After centuries of increasing demand from the West for Chinese porcelain, the Chinese themselves are gaining ground once again as prominent collectors in this space. These newly affluent collectors are attempting to recapture their cultural past and have a particular eye on imperial porcelain, those pieces that contain reign marks denoting the item as historical palace wares.
Reign marks are an inscription identifying the name of the dynasty and the reign name of an emperor during which a piece of ceramics was made. It was also used to denote pieces intended for palace use. As it was easy to apply, just under the glaze, the mark was inappropriately added in later times to enhance a piece’s value. It is therefore not always a completely reliable indicator of a piece’s provenance or value.
