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Subject:Odd mark on Poetry Vase from China
Posted By: Thomas K Thu, Apr 05, 2018 IP: 125.236.160.238

I bought this vase while on a trip to Japan in a junk shop a couple of months ago, and have found out a bit about it but still have no idea as to its potential age and maker.
I've tracked down the poem to be an excerpt from that of Lin Shangren (a poet from the Song dynasty in the 13th Century), and it reads '無事看山如對客,有時隠几亦忘吾' - something about mountains that I can't really translate properly.
The vase has lots of subtle crazing, rust spotting, and the base has a slight inclusion in the glaze.
While I know its more likely than not a modern piece made to look old, I have no idea what era / style it's trying to imitate as there's no reign mark on the base. There is a 'seal' type mark next to the poem - has anyone seen that sort of thing before and know its meaning?
Also, I found it interesting that the top stroke of the '五' portion of the last character in the poem seems to be missing - anyone know why this might be?
I'd absolutely love anyone's opinions and knowledge on this vase as I'm absolutely fascinated by it.
Apologies for the poor photos - the blue comes off as a bit strong in some of them, and it's hard to get a good focus because of the thick glaze.
Thanks,
Thomas.



Subject:Re: Odd mark on Poetry Vase from China
Posted By: I.Nagy Fri, Apr 06, 2018

無事看山如對客
有時隠几亦忘吾  

No matter if we look at the mountains like guests
Sometimes,while leaning on the desk we forget about ourselves

To undestand the real meaning of the above text
you have to understand the here not cited preceding 4 and following 2 lines from the poem.
About your question on the missing first stroke in character 吾 the answer is that, this is a
so called variant form (異体字)of the same character.

With regards,
I.Nagy

Subject:Re: Odd mark on Poetry Vase from China
Posted By: Thomas K Fri, Apr 06, 2018

Hi, thanks so much for your response!
The full poem is as follows:

屋老苔荒席久虛,近分一榻與雲俱。梅花未種招蜂怨,竹所雖青欠鶴圖。無事看山如對客,有時隠几亦忘吾。過門除却能吟者,不是高僧即老儒。

以上宋陳起《江湖後集》卷二三

I hope that gives more context to it...
Also, do you have any thoughts as to whether this is a modern repro or something legitimately old?
Great to know about the alternative form - I’d tried looking that up but wasn’t getting anywhere; guess it really needed the help of a native speaker to confirm :)

Thanks,
Thomas.


Subject:Re: Odd mark on Poetry Vase from China
Posted By: I.Nagy Sat, Apr 07, 2018

Here is my rough translation,

House with old mossy rough mats are empty for long
time
There is a bed close to the clouds
Plum blossoms are resentfully beckonings to the bees
Although, the green Bamboo Studio still owes a picture of crane
No matter if we look at the mountains like guests
Sometimes, while leaning on the desk we forget about ourselves
Only those pass through the door, who are neither Buddhist high priests nor old Confucionists, but those who can song poetry

With regards,
I.Nagy

Subject:Re: Odd mark on Poetry Vase from China
Posted By: I.Nagy Sun, Apr 08, 2018

Re alternative characters,
The best sources to find the alternative forms of characters
1, The Chinese 康煕字典 - 香港 文渕書店 or
2, The Japanese 難字大鑑 (out of print) or
3, also Japanese 異体字解読字典 - 柏書房 - available in better stocked Japanese bookshops eg. Maruzen, Sanseido etc.

With regards,
I.Nagy


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