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Hello, Can anyone identify the mark on this famille rose vase? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! David.

The mark reads from the top left down and across as "Cai-ci Yuan-gang", (彩瓷員崗)translatable as "Yuangang Famille Rose". I found a handful of Chinese online forum discussions from the past several years, involving people who'd found the mark and hadn't a clue as to what it meant. One of the forum members had a dish with a "Made in China" marked above this one.

An online search turned up a Yuangang Village in the Guangzhou suburbs, which further research might reveal whether or not the place is a kiln site. There certainly are plenty of other porcelain factories in the Guangzhou suburbs.

"Yuan" has a principal meaning of an "official", and in some contexts just an average "employee". However, it has another meaning for mapmakers as part of a "border". "Gang" is a "hill" or "mound", but in combination with other characters can mean a "police box" or a "policeman's beat".

I'd have to study Chinese Cartographic History to get a handle on actual etymology behind the term, but for the time being I think "Nob Hill" will have to do. Well, at least "nob" has the meaning of "A person of above average position", and "Nob Hill Famille Rose" has a nice ring in it for your pretty vase in the motif of millefleurs on a black ground. But sorry to say, it a transfer pattern, looks no older than the late 20th century and only has decorative value. I've uploaded some Guangxu-period examples of the same pattern for comparison.

Good luck,

Bill H.

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