Help Identifying Chinese Hallmark on Vintage Heavy Porcelain Figurine. Greatly Appreciated

[ka_murf]

Help Identifying Chinese Hallmark on Vintage Heavy Porcelain Figurine. Greatly Appreciated

This figurine in very old. I have tried to figure out the Hallmark but have not been successful. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Kathy

[maxine*j]

The mark is hard to make out, but go to Gotheborg (link below) and scroll down "Recent Additions Red Rubber Stamp - Mark #1338 to see if you think it is a match.

https://gotheborg.com/marks/20thcenturychina.shtml

Remember that the dating is tentative, and that reproductions -- from every period -- abound.

[maxine*j]

P.S. to the above post, which I ran out of time to edit: 

For future research, it may help you to remember that precious metals have "hallmarks," while ceramics just have "marks."

[argon38]

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@maxine*j wrote:

The mark is hard to make out, but go to Gotheborg (link below) and scroll down "Recent Additions Red Rubber Stamp - Mark #1338 to see if you think it is a match.

https://gotheborg.com/marks/20thcenturychina.shtml

Remember that the dating is tentative, and that reproductions -- from every period -- abound.

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Same mark, but it's a pity that the Gotheborg entry doesn't translate it.

[maxine*j]

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@argon38 wrote:

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Same mark, but it's a pity that the Gotheborg entry doesn't translate it.

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It translates part of it:  Da Ya Zhai  = Grand Elegant Court (as also shown on Mark #1478).  Maybe the rest says Empress Dowager Cixi, or some version of that..?   OP can mess around with Google translate, if s/he cares to, since there's a good starting place now.

[argon38]

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@maxine*j wrote:

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@argon38 wrote:

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Same mark, but it's a pity that the Gotheborg entry doesn't translate it.

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It translates part of it:  Da Ya Zhai  = Grand Elegant Court (as also shown on Mark #1478). 

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Ah, but the entry doesn't say the mark reads "Da Ya Zhai."   The only thing it says about the mark is that it is a "Square seal mark in archaic script within double frames."

It then goes on to describe the piece itself:

"Dove blue enamels that came about through the  Da Ya Zhai porcelains ("Grand Elegant Court" porcelain for the Empress Dowager Cixi) that was developed during the end of the 19th century and much copied during the early 20th century. Likely date 1920-30."

I think this is a merely reference to the style of the piece pictured on the Gotheborg site.

Da Ya Zhai  mark (from Gotheborg):

OP's mark (Gotheborg site example):

[maxine*j]

OK.  I couldn't see the mark well enough to really compare, and so I should not have commented.  Finding the mark on Gotheborg will have to remain my only contribution.  Carry on!   😊

[argon38]

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@maxine*j wrote:

OK.  I couldn't see the mark well enough to really compare, and so I should not have commented.  Finding the mark on Gotheborg will have to remain my only contribution.  Carry on!   😊

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Well, you were right about Gotheborg's "Recent Additions Red Rubber Stamp - Mark #1338"  being the OP's mark, and the entry does provide a potential dating range for an item with this mark, which is obviously helpful. But I think the rest of the information in that entry (including the stuff about Da Ya Zhai  porcelains) applies specifically to their pictured bowl, and isn't of relevance to the OP's figurine.

[argon38]

I think these may be the characters:

雅玩珍藏

According to an expert on the Asian Arts Forum,

"The mark may be read as 'Precious Collection of Elegant Trinkets' (雅玩珍藏 - Ya Wan Zhen Cang). A character search on the web found the mark in use on a variety of porcelains being sold and discussed on Mainland China websites. Some references made what I consider to be the dubious claim that the porcelain bearing the mark was Republic-period. The mark doesn't appear in either the 2010 'New and Revised Handbook of Marks on Chinese Ceramics' by Gerald Davison or its 2013 reprinted edition with updates."

http://www.asianart.com/phpforum/index.php?method=detailAll&Id=74094 

The above comment relates to the pair of frogs in the link below. The mark on the frogs is not stamped as yours is:

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/103823-a-pair-of-of-frogs 

However, Googling the same characters "雅玩珍藏"  brings up items like this:

http://www.rn-hswh.com/bbs/thread-79343-1-1.html 

and this:

https://bbs.artron.net/thread-4792886-1-1.html 

both of which have rubber-stamped marks with characters plainly identical to yours.

Unfortunately the figurine in that last link doesn't appear to be very old.

[ka_murf]

Thank you very much for your information. It is greatly appreciated.