Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries


Visitors' Forum

Asian Art  Forums - Detail List
Asian Art Forums

Message Listing by Date:
Message Index | Back | Post a New Message | Search | Private Mail | FAQ
Subject:Republic era flowers panel - what does the seal say?
Posted By: Seb Fri, Nov 08, 2019 IP: 81.2.83.94

This panel is 25cm x 38cm and is beautifully painted with mushrooms, flowers, etc. I assume it is republic era but cannot decipher the seal. Can anyone help?





Subject:Re: Republic era flowers panel - what does the seal say?
Posted By: rat Fri, Nov 08, 2019

Looks nice. It's a Jurentang mark, which was applied to varied enameled items in the Republic period and originates in brief period in 1915 or so. Naturally there are also modern fakes that reproduce the mark. For more information see: http://gotheborg.com/glossary/jurentang.shtml

Subject:Re: Republic era flowers panel - what does the seal say?
Posted By: Bill H Fri, Nov 08, 2019

The mark reads "Jurentang zhi" (居仁堂製), "Made for the Hall where Benevolence Resides". The style of the mark on your plaque is quite similar to others associated with the short, 80-day reign of the Hongxian Emperor between 1915-1916. Hongxian was the non-dynastic Imperial reign title taken by Republic of China general and statesman Yuan Shikai after the Chinese National Assembly petititioned him on 11 December 1915. The Jurentang was his official residence (see wikipedia.org for more detailed information).

Virtually all Jurentang marks like this one can only be dated to cira 1915-1916. Author (and forum member) Anthony J. Allen notes that Hongxian only allegedly ordered porcelain with this (and other) marks, and that porcelains with it are said to have been produced circa 1930. In any event, many of these Jurentang porcelains are quite fine, your plaque seemingly among them. However, it will need to be examined hands-on by experts even to verify whether it is a Republic-era product, in my opinion.

Below are a forum link and some pictures of items with the same mark from my collection files. They both appear to have been made within a few years of the Hongxian reign. The famous European collector Georg Weishaupt had a pair of garlic-head bottle vases in the same millefleurs pattern with bird & flower panels, but the marks on them had been ground off.

Best regards,

Bill H.








URL Title :jurentang


Subject:Re: Republic era flowers panel - what does the seal say?
Posted By: Seb Sat, Nov 09, 2019

Thank you for your responses. I'm learning a lot!

Subject:Re: Republic era flowers panel - what does the seal say?
Posted By: Mark Adams Sat, Nov 09, 2019

If I may ask, can you please provide a picture of the back?
mark@imperial

Subject:Re: Republic era flowers panel - what does the seal say?
Posted By: Seb Sat, Nov 09, 2019

It's quite securely mounted to a board - but in this picture, you can see the edge.



Subject:Re: Republic era flowers panel - what does the seal say?
Posted By: Mark Adams Sun, Nov 10, 2019

Thank you Seb for posting.
It appears to be from the Republic period.
A nice example.
Mark@impetial

Subject:Re: Republic era flowers panel - what does the seal say?
Posted By: Oliver Tue, Nov 12, 2019

Hi I think your plaque is very nice though from my experience (and I helped Tony Allen with his work)I do not know of any plaques which were genuine Hongxian pieces,The two examples also shown would at best be 1930's,the quality is nowhere near as good as your plaque and the second piece is hideous (which cannot be said of any Hongxian pieces) thus I would date your plaque as very close to 1916.I have owned one genuine piece which came from under a house in Dunedin.I sold it to Tony who got 2700 pounds for it.He believed it was one of the pieces Yuan Shi Kai gave to his generals.The quality was superb and comparable to your plaque

Subject:Re: Republic era flowers panel - what does the seal say?
Posted By: Mark Adams Wed, Nov 13, 2019

Hi Oliver,
Out of pure interest do you still have a picture of your plaque?
I would love to view said.
mark@imperial


Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries |