Chinese or Japanese? To be or not to be - Impressed Oriental Asian mark within an outer border shaped like a pot or keyhole

by David
(Yorkshire)

I am an Oldie and have worked very hard all my life to build up a large,very eclectic mix of pieces:sculptures,art,porcelain,pottery,modern pieces,clocks,treen,gemstones,rocks,minerals,glass,silver,even fountain pens!

Oh,and mustn't forget jewellery for 'Er Indoors.

I would probably have made a good Victorian,collecting all sorts of stuff!,my favourites being an exceptional Kinkozan vase,a ditto Shibayama vase and three Inuit sculptures which possess a tangible spirituality which almost flows through the hands and straight to the heart.

I recently visited an antique centre and bought the vase I am asking Forum about here.

It was so beautifully evocative,so I had to have it! I feel sure I have seen a similar piece on one of the antique programmes,but can't remember any more about it.

I paid £27 for it and the value may be more or less-I never buy my pieces for investment,always for the pleasure they will give me as long as I am lucky enough to own them.

Over the years I have sometimes paid WAY more than I should have,wilfully because I REALLY wanted that piece,or through blissful ignorance. I cringe sometimes when I think how foolish I was to pay that much of my hard-earned! But I've also paid relatively little for something that turns out to be special,the typical sort of 'car boot'or charity shop scenario! But sadly,very VERY rarely!

You will see from the photos,it is a basically slip-glazed (almost a la Martin Brothers!)vase about 8" high by 4" wide.The front panel is left unglazed,and has been carved in 3D into the interior of the vase,made to look(very convincingly)like a 'bonsai' type tree growing through a rock-face.

This element has a very Japanese feel. It is superbly carved,and reminds me of the cork-bark carvings commonly available from China,the pine cones on the tree look identical in their execution.

The intricacy and delicacy of carving is mind-blowing. There is a tiny thatched roof house or hut deep inside the carving,and in it sit two people (me and the missus? LOL)at a tiny table. They sit on the floor. The size of these figures is only about 0.5 cms!

The thatched roof is supported by 2 posts,each maybe 1.5mm wide!All hand-carved! Amazing.

So,is it Chinese or Japanese? The mark is an impressed stamp type,approx.1cm x 0.5cm,and again it appears more Chinese than Japanese. I am not even sure which way up the mark should be!

The characters look Chinese,but again I'm not sure because it can be tricky indeed to differentiate,but I am sure someone out there will know!

I have only just discovered this website,and have other pieces that I am similarly unsure of,some that are definitely Japanese,but I am unable to translate,and Google-type sites don't seem to be able to either. The folks in the Far East can indeed be inscrutable!

I have been on Gotheborg.com,and can't find this mark,but then it's difficult when I don't even know which way up it goes LOL! I may have been looking in completely the wrong places,it would be neither the first time nor the last,but I really hope some knowledgeable soul out there will point me in the right direction.

No matter how old you get,or how much 'stuff'you accumulate in life,nothing ever remains static,least of all new knowledge to ingest and file away.

I'm always happy to ingest!

David