Chinese Yixing teapots

For identification of the stamps, use the https://gotheborg.com/marks/yixing.shtml website and the Facebook group: Yixing Teapot Marks - Admin

Chen Mingyuan mark; later copy

Can anyone read Chinese pottery marks? I've spent hours looking at them and trying to identify this pot.
I have almost identical one here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yixing_clay_teapot , the one on wikipedia comes from Shanghai museum and was made around 1900 but there is no mark available.

The pot is beautifully made, really nice quality. It is stamped to the base, to the back (just below the handle) and the lid is also stamped.
Even if this is a reproduction I guess it was a bargain for a pound :) The lady who sold it to me said that her mum brought it back from China in 1970's. I'm guessing this is a later example but cannot confirm as I don't understand the marks.
Any opinions on this one?

I can't read the marks but I suspect all they would tell you is when and/or by whom the original of which this is likely to be a copy will have been made. When making wares in homage to something from the past it would be usual to copy the original marks as well.

It was a bargain but there is nothing to suggest that it was not new when the person bought it in the 1970s and I daresay that they are still being made.

I agree, it is probably modern copy. Also you can see on the pot from the museum that there are small imperfections to it, this one is completely smooth. However even a modern pots are sometimes by a very good makers, just look up for example Gu Jingzhou...
I have tried everywhere to find out who the artist was, obviously without success   

I know how difficult it is but if it is by an individual potter then it is almost certainly going to be the mark at the base of the handle that is his mark and not the mark on the bottom or the lid.

I got the info now. A specialist from Bonhams said that it bears a Chen Mingyuan mark, one of the greatest yinxing makers... However, it is probably late 19th or early 20th century copy, not 17 or early 18th. Still, worth about 1000 more than I've paid  

Yes Naomi, only one I've seen before was here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yixing_clay_teapot
Unfortunately mine is a later one.

What am I saying? It's not later, but has a mark of a potter that lived much earlier   

I am going to show my lack of knowledge of oriental pottery - a fact I must really remedy.
Teapot is unglazed, carved landscape on one side, inscription on other.
Mark on base and underneath lid.
I’m thinking Chinese? Tourist fare or something better?

My mother picked this up from a boot sale a while back for next to nothing. I eventually pinned it down to Yixing and Zisha clay, well, probably. There's no lid and it's chipped on the rim unfortunetly. Looks quite old, anyone recognise the mark?

Hello,

Is there anyone here able to translate these chop marks?

Sometime ago I bought a Chinese teaset of teapot, six teacups and six plates.

I was told that they came from the Purple Clay Teapot Museum in Wuxi China. Since then I have been told that they are simply modern forgeries of Yixing teapots! So what are they? I did not pay much for them but I would like any information about them. Apparently the mark under the lid is similar to the one used by Jiang Rong!! But I am sure these were not made by her.

If anyone can shed light on these that I would be very grateful.

From the information that you have given they seem likely to be modern copies of older pieces that could well have originated from the souvenir shop at the Teapot Museum you refer to.

Therefore I think "forgeries" is not the correct word. In China and Japan for centuries people have copied important ceramic work from the past. This isn't with the intention of deception but to pay homage to the work. Some of these older copies are now collected. They only become forgeries if a dealer seeks to pass them off as original with a price that the original would fetch.

I can't read the marks and haven't seen anything like this before but the above is based on my knowledge of Japanese and, to a lesser extent, Chinese ceramics.

Finally, I have moved this thread to ID My Pottery where it has more chance of being seen.

Thanks studio-pots for the quick reply.
I have been in communication with another forum where I was informed that the colour has possibly been produced using toxic chemicals! I was warned not to try and make tea in the pot! They also told me that this was most likely not a Yixing teapot ... so, does the marks help clarify this?

I have no idea of this mark or any other Chinese marks. I assume that the mark it a copy of the mark that would have been on the original. Marks on much of the Chinese ceramics that you are likely to come across will have marks that relate to the original piece and when it was made rather than when the piece you are actually holding was made or where it was produced.

Hi all,
I have asked around about this teapot and no one I know is sure what to make of this. Some say it is antique Yixing (possibly for export), some have said it is Taiwanese or chaozhou but later said probably not, and other have said that it was definitely not Yixing but possibly Xiahuangbanna or Jinping Dai. No one has been able to read or recognise the seal yet.
Now I am far from knowledgeable here and have had to look up all the above. And I am still clueless about how old this is, where it is from.
Any two cents? Much appreciated!





And a picture of the inside

Probably made yesterday, but the Sharpness of pot and boxed sort of screams quality, or am I wrong !!! . £3 Carboot buy