Posted 2 years ago
kwqd
(1185 items)
The original post for this vase/lamp is here:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/311185-moriage-vase-lamp-circa-1900?in=user
Upon disassembling the lamp, I found that it had had a kiln or artist mark on the bottom but, of course, in the center, so it was mostly destroyed when it was drilled to make a lamp of it. Part of the mark survived, so maybe a Moriage collector will recognize what is left. I did a brief search but did not find anything helpful. I originally thought that the top of the vase was plugged with a wood plug with a bronze or copper cap on top, but the plug turned out to be cast iron and the cap to be brass. Everything came apart with a bit of effort and no damage, so I will reassemble it as a lamp.
It was really filthy but mostly cleaned up so that the design is much clearer. I left some dirt on it both because I ran out of energy and because I was afraid that I was damaging the finish, especially on the part with the blue/gray background. There is some stubborn stuff near the base which I did try a bit of generic Windex on with some success. I think I will try a bit of rubbing alcohol and see if that works better.
Following Waki's advice, I soaked it in tepid water for about three hours and added dish washing liquid to the water (my idea). I first laid a thick blue towel in the tub and let it get thoroughly wet and then laid the vase in the towel, wrapping the towel around it, to protect it from banging against the porcelain. I turned it over about three or four times. At some point I noticed that the water in the tub was getting a bluish tint and was afraid it was coming from the areas on the vase with a blue/gray background, thinking it had had some cold painting work done to it. It was probably just from the towel but I switched to another, older towel of a different color, just in case. It looks the blue/gray area is glaze not cold work (I hope).
I started cleaning it after about three hours in the tub. I used one of my old soft electric toothbrush inserts to scrub the vase and it mostly cleaned up pretty easily. I may do a bit of touch up to it, but an generally happy with the results. Colors in these images look a bit washed out and they were taken in bright sunlight. The original images were taken under artificial lighting.
Looks great.
Thanks for your comment, dav2no1! I spotted a couple of areas in the images that I missed so will finish up cleaning and reassembling it when I get a chance.
Thanks for loving my cleaning job Vynil33rpm, fortapache, Jenni, dav2no1 and vcal!
Thanks Kevin and Cisum!
Thanks blunderbuss2!
Thanks Leelani and Manikin!
Thanks jscott0363!