306698
Thank you! that info gives me a start on finding more about this piece.
Yes, "bleu de Hué" does seem to fit the item, making a 19th century Vietnam origin likely. My search of "bleu de Hué" in Google images showed several that had a similar casual drawing style. In the late 1800s Chinese workers were brought here to work on the railway construction, so that may explain how it got to BC.