Fake or Real? Tell-tale Signs on Reproduction Porcelain
Porcelain has been copied for as long as it has been prized, and some copies are now valuable antiques themselves. The useful question at an antiques fair is how new a piece is, and the mark, the surface and the modeling all help answer it.
Why reproduction porcelain is as old as porcelain itself
Anyone who has picked up a pretty porcelain figurine at an antiques fair knows the moment: the backstamp looks familiar, but not quite right. Marks are supposed to give the maker and the age, and a mark that almost fits leaves the buyer more confused than before.
Copying is nothing new. Reproductions have been made and sold in great numbers in every period, from Rome copying Greek art to the latest Asian imports. Europeans copied and imitated Chinese porcelain from the 15th century well into the 20th, including fake Kanji marks, the Chinese characters used on the originals. The traffic later ran the other way. Asian reproductions of European porcelain peaked for a brief period from around the 1960s to the 1990s. More recently, Chinese makers have been reproducing their own old traditional wares.
The pattern behind all of this is simple. What is popular and sells well gets imitated and reproduced in large numbers, so reproductions follow trends like any other product.
When a copy becomes an antique: Meissen, Delft and Sevres
Some copies have aged into treasures. In the late 18th century a Meissen piece made in Germany in imitation of a Chinese masterpiece was seen as a local reproduction, an inferior copy. It is now antique and very valuable. The same is true of Delftware, Sevres and Staffordshire chinoiserie made in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Meissen even borrowed Chinese marks. Around the 1720s it used Kanji characters on some pieces to win acceptance at a time when Chinese porcelain imports were more popular than European wares. A collector comparing marks may find a Ming Dynasty Tianqi reign mark of about 1620 to 1627 next to a Meissen mark of the 1720s written in Chinese characters, and the Tianqi mark also appears on recent Chinese copies.
So the key question is often not whether a piece is a reproduction, but how new a reproduction it is. Most buyers, though, want to know whether a piece counts as antique now, not whether it will be valuable to their great-great-grandchildren. A few rules of thumb help on the spot.
Reading porcelain marks: too perfect means new
If the mark is too perfect, the piece is new. Most older maker’s marks were stamped by hand with ink, so they show partial fading or sit a little crooked. New marks are printed with industrial ink-jet printers and come out very sharp and clear. An authentic Meissen mark used from about 1860 to 1924 looks quite different from the fake Chinese marks put on reproductions from the 1990s on. Meissen’s best-known mark is a pair of crossed swords in blue, which is why so many copies imitate it.
If the mark is hand-drawn, check its shape and what surrounds it. A mark that resembles the familiar marks of Meissen, Sevres and similar makers but is a bit too embellished is probably fake. If it also shows an old date or a model number, the piece is probably recent.
The same caution applies across the antiques trade. At least half of the hand-painted Paris porcelain boxes had no mark, and many of the rest carried a phony Sevres mark. Reproduction Limoges sold since the early 1990s often bears a copied T&V Limoges France mark or marks reading Limoges China or ROC, which stands for Republic of China.
Crazing, glazes and other faked signs of age
Signs of aging can be faked, so look at how they are spread across the piece. Crazing, the fine network of cracks in a glaze, can be produced on purpose by varying the temperature in the kiln. An aged look can be imitated with sepia-like glazes. If the wear and discoloration are too uniform and cover the whole piece evenly, it is probably a new reproduction.
Damage can help. If a piece has a small chip or tiny break that is clearly old, compare the exposed area with the rest of the body. On an authentic piece there should be a distinct difference in brilliance between the two.
Look-alike makers and borrowed porcelain marks
Not every confusing piece is a deliberate fake. Many factories made wares in the popular style of a famous rival, and some borrowed the rival’s mark along with the look. Paris decorators of the 19th century bought white porcelain from Limoges and painted it in their own shops, and many of their boxes carried copied Sevres or Capodimonte marks instead of their own. A mark that names one maker may sit on a piece decorated by another.
German novelty porcelain shows the same problem. Collectors new to Royal Bayreuth often mix it up with similar lines by Mitchell Woodbury & Co., Bohne, Schafer & Vater and some Czech makers, and many genuine Royal Bayreuth pieces are not marked at all. In cases like these the mark is a starting point. The body, the weight, the painting and the modeling have to agree with it before the attribution holds.
Workmanship on old and reproduction porcelain figurines
Look at the piece the way an art critic would, and check for real skill in the details. Older figurines were made by hand, one at a time. The modeler shaped each part with care, and every hand, face and flower was made separately, then assembled and fired in the kiln as one piece. The faces are expressive.
Newer reproductions are built from stock parts produced by the thousands. They reuse the same face or head, the same arms and legs and the same three or four kinds of flowers, assembled into many versions of a theme. A different color scheme, a hairdo, lipstick or other facial tones are splashed on, and the figure suddenly becomes a man or a woman, but underneath it is made from identical ready-made pieces. Several figurines with the same face in different costumes are a strong clue.
Weight and feel also count. Collectors of Royal Bayreuth learn that the weight and thickness of the porcelain and the finish of the paint say more about authenticity than a correct mark does.
The fingers-and-toes test for porcelain figurines
One of the quickest checks sounds odd but works: look at the fingers and toes. Because older figurines were modeled part by part, their fingers tend to be delicately separated, and the toes, where visible, are distinct. Newer pieces tend to have fingers and toes fused together or stuck to the body like small painted bumps with no detail.
There are exceptions, especially on very small figurines, where even a skilled modeler had little room to separate a finger. Used together, the rules give a fair picture: a soft, slightly crooked stamped mark, uneven signs of wear, careful modeling and separated fingers all point to age, while a crisp printed mark, an even artificial patina and fused, generic parts point to a recent reproduction. For a particularly stubborn mark, the best course is to compare it with documented examples from the maker’s own period before buying.
Questions and answers
How can you tell if porcelain marks are fake?
Look at the quality of the mark. Older marks were usually stamped by hand with ink and show fading or sit a little crooked, while new marks are ink-jet printed and very sharp. A hand-drawn mark that copies Meissen or Sevres but is overly embellished, or adds an old date or model number, is probably recent.
What does an authentic Meissen mark look like?
Meissen is known for its blue crossed swords mark, a favorite target of copyists. A genuine stamped mark from about 1860 to 1924 looks softer and less uniform than the crisp fake marks on reproductions made since the 1990s. Around the 1720s Meissen also used Chinese-style Kanji marks.
Can crazing prove porcelain is old?
No. Crazing can be created on purpose by varying the kiln temperature, and an aged look can be faked with sepia-like glazes. If the crazing or discoloration is very uniform across the whole piece, it is probably a new reproduction. Checking the brilliance inside an old chip is a better test.
How do you tell an old porcelain figurine from a reproduction?
Check the modeling. Old figurines were assembled from parts made one at a time, so faces are expressive, fingers are separated and toes are distinct. Reproductions reuse the same stock heads, limbs and flowers, and fingers and toes are often fused or painted on as blobs. Very small figurines are an exception.
Are reproduction porcelain pieces ever valuable?
Yes. Copies made long ago can become valuable antiques. Late 18th-century Meissen made in imitation of Chinese porcelain was once thought of as an inferior copy and is now very valuable, as are 18th and 19th-century Delftware, Sevres and Staffordshire chinoiserie pieces.