Jingdezhen porcelain
Jingdezhen porcelain (Chinese: 景德镇陶瓷) is
Although apparently an unpromising location for potteries, being a remote town in a hilly region, Jingdezhen is close to the best quality deposits of petuntse, or porcelain stone, in China, as well as being surrounded by forests, mostly of pine, providing wood for the kilns. It also has a river leading to river systems flowing north and south, facilitating transport of fragile wares.[2] The imperial kilns were in the centre of the city at Zhushan (Pearl Hill), with many other kilns four kilometres away at Hutian.[3]
It has produced a great variety of pottery and porcelain, for the Chinese market and as
Official kilns
The Mongol Yuan dynasty established a body, the "Fuliang Porcelain Bureau" to regulate production, and the next Ming dynasty established official kilns to produce porcelain for the emperor; Jingdezhen continued to produce Imperial porcelain until the end of Imperial rule.[4] The imperial kilns were situated at Pearl Hill (Zhushan) in Jingdezhen; some scholars give a date of 1369 for the commencement of production.[5] But there continued to be many other kilns, producing wares for many distinct markets.[6]
The imperial court, except during periods of crisis, generated a huge demand for porcelain. Apart from the vast main palaces and other residences, for much of the period the many princes had subsidiary regional courts. There were imperial temples to be supplied, each of which was given monochrome wares in different colours, as well as several monasteries and shrines. The porcelain to which different ranks of the imperial household were entitled were set out in minute detail in regulations. The final version of these, from 1899, specified that the Empress Dowager Cixi was allowed 821 pieces of yellow porcelain, while the Empress had 1,014. A concubine of the first rank had 121 pieces of yellow with a white interior, but those of the second rank had yellow decorated with green dragons.[7]
Ming
The
A recently excavated Ming princely burial has yielded the first example to survive until modern times of a type of gaiwan set known from 15th-century paintings. There is a blue and white Jingdezhen stem cup, that has a silver stand and a gold cover (this dated 1437), all decorated with dragons. Presumably many such sets existed, but recycling the precious metal elements was too tempting at some point, leaving only the porcelain cups.[11] Other imperial porcelains may have carried gilding, which has now worn away.[12]
Under the
A wide variety of wares were produced for the court, with blue and white (initially ignored by the court but acceptable by 1402) accompanied by red and white wares using a copper-based underglaze red. This was sometimes combined with the cobalt blue in blue and red pieces.[16] Under the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426–1435) a copper-red monochrome glaze was used for ceremonial wares, of which very few survive. These ceased to be produced after his death, and have never been perfectly imitated, despite later attempts. This suggests the close personal interest some emperors took in the imperial potteries, and also that some secrets must have been restricted to a small group of potters.[17] The Ru ware of the Song dynasty had a similar pattern. In this reign enamel or overglaze decoration was developed, which was to dominate the finer wares in future centuries.[18]
In the late Ming period, the reigns of the five emperors from 1488 to 1620, there was little innovation in styles of decoration, though some alterations in the colours used. In this period the enormous quantities of porcelain made in China seem to have led to low prices and a loss of prestige, at court and in Chinese society in general. Those who could afford to do so still ate from gold, silver or jade;[19] it was in the Islamic world, where the Quran forbad tableware in precious metal, that rulers ate from Chinese porcelain. One disgraced official, whose goods were seized in 1562, had his valuable items confiscated, but not his collection of 45,000 pieces of porcelain, which were sold with his other effects.[20] By the reign of the Wanli Emperor (r. 1573–1620) there was a serious decline in quality.[21]
However the same period saw the spread of porcelain collecting among the scholar-gentry, who were mostly interested in older pieces, though generally not going further back than the Song. This is not the first period of antiquarianism and archaism in Chinese taste, but it has proved long-lasting, and had a considerable effect on subsequent production, producing waves of revivalism, imitation and much downright fakery—the three often being hard to distinguish.[22]
Transitional wares
As the Ming dynasty declined, with serious military and financial crises, the imperial court ceased to support the official Jingdezhen kilns, which were largely left to find their own funds from other markets. This situation lasted from 1620 to 1683, when the new
Wares of this interim period are often called "Transitional", and include the Tianqi porcelain mostly made for the Japanese market. The effect on the Jingdezhen potters was "liberating", as the range of subject matter in decoration greatly expanded. Printed books had become much more widely available, and were used, directly or indirectly, as sources for scenes on porcelain. Conveniently for the historian, many pieces began to be dated. Towards the end of the period the first famille rose porcelains appeared; the various colour "families" were to dominate production for the luxury market under the Qing.[25]
Qing
The imperial kilns were revived with 6 kilns and 23 workshops, dividing the other parts of the production process between them. Massive orders for the imperial palaces and temples resumed. While imperial taste in decoration remained somewhat conservative, the technical quality of Kangxi imperial wares reached new heights.
The long reign of the
Major types
Jingdezhen bluish-white ware
Jingdezhen ware became particularly important from the
A Qingbai porcelain bottle from Jingdezhen is the earliest piece of Chinese porcelain documented to have reached Europe; this is the Fonthill Vase, which was brought to Europe in the middle of the 14th century.[31]
Under the Yuan dynasty, Jingdezhen's finest whitewares changed to Shufu ware, named after the two character inscription on some pieces. Shufu may mean the pieces were ordered for the Shumiyuan ("Privy Council"); despite this, most examples have appeared outside China. The Shufu pieces are thick, with an opaque white glaze, with a faint blue-green tint. The stem cup shape first appears in these; it lasted until the end of the Ming.[32]
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Qingbaiglazed lamp, Jingdezhen ware, 1271–1368.
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Buddha statue, Qingbai ware, 1271–1368
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Yuan Qingbai ware vase, 13th–14th century
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Shufu stem cup, Jingdezhen, 1271–1368.
Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain
From the mid-14th century, Jingdezhen began to mass-produce underglaze blue porcelain, whose development it pioneered, making it "one of the world's earliest industrial towns".
The blue pigment was derived from cobalt oxide, which had been imported sporadically from Persia in earlier periods.[38] From the 14th century regular imports of the pigment were obtained from Persia. The cobalt was ground and mixed with a medium, then painted onto the dried bodies of the pots, which were then glazed and fired. At a later date a source of cobalt was found within China; this differed from the Persian ore in the proportion of associated manganese. The colour on the fired pots was a grey-blue rather than a pure blue. By mixing three parts Persian ore to two parts Chinese a rich and soft blue was produced, which became labelled as 'Sumatran' or 'Muhammadan' blue.[39]
One of the largest intact early collections of exported Chinese porcelain was at the
The restriction of painted subjects to the combination of abstract geometrical patterns, plant-forms, and animals had begun to end during the first half of the 15th century, as human figures, landscape scenes and other subjects began to appear.
Tianqi porcelain is a type of relatively informal ware, largely destined for the Japanese market, made at Jingdezhen in the 17th century. Kraak ware is a type of Jingdezhen export porcelain produced mainly during the Wanli reign (1573–1620), but also in the remaining two Ming reigns.[45] It was among the first Chinese ware to arrive in Europe in mass quantities. Strictly defined, it "is distinguished by the arrangement of its ornament into panels; these usually radiate to a bracketed rim notorious for its liability to chip".[46] It was mostly made as "deep bowls and wide dishes", decorated with motifs from nature, in a style not used on wares for the domestic Chinese market.[47]
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Yuan dynasty dish with a white dragon and pearl design on a monochrome blue background
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Dish with underglaze blue design of interlaced flowers, Xuande Reign 1426–1435, Ming
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Dish with underglaze blue dragon and yellow enamel, Ming
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Beaker-Shaped Vase with Four Animals, Transitional period, c. 1640 – 1660
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Transitional garlic-headed vase, mid 17th century
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Wittelsbach family. Wanlireign
Organization during the Qing period
During the Qing period production became more varied, with a wide spread of styles and qualities, from imperial wares, through those for export, to those for a popular domestic market. The dozens of non-imperial kilns are known as "private", with a few "official old kilns" making very high-quality wares for the Chinese nobility, which were "often as fine in quality as the imperial pieces and had the added attraction of more adventurous decoration since court styles were prescribed and rather formal";[48] at times these may have helped the imperial kilns with large orders. The rest supplied various levels of the Chinese domestic and export markets. Early in the period the original local source of clay ran out, and new diggings were begun.[49]
The French
In 1726 Nian Xiyao was appointed by the Beijing court as controller at Jingdezhen, the first centrally-appointed official since 1680. He was also appointed controller for a customs barrier 400 miles to the north at Huai'an on the Grand Canal, which resulted in Nian only being able to visit Jingdezhen once a year. In 1728 a member of the imperial household staff, Tang Ying, was appointed resident assistant at Jingdezhen. Tang replaced Nian in 1735 when the latter was accused of corruption, and he became one of the most influential of the superintendents.[52]
In 1739 the customs office was moved to Jiujiang 90 miles west of Jingdezhen; Tang continued in the dual post until recalled to Beijing in 1743 by the Qianlong emperor.[53] At court he was assigned the task of annotating twenty illustrations of the porcelain industry from the imperial library.[54] Returning to Jingdezhen he stayed there, except for a brief period between 1750 and 1752, until his death at 75 years old in 1756.[55]
Wares bearing Tang Ying's name survive; these include two pairs of blue-and-white candlesticks bearing dates of 1740 and 1741, the latter of which bears an inscription describing him as "Controller of Pottery in Jiangxi" amongst other official titles.[56] Tang also wrote a number of books including A Complete Record of Pots (1735), Mental Notes of a Pottery Worker (1738) and Illustrated Explanation of the Miracles of the God of the Furnace (1747).[57] His list of wares manufactured for the court runs to sixty types, some of which were recreations of styles of earlier periods.[58]
From the late 18th century, much of Jingdezhen's production was Canton porcelain, using "blanks" made, glazed, and fired at Jingdezhen but then taken to be decorated with enamels in Guangzhou (then usually romanized as Canton) for export to the west via the Thirteen Factories of the Canton System.[59][60]
In 1905 a European visitor reported that most production was in a short summer season, when workers from surrounding areas came to live in "barrack-like sheds" in the city, without their families. This influx took the population of the city to about 400,000, and caused some social problems.[61]
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Peach-bloom glazed seal paste box, Kangxi reign 1662–1722; one of the most difficult glaze effects
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Dish with underglaze blue and overglaze red design of clouds and dragons, Yongzheng reign 1723-1735
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Brush pot,Yongzhengperiod, 1723–1735
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Flask in underglaze blue & red, Qianlong emperor
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Lobed dish with flowers, Qianlong emperor, porcelain with overglaze enamel
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Dish with Magu, deity of longevity, Qing dynasty, approx. 1700–1800 AD, porcelain with overglaze polychrome
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Vase with children, Jiaqing period, 1796–1820, glazed porcelain, enamels
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Bowl (Wan) glazed in imitation of Song dynasty (960–1279) Jun ware, probably Qianlong
Exports to Europe
European visitors to
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a number of European companies were established to import various commodities including tea, silk, spices, lacquerwork and porcelain from East Asia. Research by Volker[64] has given figures for the trade in Chinese and Japanese porcelain carried out by the Dutch East India Company; between 1602 and 1682 the company exported between 30 and 35 million pieces. The English East India Company also imported around 30 million pieces, the French East India Company 12 million, the Portuguese East India Company 10 million and the Swedish East India Company some 20 million pieces between 1766 and 1786.[65]
The massive increase in imports allowed purchasers to amass large collections, which were often displayed in dedicated rooms or purpose-built structures. The
After the empire
Following the
Ceramics continue to be produced on a large scale in Jingdezhen, in a variety of styles,[72] many reproducing those of the past in a variety of qualities,[73] with Jingdezhen porcelain being shipped around the world. One trend that has continued in the 20th century is the development of super-thin "eggshell" porcelain for vases.[74] About 300 million pieces of porcelain were being produced annually in the late 20th century.[75]
Development of kiln technology
The dragon kiln was the traditional form of kiln used in southern China. Also known as a climbing kiln, this type in its final development consisted of a tunnel-like flue built up a slope from a main firebox. Along the sides of the kiln subsidiary entrances for side-stoking enabled the whole structure to be heated, and allowing the later dragon kilns to exceed 50 metres in length without any substantial drop in temperature. The draught created by the flow of hot air up the slope meant that the dragon kiln could be built without a chimney.[76]
This type of kiln was supplanted at Jingdezhen by a gourd-shaped kiln, with a large firing chamber at the front, connecting to a smaller chamber with a lower roof and a chimney.[77] The gourd-shaped kiln could produce large quantities of porcelain, fired at very high temperatures. By blocking the kiln vents to restrict air flow to the fire a reducing atmosphere of hydrogen and carbon monoxide could be maintained, which was necessary for some glazes such as copper red.[78]
The gourd-shaped kiln was used throughout the fourteenth century; towards the end of the Ming period it was supplanted by the egg-shaped kiln or zhenyao kiln, shaped like half an egg on its side, with a firebox inside the kiln at the broad end and at the narrow end an arch communicating to a separate chimney. The chimney was built to a height of around 19 metres; the high chimney increased the draught through the kiln and thus reduced the timing of the firing cycle to around 36 hours.[79]
Wares were placed inside stacked saggars on a floor of quartz sand; as the saggars protected their contents from direct flame both fuel and air could be introduced directly to the interior through vents, allowing temperature regulation throughout the kiln. Peepholes were used to observe the colour of flame, which changes according to the conditions and temperature. The hottest part of the kiln next to the firebox was used for crackle glazes; following inwards high-fired green and red glazes in a reducing atmosphere, then uncoloured, blue-glazed, and decorated ware at a moderate temperature, followed at the back by glazes to be fired at a lower temperature and turquoise-glazed ware in an oxidising atmosphere.[80]
Notes
- ^ Vainker, 176, 216; Rawson, 238–239, 242
- ^ Vainker, 176
- ^ Krahl
- ^ Vainker, 176–178 (in more detail 176–213)
- ^ Kerr, 16, 132
- ^ Vainker, 195
- ^ Vainker, 211
- ^ Vainker, 180. Usually, but not always, the "Yuan period" stops at 1352 for Jingdezhen.
- ^ Ming, 86–89
- ^ Valenstein, 287
- ^ Ming, 87
- ^ Vainker, 186
- ^ Vainker, 186–187; Ming, 167
- ^ Ming, 97, 100
- ^ Ming, 92–99
- ^ Ming, 86; Vainker, 184–186
- ^ Vainker, 187–188
- ^ Vainker, 187
- ^ Vainker, 195
- ^ Vainker, 195
- ^ Vainker, 199
- ^ Vainker, 195–199; Valenstein, 282–287
- ^ Kerr, 16
- ^ Kerr, 18–19
- ^ Vainker, 199–200
- ^ Vainker, 200–202
- ^ Vainker, 200–207; Valenstein, 219-242
- ^ Vainker, 200–212
- ^ Rawson, 84; Vainker, 105
- ^ Rawson, 82
- ^ Lauren Arnold, Princely Gifts and Papal Treasures: the Franciscan mission to China and its influence on the arts of the West, 1999:133ff
- ^ Vainker, 179–180
- ^ Canby, 137, quoted; Ming, 284–285
- ^ Vainker, 180, 182, 185–186
- ^ Canby, 137–138
- ^ Canby, 142
- ^ Ming, 292
- ^ Vainker, 76, 82
- ^ Cooper, 68
- ^ Canby, 120–121, 137–157; Vainker, 137
- ^ Vainker, 136–137
- ^ Vainker, 188
- ^ Ming, 88
- ^ Valenstein, 219–220
- ^ Vinhais L and Welsh J: Kraak Porcelain: the Rise of Global Trade in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Jorge Welsh Books 2008, p. 17
- ^ Vainker, 147
- ^ Vainker, 147
- ^ Vainker, 201
- ^ Vainker, 201
- ^ Ming, 288–290; Rawson, 106; Canby, 136; Valenstein, 215, 242, 288; Vainker, 156–158, 177–178
- ^ Vainker, 158–159
- ^ Macintosh, 119
- ^ Kerr, 19
- ^ Kerr, 30
- ^ Kerr, 19
- ^ Kerr, 67
- ^ Kerr, 20
- ^ Macintosh, 119
- ^ Nilsson, Jan-Erik. "Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) Porcelain". www.gotheborg.com. Jan-Erik Nilsson. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
- SELIBR 107047.
- ^ Kerr, 18
- ^ Meister, p 17
- ^ Meister, p 17
- ^ Volker, T. (1954) Porcelain and the Dutch East India Company London; Victoria & Albert Museum
- ^ Meister, p 18
- ^ Meister, p 17
- ^ Kerr, 127
- ^ Kerr, 129
- ^ Kerr, 129
- ^ Kerr, 129
- ^ Kerr, 130
- ^ Vainker, 176
- ^ Valenstein, 281
- ^ Vainker, 214–216
- ^ Krahl
- ^ Needham, 347–353
- ^ Kerr, 39
- ^ Kerr, 39
- ^ Kerr, 39–40
- ^ Kerr, 42
References
- Canby, Sheila R. (ed). Shah Abbas; The Remaking of Iran, 2009, British Museum Press, ISBN 9780714124520
- Cooper, Emmanuel. 10,000 Years of Pottery, 2010 (5th ed.), British Museum Press, ISBN 9780714150901
- ISBN 1851772642
- Krahl, Regina, "Jingdezhen" Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 2 Nov. 2016. subscription required
- Macintosh, Duncan. Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, 1994 (3rd ed.), Antique Collector's Club, ISBN 1851492100
- Meister, Peter Wilhelm and Reber, Horst. European Porcelain of the 18th Century, 1983, ISBN 0714821977
- "Ming": ISBN 9780714124841
- "Needham": Kerr, Rose and Wood, Nigel. Science and Civilisation in China; Volume 5. Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 12. Ceramic Technology, 2004, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521838337
- ISBN 0714114316
- Vainker, S.J., Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, 1991, British Museum Press, ISBN 9780714114705
- Valenstein, S. (1998). A handbook of Chinese ceramics (fully available online), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. ISBN 9780870995149
Further reading
- Dillon, Michael (1992). "Transport and marketing in the development of the Jingdezhen porcelain industry during the Ming and Qing dynasties". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 35 (3): 278–290. JSTOR 3632734.
- Gillette, Maris Boyd. China's Porcelain Capital: The Rise, Fall and Reinvention of Ceramics in Jingdezhen, 2016, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN 9781474259439, google books
- Hanaoka and Barberri trans., Masahiko Sato, Chinese Ceramics: A Short History, Weatherhill, New York and Tokyo, 1981, 195–205
- Jenyns, Soame. Ming Pottery and Porcelain, 1988 (2nd ed.), ISBN 0571148417
External links
Media related to Jingdezhen ware at Wikimedia Commons
porcelain in [https://www.pochehli.com]