Dan12 Posted February 19, 2014 at 05:06 PM Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 at 05:06 PM My father has had a small pot in his house for a few years now (he can't remember where he got it from), and we've been wondering for a while what the writing on it says. I can't recognise any of the characters and I'm not actually sure if it's even Chinese or just gibberish designed to look like Chinese. I've asked a Chinese friend of mine what she thinks, and she says it may be an old Chinese script, but she's not sure. Me and my father both think that it's old, but we know nothing at all about antiques, so it could easily be a fake. I guess that it's unlikely that anybody here will be able to translate this if it is an old Chinese script, but if anybody could even confirm that it is actually a real script, or even point me to somewhere where I might be able to get it translated, that would still be good. And just a picture of the pot itself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted February 19, 2014 at 06:26 PM Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 at 06:26 PM Those are not Chinese characters. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan12 Posted February 19, 2014 at 06:31 PM Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 at 06:31 PM They're definitely not even an older form of Chinese then? That sucks. Any chance anybody here knows what language it might be, if it's even a language at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamille Posted February 20, 2014 at 05:04 AM Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 at 05:04 AM No, that's not even older Chinese (strokes are more organic in old Chinese, even beginners can tell the difference). Plus, knowing that Chinese is the last remaining character-based language I'd say it's probably a fake. (Though it still might be Klingon or Elfic. One never knows.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan12 Posted February 20, 2014 at 07:51 AM Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 at 07:51 AM Hah, well, I suspected as much. Oh well. Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruben von Zwack Posted February 20, 2014 at 09:53 AM Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 at 09:53 AM It's a cute little vase though. If you like it, keep it, it may be 1980s or 1960s. You may want to look up "Chinoiserie" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinoiserie). That is a European style, started by the French - hence the name - of imitating Chinese art. Chinoiserie is actually pretty old, it started in the 17th century, and has been coming into and going out of fashion in waves since. More recently, Asia was particularly en vogue in the 1960s and 80s, so your vase could well be from those times. But it's Western and not Asian, that I'm quite sure. Now for the "language", I'm quite certain it is just fantasy and not a real alphabet. Why? Because the forms are not consistent. Natural alphabets or character writing systems tend to be consistent, so even if you can't read them, you can tell it's Sumeric or Ancient Egyptian or Chinese because they look like they belong together. But this script seems rather random to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan12 Posted February 20, 2014 at 10:15 PM Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 at 10:15 PM Well, it's a shame it's not as old as I was hoping, but at least I learnt something haha. Thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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