Chinese Vase Stamps: Complete Reference for Collectors (2026)

Chinese vase stamps — the imperial reign marks, hall marks, and studio seals that identify period, maker, and provenance. A collector's reference covering all major mark types, locations, and authentication clues.

A "stamp" on a Chinese vase — what dealers and collectors call the mark on the base — tells you who made it, when, and (sometimes) for whom. Get the stamp wrong and you may pay $50,000 for a $500 piece, or miss a $5,000 find at a flea market. This reference covers every major stamp type you'll encounter on Chinese vases, organized by location, technique, and period.

This is a single-page reference designed to be bookmarked. For deep dives on specific stamp types, follow the internal links throughout.

Where to find the stamp

Chinese vase stamps live in predictable locations:

Primary location: the base

95% of marked vases have their primary stamp on the bottom (base), inside or just inside the foot rim. This is the imperial-standard location and the first place to look.

Secondary locations

Inside the neck or rim — some Republic-period and modern pieces

On the shoulder — rare, mostly export pieces

Within the decorated body — some master-artisan signatures appear as part of the painted scene

No mark at all — common on Yuan dynasty, early Ming, and folk pieces; doesn't necessarily indicate fake

What's on the base — read in this order

Reign mark (大清/大明 + reign + 年製) — most common

Hall mark (堂/殿/斋/居 + 製) — imperial commission or elite collector

Studio mark (commercial workshop name) — common on Republic and modern

Master signature (artist's name + seal) — Zhushan Bayou, post-Republic individual masters

Auspicious phrase (福, 寿, 永和) — informal, decorative

Cyclical date (干支 ganzhi) — sometimes added to the above

A vase may have just one of these, or several together (e.g., master signature + cyclical date).

Stamp by technique

Underglaze blue stamps (青花款)

Look: Blue color, sealed inside the glaze, slightly muted with depth quality

Period: Predominant on most Ming and pre-Yongzheng Qing pieces; also on all blue-and-white decorated pieces

Reading: Standard regular script, top-to-bottom, right-to-left

See: Iron Red vs Underglaze Blue Marks for technical details.

Iron red stamps (矾红款)

Look: Bright red color, sits ON the surface of the glaze, slight raised relief

Period: Routine from Yongzheng (1723) onward, especially on famille rose and enameled pieces

Reading: Same script direction; characters often bolder, more compact than underglaze blue equivalents

Incised stamps (刻款)

Look: Carved into the body before glazing, then covered with glaze; you can feel a recessed line

Period: Sang-de-boeuf, jihong, monochrome glaze pieces (Kangxi onward)

Reading: Traditional script direction; often shallower than painted marks

Stamped/impressed stamps (印款)

Look: Pressed into the wet clay using a seal, then glazed over

Period: Some Yixing teapots; rare on Jingdezhen porcelain

Reading: Usually shorter, often single character or pair (e.g., 居 or 製)

Gilt/gold stamps

Look: Gold paint applied over fired glaze and re-fired at low temperature

Period: Cixi-era imperial commissions (1862-1908), Hongxian (1915-16), some Republic-period art porcelain

Reading: Standard direction; often paired with iron red

Stamp by period

Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)

Most Yuan pieces are unmarked. The very rare marked Yuan pieces use incised or stamped marks (e.g., 至正 Zhi Zheng era inscriptions). Authentic marked Yuan vases are nearly all in major museums.

Ming dynasty (1368-1644)

| Reign | Mark format | Color | Notes ||---|---|---|---|| 永乐 Yongle | 永乐年製 (4-char seal) | Underglaze blue / incised | Egg-shell tianbai || 宣德 Xuande | 大明宣德年製 (6-char) | Underglaze blue | Iron-rust spots distinctive || 成化 Chenghua | 大明成化年製 (6-char) | Underglaze blue | Soft brushwork; doucai era || 嘉靖 Jiajing | 大明嘉靖年製 | Underglaze blue (purple-tone) | Often paired with iron red decoration || 万历 Wanli | 大明万历年製 | Underglaze blue | Kraak export pieces |

See full guide: Ming Dynasty Reign Marks Guide

Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

| Reign | Mark format | Color | Notes ||---|---|---|---|| 康熙 Kangxi | 大清康熙年製 (6-char in double circle) | Underglaze blue dominant | Deep sapphire cobalt || 雍正 Yongzheng | 大清雍正年製 | Underglaze blue or iron red | Apex of refinement || 乾隆 Qianlong | 大清乾隆年製 + seal script variants | Both | Most copied of any reign || Daoguang | 大清道光年製 / 慎德堂製 | Underglaze blue or iron red | Hall mark valuable || Tongzhi | 大清同治年製 / 体和殿製 | Iron red common | Cixi rebuilds kilns || Guangxu | 大清光绪年製 | Iron red common | Lots of Kangxi homages || Xuantong | 大清宣统年製 | Limited output | Last Qing reign |

See full guide: Qing Dynasty Reign Marks Chart

Republic period (1912-49)

| Mark | Color | Notes ||---|---|---|| 居仁堂製 (Hongxian) | Iron red 4-char | Yuan Shikai imperial pretension; high quality || Master signatures (Wang Bu, etc.) | Various | Zhushan Bayou; like fine art || 江西瓷业公司 | Iron red | Major commercial studio || Apocryphal Qing reign marks | Both colors | Honest homages typically |

See full guide: Republic Period Porcelain Marks

Hall marks across periods

| Mark | Period | Significance ||---|---|---|| 慎德堂製 | Daoguang | Imperial residence; high value || 体和殿製 | Tongzhi-Cixi | Imperial pavilion || 大雅斋 | Cixi | Personal studio mark || 古月轩 | Qing-modern | Legendary attribution || 居仁堂製 | Hongxian | Yuan Shikai era |

See full guide: Chinese Porcelain Studio & Hall Marks

Common stamp configurations on vases

Single-circle border

Pre-Yongzheng standard. Usually accompanies underglaze blue marks.

Double-circle border (双圈款)

Kangxi imperial signature element. Two concentric circles drawn with a ruler around the reign mark. A reliable Kangxi indicator when combined with correct brushwork.

Square cartouche (双方框款)

Yongzheng-Qianlong falangcai standard. Square outline around 4-character or 6-character mark.

Seal-script square

Qianlong's iconic format — characters compressed into rectangular blocks within a square cartouche, painted in iron red.

No border, just characters

Late Ming, late Qing, Republic-period, modern. Less formal style.

Auspicious phrases

Sometimes a "lingzhi mushroom" or "leaf" symbol replaces the reign mark — these are folk or commercial-grade pieces.

Authentication checklist for vase stamps

Use this in conjunction with the full piece evaluation:

Stamp legibility — clear, deliberate brushwork? Or muddy/forced?

Color — period-appropriate (cobalt source, iron red technique)?

Border style — matches the reign claimed?

Stamp position — base (most common)? Inside foot? Wrong location?

Stamp size — proportional to the foot rim diameter?

Brushwork direction — fluid right-column-first, top-to-bottom?

Mark depth — drowned in glaze (underglaze) vs raised (overglaze)?

Wear consistency — does the stamp's age match the vase's age?

If 2 or more fail, scrutinize the rest of the piece very carefully.

See: How to Spot Fake Chinese Porcelain Marks for full authentication.

Common questions

Why do some Chinese vases have NO stamp at all?

Several reasons:

Yuan and early Ming: marking convention not yet established

Folk/provincial production: not produced for the imperial market

Export pieces: some 17th-century European-export pieces are unmarked

Lost stamp: heavily worn or damaged base

Unmarked doesn't mean fake. Authentication for unmarked pieces relies entirely on body, glaze, decoration, and provenance.

Are stamps always painted, or can they be printed?

Period authentic stamps (Ming-Republic) are always hand-painted or hand-incised. Printed/transferred stamps are a 20th-century industrial-reproduction signature — they look mechanical, with absolutely uniform line thickness and edge sharpness. Ostensibly antique pieces with printed stamps are modern.

Can I learn to read stamps without learning Chinese?

Yes. The repertoire of mark characters is small (~20-30 distinct characters across all reign marks). Memorize the era names and the closing characters (年製) and you can read 95% of marks. See: Reading Chinese Porcelain Marks Tutorial.

Are vase stamps worth more than dish or bowl stamps?

The vase form is more valuable for major reigns (especially large vases — meiping, tianqiu, etc.) but the stamp is identical across forms for the same reign. Same period, vases > dishes > bowls in price for comparable quality.

What about fake vase stamps from Vietnam/Korea/Japan?

Yes, neighboring countries produced "Chinese" porcelain reproductions in the 19th and 20th centuries. Vietnamese and Japanese reproductions sometimes use slightly different character forms (e.g., 製 in Japanese style differs in stroke count from Chinese). Worth knowing about; less common than Chinese-origin reproductions.

Does Kiln & Ink mark its own pieces?

Our hand-painted reproductions include faithful reproduction reign marks (e.g., Kangxi, Qianlong, Wanli) drawn by Jingdezhen master calligraphers, with the production-period clearly stated in the listing description. We continue the homage tradition with full disclosure.

Browse our marked vases

Chinese porcelain collection → — vases in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, and Wanli styles, each faithfully marked and honestly described.

Chinese Vase Stamps: Complete Reference for Collectors (2026)

This is a single-page reference designed to be bookmarked. For deep dives on specific stamp types, follow the internal links throughout.