I agree with your opinion on the piece. I am wondering how heavy it is. It could be a ground polymer material. If that's the case, it would be fairly lightweight.
I have seen other "garden pieces" that had that same distasteful sheen. Maybe one could bury it for several years in a bog and it would lose its patina, or maybe it could just be lost ;-)

Dave

Dave - I'll check on its weight next time I visit the garden center - maybe this coming weekend..

Dave - I was there again this afternoon, and found that the lantern isn't light in weight - so I think it's basically concrete. I found another of the same model elsewhere among their stock, but it didn't have that glossy surface. I think whoever made them must have varnished some of them.....l

Herb- a friend of mne bought one of those at a stone supplier in Edmonton. Last time I visited she asked "so what do you think"? Seems they were advertised as "100% genuine Japanese lanterns"
Didnt really have the heart to tell her I didnt like the shiny finish

Steve - I think you did right. About 9 years ago I constructed a simplified Shinto Arch in our garden and painted it bright red. I felt very proud of it and would have been mortified if anybody had criticised it.

It was only after several years that I began to wonder if it was suitable. Then the JOJG wrote unfavourably of them. That did it & I turned it into a roofed gate. The roofed gate (the pillars painted an earthen colour instead of bright red ) looks much better. Now the thought of having a red Shinto Arch makes me shudder.

Herb,
To me the lantern looks like it may be clay.
I remember a course textured clay that could
look like that. The surface reminds me of some
semi-matt glaze. I do agree with you.
I think it's an ugly surface. To me it does not look painted
at all. But I would have to look at it close up.

I've been wanting to take up pottery again,
so this is an idea. What if matt glaze was used.
There are many glaze recipes that would
go well on a japanese latern.

Michael - Whatever the lantern was made of, it felt pretty hard & solid when I tapped it with my fingernails.

I know very little about pottery making (beyond that I believe you need to use a kiln!) but using the process to make a lantern sounds like an interesting idea. If you do it I'm sure people would like to see pictures of the result.

Herb

Saw this after a lurk around.

I worked in the epoxy resin industry for 15 years and could more or less guarantee that itÂs probably cast in a rubber mould from an epoxy resin mortar/grout or similar.

I tried a similar technique before I discovered my granite kerbstones.

Many resins can also be used to modify a cement mix as well. You get this characteristic resin rich surface layer.

These are quite common in the UK as garden ornaments, along with Buddahs, dragons and the like in lurid reds and greens usually and they do look very artificial.

If the basic shape is desireable, items like this can be sanded to "key" the surface, varnished, dashed to excess with a suitable mix of clean kiln dried sands while still wet then allowed to dry to give a more natural finish.

Waterproof, cement based tile adhesive/grout stippled onto the abraded surface would might work as well to "natural up the finish"