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| Porcelain of China | |
|---|---|
| Name | Porcelain of China |
| Country | China |
| Region | East Asia |
| Type | Ceramic |
| Main ingredients | Kaolin; petuntse |
| Developed | Tang dynasty |
| Notable periods | Song dynasty; Yuan dynasty; Ming dynasty; Qing dynasty |
Porcelain of China
Porcelain of China is the high-fired ceramic tradition originating in China that transformed East Asia and global trade from the Tang dynasty through the Qing dynasty. It encompasses technical innovations in kaolin use, firing in dragon kilns, and aesthetic systems propagated by imperial courts such as the Song dynasty and Ming dynasty workshops. Major centers like Jingdezhen, Dehua, and Yue ware production hubs supplied courts, merchants, and missions engaged with actors such as the Dutch East India Company, British East India Company, and Spanish Empire.
Porcelain is defined by a vitrified, translucent body formed from specific raw materials including kaolin, petuntse, and feldspathic minerals mined in provinces such as Jiangxi, Fujian, and Henan. Production relies on mineralogical knowledge comparable to practices recorded in Tang dynasty ceramic manuals and later imperial accounts kept in archives of the Ming dynasty imperial kilns. Raw-material sourcing linked porcelain to mines near Jingdezhen and to trade routes connecting to ports like Quanzhou and Guangzhou, which interfaced with merchants from Persia, Aden, and Malacca.
Early high-fired wares emerged during the Tang dynasty and matured under the Song dynasty with innovations at court workshops tied to the Northern Song capital and contemporaneous literati in Kaifeng and Hangzhou. The Yuan dynasty saw expanded use of cobalt-blue pigments from contacts with Persia and the Ilkhanate, while the Ming dynasty centralised production at imperial kilns in Jingdezhen and standardized forms for the Forbidden City. Under the Qing dynasty, technical refinements and export policies promoted blue-and-white wares and famille-rose palettes used by households tied to the Qianlong Emperor and collectors such as Kangxi Emperor patrons. Episodes such as the Opium Wars and treaties like the Treaty of Nanking altered trade flows and European collecting patterns.
Techniques combined mineralogy, kiln engineering, and glazing chemistry developed at sites including Jingdezhen kilns, dragon kilns in Fujian, and mantou kilns in Dehua. Technical processes included clay beneficiation, slip casting used by workshops attached to the Ming dynasty imperial bureaucracy, underglaze cobalt decoration influenced by imports from Samarkand and Kashgar, and overglaze enamelling techniques associated with Jesuit missionaries from Macao and Lisbon. Thermally controlled firings at temperatures exceeding 1300 °C required knowledge parallel to innovations in Song dynasty ceramic science and the later mechanization seen in port-related factories linked to Shanghai and Canton.
Stylistic repertoires range from monochrome celadon associated with Longquan and Yue ware to blue-and-white decorated forms tied to Jingdezhen and polychrome famille verte and famille rose often used in court settings like the Summer Palace. Regional schools—Dehua blanc-de-chine, Jingdezhen imperial blue-and-white, Longquan celadon, and Ding ware—produced iconography drawn from sources such as Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and scenes from literary works like The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West. Motifs included dragons linked to the Imperial Household, phoenixes associated with empresses, and floral patterns derived from horticultural motifs cultivated in imperial gardens at Suzhou.
Porcelain became a cornerstone commodity in exchange networks stretching from Muslim traders in the Indian Ocean to European trading companies such as the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company, which distributed wares to courts in Amsterdam, London, and Lisbon. The commodity influenced fiscal policy under Ming dynasty tax reforms and contributed to silver flows from the Spanish Empire via Manila to Chinese markets. Cross-cultural exchange occurred through maritime hubs like Malacca and Aden and via land routes tied to the Silk Road and caravan connections to Samarkand and Baghdad, bringing pigments, forms, and market preferences that shaped production.
Conservation of historic wares requires techniques informed by institutions such as the Palace Museum, Beijing, British Museum, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, which apply scientific analyses like X-ray fluorescence, thermoluminescence, and petrography to attribute provenance to pieces from workshops in Jingdezhen and Dehua. Authentication challenges involve fakes circulated by dealers tied to markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taiwan; major provenance disputes have appeared in auctions held by houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's. Collecting trends reflect imperial cabinets of curiosities in Beijing and St. Petersburg, nineteenth-century European collecting by figures like Sir Percival David, and modern scholarship promoted by universities including Peking University and Harvard University.
Category:Ceramics of China