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I just love these elegant deer with their pointy toes!
Anyone have any ideas on this? I'm always open to the possibility of modern repros and this has had a hard life, but it 'feels' ok.
It doesn't seem a typical pattern for the European taste.
It is fairly large at 11.5 inches across.

Hi Jessica,

Normally when I see such brown smudged bases my alarmbells started to ring because these were often made in 20th century to give an item an old appereance. In this case I have the feeling that there is a possibility that your charger is late Ming/transitional. I think to get a better judgement (maybe from other, more experienced, members)we need a better picture from base and standrim. I hope you can post some.

best regards,

Arjan

Hi Jessica,
this plate is full of symbolism, the bat signifies happiness whilst the pine tree, deer & lingzhi mushroom all contain a wish for long life. You`re correct that it isn`t aimed for the european market but is in the traditional chinese taste.
I`d suggest a mid Qing date for this nice plate.

All the best,
Phil.

Dear Jessica
Thanks for posting this
I think your plate is genuine,it is of 18th/19th century export to the south east asian market
The design of your plate consists of deers,pine and bat a very well liked motif and i think it says blessing ,prosperity and longevity
Please treat my comment with caution as i am only a novice
Best wishes
toan

Thank you so much for your observations, it sounds very encouraging. I am adding some more pictures of the base, does it look right? The dark streaks and smudges seem to be fired in; I have given them a scrub and a bit of a scrape but nothing comes off.
Phil, your information about the symbolism is fascinating; I collect mainly 18th and 19th century english pottery and these motifs often appear in a debased and often unrecognisable form when the decorators have copied from Chinese originals without knowing quite what they were copying.

Too bad this plate is broken because from it's base it does look transitional with the multiple radial marks on the base. quite commonly found in porcelain of the ming and transitional era. The blistering and chipping of glaze near the mouth rim of the vessel is also a good indication of older porcelain.The nice use of different intensity of contrasting blue in a well outline subject is common from the late ming period onwards and beautifully done in the Kangxi period. However I am sure such indicators are probably being replicated in modern fakes as well.

Hi Jessica and all,

I "kept my mouth" for a few days hoping to get some support for my idea that your piece might be from (earlier) 17th. century. I got it from Lee but I hope(d) for more. (maybe Tony comes along). A search for " ko sometsuke " will help to find pieces from this period with decoration all over the plate/bowl. I agree with Lee that it is possible to fake everything but I don't think it's the case here. The fritting and the crack looks old to me and I don't think that faking an old crack is a very good idea for such an item.

regards,

Arjan

I don't have a problem with this dish being described as late 18th century. But I could not rule out the possibility of an early 19th century date either.

Strangely enough...I seem to have found something with remarkable similarities.
It is a 10" plate with an odd angled profile to the bowl.
The decoration is incredibly similar, but mine seems to be a little cruder in places, and the bat is obviously different.
I can easily imagine this being a later repro, but it is a nice thing.
I would love to know people's opinions on this if you have any..especially as to how/why they are so similar, but different.It's an interesting comparison for sure.
Many Thanks

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