Robert McPherson Antiques - Chinese and Japanese Ceramics

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Welcome to my page, it contains antique ceramics from my website as well as museums across the world. I have been dealing in antique ceramics for 46 years.

I hope you enjoy what is posted here. Robert McPherson 2026.

29/10/2026

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“John Dwight 1674—5.

Dwight studied chemistry and law and worked as secretary to the Bishop of Chester. He is shown as a gentleman, dressed in a cravat and long wig.
Museum no. 1053-1871.”

Many of these pieces are on the V&A website as well as on public display.

“Salt-glazed stoneware
John Dwight’s Fulham pottery
The great advantage of stoneware over earthenware is that it is very tough and impervious to liquids. Its manufacture was a German monopoly until John Dwight (about 1633-1703), an English ecclesiastical lawyer and scientist, discovered how to make it in about 1672.
Dwight was aware that German stonewares were glazed with salt thrown into the kiln. But he had to master the firing and glazing processes, and identify clays that would vitrify at the high temperatures required. Lacking detailed knowledge of German methods, he adapted English kiln technology to fire his pots.
The exhibits in the left case are all salt-glazed stoneware made at John Dwight’s pottery in Fulham, London.”

29/10/2026

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Chinese blue and white porcelain with European pottery and porcelain imitating or copying the Chinese originals.

Many of these pieces are on the V&A website as well as on public display.

On public display:
Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
South Kensington
London
SW7 2RL
United Kingdom

29/10/2026

Fake at auction.

A very obvious fake offered on an online auction but interesting to see what trouble they have been to make fake labels.

29/10/2026

Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, Ming, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong.

See our ‘Sold Archive’
www.orientalceramics.com

Robert McPherson Antiques.
Established 1980.

29/10/2026

www.orientalceramics.com
Sold Archive.

A Ming Blue and White Porcelain dish, Hongzhi 1488 – 1505 or Zhengde 1506 – 1521 period, Jingdezhen kilns. Painted in a bold style using a wet brush with a large Qilin in a landscape with a border of flowering peony.

29/10/2026

Pair of Yuan blue and white Vases, well a ‘matched pair’.

29/10/2026

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18th Century Dutch Decoration, on Chinese Porcelain from the reigns of : Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong.

Some of the porcelain was originally plain, some is decorated with Anhua, meaning it was lightly engraved before firing, one has Chinese under-glaze copper-red before being painted in the Netherlands. Some pieces have Chinese blue and white decoration with Anhua decoration before being enamelled in the Netherlands.

From our Sold Archives.
Robert McPherson Antiques
Established 1980.
www.orientalceramics.com

29/10/2026

……

Robert McPherson Antiques
Sold Archive.
www.orientalceramics.com

A Fine and Rare Imperial Ming Porcelain Bowl, Six Character Wanli Mark and of the Period 1573-1620. Painted in a later ‘Mohammedan Blue’ with Convolvulus (Morning Glory) arranged into a scrolling pattern around the middle of the bowl.
The striking cobalt blue used on this Imperial Ming bowl is sometimes called Lajvard Blue. Lajivard or Lajvardi is the Persian word for Lapis Lazuli, it refers only to the colour, as the stone was not used in the pigment. ‘Mohammedan Blue’ and ’Lajvard Blue’ fall in to the Sumatran Blue category, having properties of rich, dark blue, and containing black and silver specks where thickly applied. This very high-quality cobalt-oxide pigment is sometimes generally referred to as ‘Mohammedan Blue’ but this term should really only be used when referring to pigment from the reign of Hongwu (1368 – 1398). Some authors have made it easier, ‘Mohammedan Blue’ for the reign of Hongwu and ‘Later Mohammedan Blue’ for Lajvard and Sumatran Blue, in other words later cobalt pigments. None of the names define the country of origin, as the cobalt-oxide came from numerous places such as India, Persia and countries within the Arab world.

Condition
Repaired : there is a large ‘U’ shaped section restuck, a minute chip to the rim.

Size
Diameter : 20.3 cm (8 inches) Height : 10.8 cm (4 1/3 inches)

Provenance
Purchased in an antique shop in Rotterdam in the early 1990s. Robert McPherson Antiques. The John Drew Collection of Chinese and Japanese Ceramics.

www.orientalceramics.com

28/10/2026

A Large Pair of Fine Shunzhi or Kangxi Blanc de Chine Porcelain Buddhist Lions, Rui Shi or ‘Dogs of Foo’, from a Kiln in Dehua Fujian Province c.1640-1680.

Robert McPherson Antiques.
Established 1980
Sold Archive.
www.orientalceramics.com

Size
Height : 33.3 cm (the lion on the right is slightly smaller).

References
A pair of very similar Blanc de Chine lions dated to circa 1620 - 1640, are illustrated in : Blanc de Chine (Introduction by John Ayers, S.Marchant & Son, 2006. ISBN 0-9554009-0-2) page 88, plate 56. Also see a related Blanc de Chine `Foo dog` from the Hatcher Cargo, datable to circa 1643 look at stock number 19961 in our `Sold` items. For a very similar pair of male Blanc de Chine `Fu Dogs` which have been dated to c.1640 see : Blanc de Chine (John Ayres / Richard Marchant. S.Marchant and Son, 2006. London) page 49, item 56, where the author states that a similar piece in the Dehua Museum comes from a Ming Dynasty tomb. A pair dated to late Ming or early Qing are illustrated in : Blanc de Chine, Divine Images in Porcelain (John Ayres, China Institute Gallery, New York, 2002) page 98, plate 49. For another very similar single Buddhist Lion, dated as mid-17th century see : Blanc de Chine, Porcelain From Dehua. A Catalogue of the Hickley Collection (Rose Kerr & John Ayres, Art Media Resources Ltd 2002) plate 91. For a further pair of male Blanc de Chine lions dated to c.1650 -1700, inventoried in 1701, see : Blanc de Chine (P.J Donnelly, Faber and Faber, 1969) plate 93. For a pair of similar male Blanc de Chine lions see our `Sold` items stock number 20344.

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+447515806230

Website

http://www.orientalceramics.com/

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