Marks on chines porcelain

[lonny tao]

I have two pieces of Chinese porcelain.

The two pieces are marked on the bottom.

I think it is not old but I like to know what thes marks means.

Anybody any idea?

Lonny

[Iriya]

乾隆年製 - Made during Qianlong's reign (1735-1796)

中國製造 - Made in China

[fanglu]

I think it is not old

Pretty sure that's right as the term 中国 wasn't used to mean China until the 20th century.

[Hofmann]

I seem to remember somebody saying "國之語音 異乎中國 與文字不相流通" in the 15th century.

[fanglu]

And what did 中国 mean in that context?

[fanglu]

What I was getting at was that 中国 had quite a different meaning prior to the 20th century. It didn't so much mean China as in the nation as the area under direct imperial control. The status of 中国 was different to that of other states existing at the time (being synonymous with 大清 etc).

For that reason I didn't think anyone in the 18th century would be writing 中国制造 on something, since that puts 中国 on an equal status with other countries. Having said that, its just a guess.

[lonny tao]

Because I cannot read Chinese characters I placed my question on the forum.

To hope somebody can help me and yes it works, thanks everybody so much for these answers!

But: can anybody say the exact translation of the mark made in China?

I think that the characters on the right means China?

And is there a exact year this mark was used?

Lonny

[Matty]

I should probably note that I can read some Chinese and the writing on the right (the clear one) is not in modern Chinese.

I guess we have some quite gifted linguists here.

There is no date given on the clear image in any form.

And while the unclear is dated in a way it just mentions a period of time as Iriya indicated.

Iriya:

乾隆年製 - Made during Qianlong's reign (1735-1796)

中國製造 - Made in China

The rest appears to be infered from the writing style.

[Hofmann]

Well I've done a bit of reading and it seems that although the state is officially called 大清, 中國 was used. Don't know if it would have been on a vase (or whatever that thing is) though. Most likely a real one from Qing wouldn't have anything like that on it, as it was just assumed that it was made in 天下.

[OneEye]

I don't understand why we're assuming that both pieces would be made in the same time. It's perfectly plausible that one could be a Qing Dynasty piece and the other one modern. Or am I missing something?

[lonny tao]

The box is Qing Dynasty, thats 100% fore sure.

I dont know where it is for, for small things of course, maybe jewelry?

Or maybe inkt for painting, stamp,seal, I really dont know.

The other Item is for tea leaves, called a tea caddy.

And that tea caddy is to see not old, I dont mind, I like it.

But it would be nice to know the exact year or almost the exact year it was made.

Lonny

[OneEye]

If you're 100% sure it's a Qing Dynasty piece, then you must have had it looked at by a specialist, who would no doubt have already told you what it says on the bottom and what its purpose was. There are loads of knockoffs around, so that's the only way to be sure.

As for the other piece, there's no indication of the date. It just says "Made in China".

[lonny tao]

Iriya say the box is Qianlong, Qing dynasty.

I search on the internet, and found the charakters for emperor Qianlong, Qing dynasty.

And these charakters for emperor Qianlong are the same as on the box.

So I say Iriya is right, the box is Qing dynasty.

[jbradfor]

If I take a piece of paper, and write 乾隆年製 on it, does that make it from the Qing dynasty?

[Hofmann]

Why write 乾隆? You could sell that piece of paper for much more if you write 貞觀 or something.