122618-1/RL-1200 This is a Chinese pottery bowl, or planter container, and marked on the bottom with an impressed “China” and with mudman or mudmen The date is circa 1890 to 1919. It may be that the container is meant to hold a miniature Bonsai garden. The front of the bowl has the figures of two mud men seated at a table with a tea pot and food on the table. The figures are surrounded by shrubs and trees. The glaze is in colors of green, blue, brown, beige and black. The flesh of the mud men are not glazed and shows the color of the pottery. There are holes for the ears; however the eyes have black lines. The mud man on the right might have two holes in his head. The brown glaze is on the outer edges of the bowl. The interior is glazed a light pale brown. The underside is not glazed, except for small patches of glaze on the pottery. I do not see a hole, however one of the small circles of glaze might be over a hole and plugging it, I do not know. The bottom shows the impressed word of China. The pottery color is gray-brown. The glaze has crazing. The top edge of a green plant, above the man on the right, has a small chip. There is a nick on the cap of the mud man on the left and a color nick to the hat on the right. The rest of the figural scene has a few sharp edges, which might mean some edges broke off and one can’t tell anymore; however, look closely and keep this in mind. The glaze is rough to the touch around the bottom edge. On the back side of the figural scene, at the top, the pottery shows fissures in a few places, which must be due to shrinkage of the material over the years, sort of like what happens to old bisque porcelain. The biggest one is on the far right.