What's it worth? Appraisal of Japanese piano baby

 I am a very amateur collector of chinese blue and white pottery and recently inherited my grandfathers collection of blue and white after he suddenly passed away.

When I was cleaning out his estate buried in the basement under a bunch of his belongings was an old damaged trunk that was pretty much rusted shut. I was planning on throwing it out but when I picked it up I could tell something was inside so I pried it open.

Inside amongst some papers and things wrapped in a blanket I found a rather large blue and white porcelain figure of a baby holding a cat, the baby is wearing an apron and the apron has a pattern I have never seen, it also has images of three clouds and what looks to be a dragon or rooster It’s hard to tell as its faded a bit. There are no markings or clues as to who made it that I can find.

 Can you tell me what this is? or represents? Any idea when it may have been made? My grandfather left absolutely no info on it. I have taken quite a few pictures of it I have posted on my site

The figure is almost 13 inches high and about 9 inches wide. I would guess weighs upwards of 5 lbs


AW says: That’s a great find, I’m glad you saved it from the trash bin! What you have is a 19th century Japanese version of a popular American Victorian item, a piano bably. These were placed on top of pianos to keep the piano scarves in place. 

Circa late 1800s,

Retail value: $350-$500

Wholesale $250

Quick sales: $150

Keywords: Japanese porcelain, piano baby, blue and white pottery, porcelain,