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Hello there,
looking to acquire this 24cm Guayin figure in porcelain. By looking at the signs, looks quite old, 19th or 18th? What's your thoughts on it?
(only 1 photo still sorry)

The modeling looks like Kangxi-era, and the iron red seems right for the period. Any trace of famille rose enamels would kick the dating toward the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns or later. One important step will be to see if the base is open or closed. If open, you need to look close to make sure it is still press-molded and not slip cast, though the other positive signs of age seem to rule out any problem in that regard.

I have an approximately 9.55-inch high Guanyin image shown below, which I bought for less than US$50 several years ago. The blue, dark yellow and aubergine enamels are fairly mainstream for the Kangxi period, except maybe the skin tone on exposed areas, which actually look like sort of like a Cizhou pigment. It has fine crazing all over. I'm fairly certain it's 18th century, and likely Kangxi, perhaps even transitional-period, since there's a chubby-cheeked plumpness about the sculpting that resembles Ming proportions.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Thanks quite much for the your insight. I'll see if I can get couple more photos.

Cheers!

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