Underglaze Blue Floral Bowl bearing Xuande Mark

Name: Underglaze Blue Floral Bowl bearing Xuande Mark
Brand: 8675rdhfg
Availability: LimitedAvailability

Blue and white porcelain bowl with floral scroll pattern and six-character Xuande reign mark near the rim

Estimated value

$200 - $2,500

Rarity

Average(4/10)

UNDERGLAZE BLUE FLORAL BOWL BEARING XUANDE MARK: IDENTIFICATION

Thick-walled porcelain bowl featuring an underglaze cobalt blue continuous floral scroll—likely a peony or lotus motif—above a band of overlapping petal lappets. A classic wave scroll decorates the short footring. A six-character horizontal reign mark reading 'Da Ming Xuande Nian Zhi' (Great Ming Xuande Period Made) sits directly below the exterior rim in a standard rectangular alignment.

Compare with other ceramic pieces in the archive: Chinese Blue and White Porcelain 'Dragon and Phoenix' Charger, Blue and White Phoenix Ewer, Sancai-style Marbled Earthenware Equestrians.

COLLECTOR NOTES

Records from the Ming court document a single 1433 imperial edict ordering exactly 443,500 pieces of porcelain from the Jingdezhen kilns.

Qing dynasty potters operating between 1723 and 1795 frequently applied manual dots of excess cobalt to their reproductions to deliberately simulate the 15th-century heaping and piling effect.

SCARCITY

Average55-70%

CommonLegendary

Typical antique shop fare. Requires some searching but regularly available. This is where most genuine antiques fall.

Rarity 4/10. Curiosa currently catalogues 101 ceramics items at rarity 4 or higher.

Typical Characteristics

Standard antique shop items
Regularly available
Moderate collector interest

Confidence Factors

Extreme prevalence of high-quality modern and 18th-century Ming reproductions
Uniformity of the cobalt spotting suggests deliberate stippling rather than natural early Ming firing variance
Absence of images showing the unglazed footring prevents essential paste and kiln-support verification

Expert review recommended. Consider consulting a specialist before making purchasing decisions.

How does authenticity detection work?

CERAMICIST'S ASSESSMENT

Ceramics Historian & Kiln Specialist

Ceramics Expert

The visual identification of the style, mark, and motif is definitive 0.90+, but the era attribution is restricted to 0.65 due to the missing footring view, which is the primary diagnostic vector for separating genuine Ming pieces from high-quality 20th-century or Republic-era replicas.

KEY EVIDENCE

1Six-character linear Xuande reign mark running horizontally beneath the rim
2Localised dark spotting imitating 'heaping and piling' of iron-rich Sumali blue
3Underglaze blue continuous floral scroll paired with a lappet base band

UNCERTAINTIES

•Uniformity of the 'heaped and piled' spotting suggests deliberate application rather than natural firing variations
•High sheen of the glaze lacks the typical 'orange peel' (jupi) dimpled texture of genuine period wares
•Inability to examine the paste and unglazed resting surface of the footring

WHAT WOULD IMPROVE CERTAINTY

→Capture macro photography of the unglazed footring to assess paste purity, firing evidence, and the presence of any iron-rust line
→Use grazing angle lighting to evaluate the glaze texture for correct 'orange peel' surface undulations
→Perform X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy to determine the cobalt composition and Manganese-to-Cobalt ratio

CONDITION & GRADE

Condition

Visually pristine surface with high gloss; no visible chips, edge fritting, or hairlines on the presented profile viewport.

CERAMICS MARKET VALUE

$200 - $2,500

Updated: May 11, 2026

Who buys this

Collectors of Chinese transitional and reproduction wares, as well as interior designers seeking Ming-style aesthetics for decorative display.

What increases value

•Confirmation of age (Qing dynasty copies command $50,000+ while modern replicas command $200-$500)
•Quality and fluidity of the cobalt painting
•Absence of rim fritting or star cracks in the glaze

What lowers value

•Verification of recent modern continuous-kiln production
•Conclusive XRF testing proving synthetic cobalt usage
•Hidden hairline cracks only visible under UV light

What makes top-tier examples

•Documented provenance tracing back to pre-1900 collections
•Naturalistic, unforced expression of the cobalt heaping and piling
•Glaze with distinctive micro-bubble structures specific to Jingdezhen imperial kilns