A Chinese Export Brown-Glazed and Underglaze Blue Teacup and Saucer

19th Century
Apocryphal Kangxi Mark

Description

A Chinese Export porcelain teacup and matching saucer, 19th century. Each formed with a lobed, flared rim and gently molded body. The cup rising from a short circular foot; the saucer of conforming lobed outline, proportionally matched.

The exterior of both pieces is covered in a rich café-au-lait brown glaze (iron-oxide glaze), evenly applied with subtle pooling and minor orange-peel texture characteristic of nineteenth-century export wares.

The interiors are decorated in underglaze cobalt blue with panelled reserves enclosing landscape and antiquities motifs, arranged around a central medallion of floral composition. The saucer well painted with a basket and fruit motif, surrounded by alternating decorative panels echoing the cup’s interior. The cobalt displays tonal variation typical of later export production.

Mark

The base of each bears a double-circle underglaze blue mark reading “Kangxi Nianzhi” (Made in the Kangxi Period).
This is an apocryphal Kangxi mark commonly found on nineteenth-century export porcelain.

Dimensions

• Cup: Height 2 in. (5.1 cm); Diameter 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)

• Saucer: Diameter 5 in. (12.7 cm)

Condition

Overall in good condition.
The cup exhibits a minor rim chip with an associated fine hairline crack; the crack does not extend into the body. Otherwise free from significant restoration.

Note

Brown-glazed exterior wares with underglaze blue interior decoration were widely produced for export markets during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly for European tea services. The use of earlier reign marks was a common commercial practice intended to evoke antiquity rather than indicate period manufacture.