Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: There was a box at the auction that I wanted some items out of, and this pendant was in that box.

APPRAISER: And what did you pay for the box?

GUEST: Around $15.

APPRAISER: And when was that?

GUEST: About two years ago.

APPRAISER: It's porcelain.

And I can tell you it came from something else.

It was broken and then shaped and fashioned and put within a silver frame, made into a pendant in the 20th century.

The important part is that this curve here helps us better understand the shape of the object this came from.

That curvature typically one only finds on vases that are of cylindrical shape.

So it would have been part of the cylinder shape of a vase that would have been approximately eight inches in diameter.

And there's a special kind of vase that's called a rouleau vase that was made in China, because this is Chinese.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: And I knew that from the colors of the enamel decoration and the subject matter.

So the vase is probably about this tall.

And it would have been a cylindrical, slightly swelled shape.

Then at the neck, it would have been pinched a little bit, with another cylindrical short section, and then the lip would have been spread out a little bit to match the lower body.

That's called a rouleau vase.

And that rouleau shape was a shape that was prominent, and you find in porcelain made in the late 17th and early 18th century.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: So we're going back to somewhere around 1700 to 1720 or so.

She was likely accompanied by other female figures and other figures in this luxuriant, expansive kind of setting that was probably on balconies, with a landscape in the distance, and other beautifully painted figures.

So we can surmise that the quality we see here was extended to the overall object.

And I can also tell, from the quality of the porcelain itself, there are very few imperfections.

So that this came from the very finest of the porcelain kilns...

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER: ...in the city of Jingdezhen, which is where this porcelain was made for the emperor of China and members of his court.

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER: So there are two kinds of qualities.

One would be beautifully painted, but not necessarily with the official mark underneath...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...that would indicate this was made for the court.

GUEST: Hm.

APPRAISER: We call that a reign mark, and that would have been written on the bottom.

And then there's those that have the reign mark.

This could have been either one, based on what I can see from this, this part of it.

But what we have is one small piece of something that is now gone.

I'm gonna give you an idea for insurance value.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Retail replacement value.

And I would say that somewhere in the neighborhood of about $500 would be appropriate.

GUEST: Oh, that's... APPRAISER: For this little piece.

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

(chuckling) (laughing): Oh, my goodness, I had no idea.

That's wonderful.

APPRAISER: Had we the entirety of this, if this had a reign mark on the bottom, it would have been over $100,000.

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER: So you have a treasure.

GUEST: Well, I'm happy with it.

(laughing) (chuckling) Oh, my goodness-- thank you so much.