All I know is that it appears to be a 'famille' bowl. I looked on eBay for something similar, but there are SO many styles.

I Googled 'How to find value of famille bowl' and came up with the site below, which may be of help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Collecting antique Chinese porcelain

Chinese porcelain is famously hard to sort out - the field is awash in fakes and tourist copies, some honest and some not, and has been for decades. Even the experts find it hard to determine what you've got sometimes.

If you get any encouragement from the antiques threads, I'd follow my3dogs' advice and read up, then find an expert of your own.

I printed off pictures so I'll go check my book and see if it's there.

Does the bottom marking say anything specific?

It looks to me more like an owner's chop than a maker's mark, but I'm not an expert by any stretch.

My3dogs, thanks for the link. I did a google image search on famille jardinere and lots of the pictured somewhat resembled the style of my pot. None were the same shape though, so I'm likely wrong calling it a jardinere. I'm going to use "famille" as a starting point for my searches; thanks for that info.

Bronwynsmom, I hadn't even thought about it being an attempt at forgery, but now that you mention it, I know I've heard discussion of that on Antiques Roadshow and other places. I've just never had any idea if it was just cheap tourist crap or something of quality. I live just outside of DC, so I ought to be able to find an antique store that specializes in Asian antiques. Maybe someone would be willing to take a look and give me their thoughts.

oakleyoak, I just tried to get a better picture of the mark on the bottom. It's pretty faint and just composed of asian symbols. I appreciate you looking in your book for me.

So far, not a peep from the antiques forum.

Regardless of its authenticity, I think it's very! :)

Some of the designs look rather modern - the harlequin design on the ball, the toadstool, the flowers. I know nothing about Asian pottery, but the designs have a 1970-ish feel.

I had a fun lunch looking through the book (made me want to start collecting again!) and I couldn't find anything similar.

I think it's a beautiful piece. It would look nice with a plant in it sitting on a DR table.

It's entirely possible that it's modern. I like it regardless. I used to have it sitting in the living room with a plant in it.

I followed a lot of links around the internet looking for clues, and I think the shape might be called "brush washer". I don't know what that means, but it's the closest I've come so far. I'll keep looking for a little while and will report back if I find anything interesting.

You need to be able to read and understand the symbols on the bottom. They could be Japanese or Chinese and often the symbols mean nothing in the way of identifying who made the piece or when. It looks pretty crudely painted to be an attempt at forgery. The design doesn't look old oriental -- more an effort to appeal to a particular era/culture. I'm going to take a leap here and suggest it is a 1960 - '70s import piece -- probably bought at a Pier 1 Imports or similar, and at some time it had a "Made In" sticker on the bottom. I could be totally wrong, but that would be my first instinct.

Graywings: I skimmed right past your post in my attempt to comment, but I think you are right on. When I looked at the photo's I kept hearing in my head "we all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine . . . " (the Beatles, I think). I think you are right, I would put the art work in the late 60's - 70's. Still, that's a guess on my part.