Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

It was a gift to me in around 1970, and all he said was that it came from an antique shop. I was living in Boone, North Carolina, at the time, so I don't know where the antique shop was. It could have been in the mountains, it could have been in Charlotte.

APPRAISER

What do you think it is, or what have your instincts told you?

GUEST

It looks to me like a Chinese vase. I looked one time in a book to see about the bats. I thought, "Bats, why would somebody put bats on a vase?" But they represent good luck is what I think I read. And the squiggles are clouds, and that's all I know.

APPRAISER

The bats are good luck, and there's a specific reason why. The word in Chinese for "bat" is fu. Fu is also the word meaning good luck, prosperity. And so because the name is similar for bat and similar for prosperity, the bat has taken on that representation.

GUEST

Ah.

APPRAISER

And this form is a bottle vase. One of the clues to decipher where a vase comes from and of what type it is is to look on the bottom. And we reach a dead end there with no mark.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

Nonetheless, this is a Qing dynasty Chinese vase, and I can tell by the decoration and by the form. Do you recall what you asked me earlier?

GUEST

My son asked you why were you rubbing it on your face, right.

APPRAISER

Even though there's no mark on the bottom of this vase, there's a clue on the bottom, and when I rubbed it thusly to feel that nice, beautiful, smooth, almost soap-like texture... Please, take a feel too. That gives me some indication of age. The quality of the porcelain and the wear on the porcelain indicates this is a Chinese vase made in around the 1830s, sometime in the first half of the 19th century. Stylistically, we have a number of elements here that are treasured and auspicious in the Chinese tradition, most notably the bats. This is a lotus leaf motif, so these are lotus petals here. This is decorated in what we call the Famille Rose palette, so you see that it has this kind of rosy tone throughout. Very colorful, but somewhat sparsely and subtly designed. The market for Chinese porcelain right now is very, very robust. The money that's driving this market comes directly from China, and this vase of such small size and cute proportion is truly a gem as far as what the market is demanding right now, what the market is looking for. It's small but very special. Were this to come up for auction, I would think a reasonable auction estimate would be $6,000 to $8,000.

GUEST

Are you... Are you kidding? Oh, my gosh, I had no idea. I've had it in a box for years, you know, put away. I just came across it kind of by accident the other day, and I thought, "I think I'll take this because it doesn't weigh much. It's not bulky." I am so excited. I am thrilled.