Still have my eye on the
small crackled vase, but did end up buying this crackled mustard yellow porcelain snuff bottle today..
Question is.... Did I really buy a porcelain piece, or stoneware !
I have been piecing together some snippets online, and now can not recall who to credit this following statement:From the Song dynasty and onwards crackles seems to have been intentionally produced as decoration.
The appearance could be enhanced by tea (red) or ink (black) being rubbed into the cracks. Crackle
decoration is to be found on such Sung dynasty wares as Ru, Guan, and Ge , or on archaizing wares
made later, up until today.
Traditionally the Chinese connoisseurs have been distinguishing between a large, bold, crackle, termed
"crab's claw", and a much closer and smaller network termed "fish roe" crackle. The former developed first,
and was accentuated with black pigment: the latter, developing at a later stage, was coloured red. On Ge ware sometimes a combination of both are found.
The following about Hard Paste Porcelain from Marks4antiques.com :
Hard paste porcelain..Ceramics usually refers to items made of fired clay. Ceramics are further divided in several categories,
the primary ones being Earthenware, Stoneware and Porcelain.
TRUE PORCELAIN (a.k.a. HARD-PASTE PORCELAIN): A high-fired Ceramic ware that exhibits translucent
properties and is composed of White Clay (Kaolin) and a type of Feldspathic rock (Petunse). Kaolin is
refractory and binds a piece together while in the Kiln and Petunse fuses into a natural kind of glass
that gives it its smoothness and brilliance.
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There is very little online about crackled mustard yellow porcelain.
This was available via
Cera Wiki.. A greenish yellow glaze with fine crackling, made in the Ch'ien-lung ( 1711-1799 ) and later periods.
Known also as "Fish-Roe Yellow", on account of the crackle.
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Even fewer are examples of crackled mustard yellow pieces..
What got me to thinking about if this would be considered a porcelain bottle, or stoneware is this ( one and only ) small bowl example for close comparison..
They call this particular piece a K'ang Hsi Fish Roe Crackled "Stoneware"
K'ang Hsi or Kangxi ( 1662-1772 )
So, at this moment, not entirely sure if the bottle would be considered porcelain or stoneware..
Here is the
link to the Stoneware bowl.. Then my bottle..