Ginger Jar

[kidden6968]

Hello everyone,

I have this really nice 16" ginger jar.  A tenant of mine left it when they moved out and I thought it was neat and stuck it away in a corner.  It was all dusty and I figured it was a $14.99 Walmart special.

Tonight I decided to clean it up and now I am not so sure.  It still could be but as I was cleaning it I noticed that there is quite a bit of crazing and there is a small mark on the inside of the lid which is the only mark on the whole thing.

The surface is sandy feeling and it is where the glazed porcelain remains, such as on the rose adornments, that you see the crazing.

Inside almost looks like something was burned in there - and someone could have used this for incense or something but there is no odor and I have cleaned it out the best i can but have to find something longer to get to the bottom.

These are my inside pics so are not best quality.  I hope they show enough so that someone can tell me if this is just a modern decorative jar or something else.  Either way I still like it   

[kidden6968]

A few more pics and please don't mind my makeshift backdrop  LOL  I didn't intend on taking pics until I started cleaning it.

[sapphire]

I can certainly understand why you like it. It has beautiful detail, very unique! To me the base indicates age, you certainly can't get crazing like that intentionally (I wouldn't think it would be worth the effort)

Beautiful and well worth hanging onto, even if just for the delight of looking at it 

[kidden6968]

The roses are gold edged or gilded. I kept trying to clean it off thinking it was just dust that had crept into the petals of the roses but no it is gold paint  LOL

[ghopper1924]

Very cool!

[bigwull]

I don,t think this is a Ginger Jar.....my gut feeling is,this is a Funeral Jar,for ashes...Ginger Jars from memory did,nt have little inserts that look like they were for holding an incense,tablet or stick, coupled with the fact that as the neck is vented...does indicate that it was used to burn incense...see link...its nowhere as good as yours,but you see where i,m coming from,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FLUTTERBY-CANISTER-COOKIE-JAR-VASE-CREMATION-ASHES-URN-/261084672593?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc9dbf251

[sapphire]

Possibly for pot pourri?  Do cherry blossoms give off a scent like roses or lavender would? Just swing in the dark here 

[bigwull]

Possibly for pot pourri?  Do cherry blossoms give off a scent like roses or lavender would? Just swing in the dark here 

This Cherry Blossom would be ideal for using in the dark..lol!

[bigwull]

I can certainly understand why you like it. It has beautiful detail, very unique! To me the base indicates age, you certainly can't get crazing like that intentionally (I wouldn't think it would be worth the effort)

Beautiful and well worth hanging onto, even if just for the delight of looking at it 

"can,t get Crazing",...Well, Sapphire its actually quite easy to make a porcelain piece look older than it really is...a few years ago I bought a job lot of ceramic wall tiles,  for £25 one box contained 6 x 50cm x 25cm embossed picture tiles..they were made by Villeroy & Boch....i showed them to a friend of mine...who was in the antique business...to cut a long story short....he put them in a freezer for a week, then,then a week later he switched on a gas oven, gas mark 3 let it heat up to temp,then he took 1 tile from the freezer placed it in the oven for 8mins then removed it...result eggshell crazing all over...then he dusted the tile with powdered graphite,polished it off, the graphite got into the crazed glaze... ..end result a tile that looked like it was made in the last century...this was done to all 6,we lost one as it cracked...the other 5 ,i made hardwood picture frames and the tiles were inserted ,and they sold for around £150 each...
you can experiment yourself with a cheap ceramic tile....

[bigwull]

Is there access to the body of the jar,below this little pocket that i see,

[mart]

it appears to be a little better than a wal-mart special !! has some age but not ancient !! the body of the jar does not show any crazing while the high points are solid with an even crazing so to me that means that it was fired with a glaze designed to do that !!  i have used these a lot and is pretty common thing to do !!  but it is very well done and appears to have a raised decoration and a pearled surface on the body !!  not for incense or inside would be sooty and stained including the lid and it is not,,, i would think its just decorative or a potpourri jar !!
quite a nice one at that !!

[bigwull]

Perhaps the reason there are no soot deposits,is because he said he,d washed it,

[mart]

you can wash till the cows come home and it would not have come off that unglazed rim !!  that stuff has an oily residue and stains terribly !!

[KC]

Ditto what Mart said about the soot on unglazed....and the cows aren't coming home!  Mooooooo!


Think it is a newer item (in that it isn't antique) and agree about the crazing isn't consistent with age all over the piece.

Decorative.  Ginger jars do not have open/fretwork or the ginger would go bad!

[mart]

rotfl !!  good one KC !!