An antique gift

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ShuShu
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Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:38 am

This peculiar teapot was gifted to my grandparents years ago by a Chinese diplomat. Does anyone know what exactly is it? And whether it is really an antique
(Porcelain and metal/silver)



Hmm
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Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:13 am

My thoughts are that the eyes are a bit too expressive to be at least 100 years old. Eyes like that didn't really appear until at least the start PRC era.
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OldWaysTea
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Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:15 am

It is interesting. To me it looks like a silver plated brass pot with a hand painted ceramic panel. How does it work? The spout seems to be part of the lid?
Chadrinkincat
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Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:49 am

Looks more like sake/rice wine warmer than teapot. My guess is it's modern tourist souvenir.
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ShuShu
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Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:31 pm

OldWaysTea wrote:
Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:15 am
It is interesting. To me it looks like a silver plated brass pot with a hand painted ceramic panel. How does it work? The spout seems to be part of the lid?
I'm not sure. It's like a tiny silver pot inside a porcelain container.
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steanze
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Thu Jun 21, 2018 2:36 pm

I would not bet on it being antique, although I am not sure. Looks like pewter.
This type of pot, often in larger size, was traditionally used to keep the liquid in the inner pot warm for longer, by pouring hot water in the external container.
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tealifehk
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Thu Jun 21, 2018 9:11 pm

Looks like leaded pewter: do not use. The square/circle thing makes it look like it's from Factory 1! And the phone number is from Wuxi, so looks like it was made in Jiangsu. Could be 60s, which would make it an antique (50 years or older), but I doubt it based on the packaging. Pretty, but probably not something you want to use for actual consumption because of the lead concern. Not sure what its intended use is though. Baijiu? No, fancy pewter baijiu vessels don't seem to exist. It does seem to be made for tea service!
    Chadrinkincat
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    Thu Jun 21, 2018 9:55 pm

    This is a modern sake warmer. It's same thing. https://www.takaski.com/product/kansuke ... ffebfa06f6
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    Bok
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    Fri Jun 22, 2018 3:41 am

    I have seen quite a few of these things (without porcelain and a lot cruder make), mostly souvenirs from Southeast Asia: Singapore, Malaysia etc.
    Yours seems to be better made, although I agree that the painting style does not look old, something odd, non-Chinese about it.
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    tealifehk
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    Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:20 am

    Chadrinkincat wrote:
    Thu Jun 21, 2018 9:55 pm
    This is a modern sake warmer. It's same thing. https://www.takaski.com/product/kansuke ... ffebfa06f6
    Cool, so it's a Chinese-made sake warmer! I was thinking baijiu but that didn't make sense.
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