r/u_Antique-collectorlo

Hi everyone, sharing the 7th sets of my collection. I acquired this pair 30 years ago and have never found a single match. They are Song/Jin Dynasty Cizhou-style ceramic figures of equestrian players drumming on horseback. When you compare the pair, you can see they are completely different also:

The Riders' Faces and Heads: The rider on the right has a distinctly larger head, a taller crown, and much broader features. The rider on the left has a more elongated, rounded head with simpler features.

The Drums and Arm Placement: The rider on the left holds a smaller drum tightly against their chest with arms closely tucked in. The rider on the right holds a wider, more pronounced drum further out, creating a completely different arm posture.

The Horses' Heads and Manes: The horse on the left is sculpted with its head tucked lower and a smoother profile. The horse on the right has a more upright neck, decorated with prominent, thick black brushstrokes marking out the mane.

The Baseboards: The left figurine sits on a rounded, oval-shaped baseboard. The right figurine sits on a more angular, wedge-shaped platform with a sharper point at the front.

What makes them uniquely fascinating when compared with the other Song Cizhou figurines from the internet.

• Tang Structure, Song Craft: In typical Song Cizhou wares, figurines are almost never attached to flat, unglazed baseboards. However, these figures feature solid, flat, unglazed platform bases—a trait explicitly characteristic of Tang Dynasty tomb figurines.

 * 100% Manually Hand-Sculpted: Looking closely at the side and back, these are entirely handmade rather than mold-made. The rugged pinching, hand-sculpted limbs, and artisanal imperfections highlight the spontaneous nature of Northern Chinese folk pottery.

• The Base Evidence: The underside shows deep, rustic manual trimming marks and authentic, natural soil patina accumulated over centuries.

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Hello everyone!

This is the 6th sets from my personal collection that I am sharing with you.

This is a rare, matching Excavated Amethyst Interlocking "Son-Mother" Belt Buckle (紫水晶子母扣) and its accompanying Court Pendant (挂件), dating from the Early to Mid-Qing Dynasty (approx. 17th to 18th century). Within my entire collection, this aristocratic ensemble serves as the "bellwether" (领头羊)—a premier artifact set representing high-status nobility regalia.

Here is my technical analysis and breakdown of its core features:

1. Material Quality & Rare Structure

The Interlocking "Son-Mother" Buckle: The belt buckle features a complex two-part interlocking mechanism. The main segments are flanked by elongated cabochons and built around a massive central stone, all meticulously carved and polished from high-grade natural amethyst.

The Ruyi-Head Pendant: The matching pendant is crowned with a beautifully cast ruyi-head (如意头) suspension loop—a classic Chinese motif symbolizing good fortune, authority, and high social standing.

Internal Gemstone Aesthetics: Under light, the amethyst displays deep purple color zoning and prominent natural ice-crack inclusions (冰裂纹). These internal features give the gemstones an organic vitality and an unmistakable aura of antiquity.

2. Craftsmanship & Elite Stylings

Gilded Filigree & Bezel Work: The profiles of both pieces reveal that the stones are housed in matching, multi-tiered metal bezels. They feature intricate, hand-chased floral/cloud scrollwork and a signature rope-twist border trim. This level of goldsmithing confirms that the set was custom-made for a wealthy noble or high-ranking court official.

The Early Qing Aesthetic: The robust, heavy proportions and massive scale of the cabochons reflect the grand, powerful, and uninhibited aesthetic of the early Qing Dynasty ruling class, who favored bold organic materials and commanding presence over rigid symmetry.

3. Definitive Archaeological Evidence (The Reverse Patina)

Identical Mineral Encrustation: The reverse sides of both the buckle and the pendant reveal an identical, thick "time-worn skin" (时光皮壳) consisting of heavy green malachite encrustation and copper carbonate corrosion mixed with soil minerals.

Proof of Cohesion: This matching, deeply layered crystallization only forms through hundreds of years of undisturbed underground burial. The identical degradation on both objects proves beyond doubt that they shared the exact same burial environment for centuries and constitute a genuine, historically intact set.This ensemble offers an incredible, pristine glimpse into the personal luxury adornments of the early Qing nobility.

I would love to hear your thoughts, insights, or answer any questions!

Hello everyone! This is the 5th piece/sets from my personal collection that I am sharing with you.

This is a Yue Kiln Celadon Flat Round Jar / Water Pot (水盂) dating from the Late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties period (approx. 9th–10th century AD). Sourced from the historic Shanglin Lake area in Zhejiang, China, its lines are full and rounded, showcasing the characteristically grand yet restrained aesthetic of the Tang-Song transition.

Here is my technical analysis and breakdown of its core identification features:

1. Foot Rim Craftsmanship (The Key to Dating)The "Outer Foot Groove" (足外小沟): There is a deep, turned groove line (joint groove) running along the outer side of the shallow ring foot. This meticulous secondary trimming signifies premium craftsmanship. Such detail is typically reserved for tribute porcelain or high-end scholar's objects, proving this was not a common folk ware."Shallow, Narrow, and Concave" Execution: The foot wall is exceptionally shallow, the ring foot is trimmed very narrow, and the base is deeply recessed. This is a textbook transitional feature as potters shifted away from the heavy Tang "bi-disk foot" (yubi di) toward the delicate "narrow ring foot" of the Five Dynasties, reflecting the evolution toward the peak Mi-se (Secret Color) porcelain era.

2. Kiln Evidence & Glaze AgingClay Spur Support Firing (泥点支烧): Traces of grayish-white clay strips and spur points remain on the contact surface of the ring foot. This confirms the use of spur supports to protect the fully glazed vessel during firing (full-glaze firing). The residual marks are tightly fused with the body, and the iron-red (firestone red) blooming is completely natural.Micro-Crystalline Glaze Texture (细沙晶体感): Under strong light, a micro-crystalline texture resembling fine sand and ancient bubble clusters is visible within the glaze. This is a natural physical phenomenon caused by over a millennium of aging, where the lime glaze has undergone slow devitrificaton and decalcification. It creates a deep, resonant "precious luster" (baoguang) that modern counterfeits cannot replicate.

3. Summary Assessment:

This is an undisputedly authentic, exquisitely crafted specimen. The glaze color sits beautifully between mugwort green (aiqing) and bluish-gray, possessing a warm, jade-like tactile quality with natural crackles that embody the classic "like ice and like jade" aesthetic. The unique basal groove and narrow ring foot serve as a living specimen for studying Chinese ceramic evolution during the Tang-Song transition.

I would love to hear your thoughts, insights, or answer any questions!

Hi everyone! This is the second set of ancient items from my personal collection that I wanted to share with you.

I acquired this pair of cast bronze imitation cowrie shells (铜贝) roughly thirty years ago from a US-based dealer. According to the original the dealer, they were recovered from Northwest China—the historical heartland of early Chinese metallurgy.

The Birth of Metal Coinage

These pieces represent the absolute beginning of metallic coin usage in human history. Prior to this era, China relied heavily on natural marine sea-snail shells as commodity currency.

During the late Shang Dynasty, rapid business expansion and the growth of inland trade routes caused a massive commercial boom. Merchants pushed deep into the interior, far away from the coastal regions where natural shells were found. Because the supply of real seashells could no longer keep pace with this sudden economic growth, ancient metallurgists revolutionized commerce by casting bronze replicas. This marked the momentous historical leap from bartering natural objects to minting metallic money.

Visual & Structural Highlights

Images 1 & 3 (Front Profile): Displays the convex outer shell profile with distinct, serrated "tooth-like" central slits modeled directly after natural cowries.

Images 2 & 4 (Hollow Reverse): Shows the hollowed-out backsides, highlighting a striking, crusty combination of green malachite and deep azurite blue crystallization. This mineralization has remained perfectly stable over my three decades of ownership.

Suspension Holes: Note the cleanly cast circular holes at the apex. Early merchants used these to string multiple bronze shells together into standardized currency units called strings (péng 朋).

Fun linguistic fact for history buffs: Because of this specific currency origin, the modern Chinese character radical for wealth, property, and trade is still written today as 貝 (bèi)—a literal drawing of the cowrie shells I am holding here!

I would love to hear from other collectors who collected these types of coins. Please share and display your coins for us to enjoy and appreciate.