Early 20th Century Chinese square form porcelain vase. Decorated with various painted flowers and trees. Marked on base CHINA with partially torn Made in China sticker, suggesting it originates from the early Republic Period. 

Condition: Slight rubbing. 

Size: 4 x 4 x 11 1/2 in. 

#2317 . 

The inclusion of place of origin on manufactured goods has an ancient history. In antiquity, informal branding such as the name of the manufacturer and their village were used by consumers as important clues in determining product quality, with archaeological evidence dating to at least 4,000 years ago. At first they were simple carved stone seals, then clay seals with impressed or etched images appeared, and later wax seals for items produced in greater quantity. In the earliest days, in the absence of a capitalist system when bartering and trading was based primarily on need and perceived value as opposed to commodification, branding was directly connected to social systems and cultural contexts, and was a consumer-initiated process, rather than controlled by a ruler or industry. Over time most civilizations began to require seals, inscriptions, or some other form of identification on any wares produced in their domain in order to assign taxes and certificates or permission to specific manufacturers. In China place-names appear to have developed independently during the Han dynasty (220 BC-200 AD). Following the European age of expansion, goods were imported from afar, and consumers began to associate specific countries with merchandise: calico cloth from India, ivory from Africa, spices from South East Asia, tobacco and rum from the New World, and porcelain, silk and tea from China, in the last case so much so that “china” became the de facto name of one of the most highly-traded goods, regardless of which province or manufacturer it came from. Greed, colonialism, and the proliferation of capitalism led to wars and conquests of these places, as Western nations sought to gain exclusive control over the trade of specific goods. The Opium Wars of 1839 to 1860 particularly devastated the trade of Asian porcelains, and led to countless imitations of lesser quality flooding the markets. The British passed the Merchandise Marks Act in 1887, which effectively stopped the importation of any goods without the country of origin prominently displayed, and the United States government followed suit with a similar act in 1890. Both acts required that porcelain be marked “CHINA,” setting the precedent for markings appearing in English, the largest official spoken language of the international consumer base at the time. The U.S. Stamp Act of 1894 further mandated that the imprint “MADE IN CHINA” must appear on all goods, which has become the ubiquitous marking ever since. The label became especially prominent by the 1990s, when companies based in the United States and Europe moved their operations to China due to their low production costs. “Made in China” eventually became associated with cheap, exploitable labor, churning out numerous mass market products of low quality, and “Made in America” became a selling point pushed by politicians in the early 2000s during the xenophobic aftermath of the September 11th Attacks. Today, every country on earth that engages in legal international commerce as defined by the World Trade Organization carries a country of origin label, to comply with agreements on intellectual property rights, sanitary and safety measures, and customs valuations and procedures.

Slight rubbing.