One of the most daunting aspects of Chinese porcelain identification is learning to recognise reign marks. While experts spend years mastering these distinctive stamps, there are some simple memory tricks that can help beginners spot the most common marks. Think of these as your first stepping stones into the fascinating world of Chinese ceramics.
These visual mnemonics focus on the first character of each reign mark, as these are often the most distinctive. While these tricks are no substitute for proper authentication, they can help you begin to navigate the basics of reign mark identification.
Many Chinese antiques feature reign marks that can help with dating and valuation. Our comprehensive guide to reading reign marks explains how to interpret them with confidence.
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Here are some memorable ways to recognise ten of the most common reign marks:
Qianlong/Ch’ien-lung (乾隆): The first character (乾) resembles a fancy “E” with a roof – try saying “EEEEE-long” when you spot it.
Kangxi/K’ang-hsi (康熙): Look for what appears to be a little horse with four dots as legs in the second character (熙).
Wanli/Wan-li (萬曆): The first character (萬) displays like a complex spiderweb with a cross in the middle – think “the WANdering spider made a Li-ttle web”.
Daoguang/Tao-kuang (道光): Spot the person walking on a road in the first character (道) – “DAO-n the road into the GUANG-light”.
Yongzheng/Yung-cheng (雍正): Notice how the first character (雍) looks like a building with three rooms under a roof – “YONG needs three rooms to be ZHENG (correct)”.
Guangxu/Kuang-hsü (光緒): The first character (光) shows what appears to be a person standing in a doorway letting in light – “GUANG stands in the light”.
Jiaqing/Chia-ch’ing (嘉慶): Look for what seems to be a little house with a pig (豕) underneath in the first character (嘉) – “JIA has a pig under the house”.
Xuande/Hsüan-te (宣德): The first character (宣) resembles a little three-level pagoda – “XUANde’s three-story pagoda”.
Tongzhi/T’ung-chih(同治): Spot what looks like the number 8 with a lid on top in the first character (同) – “TONG ate (8)”.
Hongzhi/Hung-chih (弘治): The first character (弘) appears like a bow and arrow – “HONG shot an arrow to ZHI”.
