Yuan and early Ming
During the Mongol occupation and the early reigns of the Ming Dynasty, momentous changes occurred at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province. The kilns came under imperial patronage, and fine porcelain with underglaze decoration supplanted the glazed stonewares of the Song period as the most desirable form of ceramic. Exported Longquan celadons remained a vital source of revenue for the government.
PORCELAIN
Although porcellaneous wares had been made from the late 6th century, it was at Jingdezhen that porcelain developed to its full potential. The addition of kaolin (china clay) to the batch made it possible to make much larger pieces than before. Shu fu wares, which take their name from the two moulded Chinese characters shit and fu (”Privy Council”) found on their interiors, arc of thickly potted white porcelain with an opaque, greyish-white glaze; these were made during the Yuan period for the Ministry of Military and Civil Affairs.
UNDERGLAZE BLUE-AND-RED DECORATION
The use of underglaze decoration probably dates
from c.1330. Cobalt imported from Persia was applied directly onto the unfired body, which was then glazed and fired. Copper oxide, which fires red, was often used in combination with underglaze blue in the earliest painted wares of Jingdezhen, and by the late 14th century it was used on its own. Copper is much more volatile than cobalt and many of these pieces are flawed, the red being greyish and dull.
In 1368, after the Mongols were finally expelled from China, the Ming Emperor Hongwu (1368-98) imposed a strict trade embargo, and foreign cobalt became very rare. The use of copper oxide therefore became more widespread, and copper monochromes were introduced, reaching their peak in the reign of Xuande (1426-35). The Yongle (1403-24) and Xuande reign periods are also regarded as belonging to the classical era of blue and white, when foreign cobalt was once again in plentiful supply. The blue tended to filter through the glaze, creating an effect known as “heaped and piled”, much imitated during the Qing period.
Longquan
• FORMS abandonment of archaic forms in favour of large platters and forms dictated by the export market
• GLAZE thinner and more olive than on Song wares
• DECORATION very little space left undecorated
Qinghai
• FORMS large pieces made possible by the addition of kaolin to the paste
• DECORATION increasingly ornate, with little space left undecorated; beading and Buddhist figures common
Shu fu
• BODY thickly potted porcelain
• GLAZE opaque, greyish-white and waxy
• DECORATION may have moulded Chinese characters
shu and it scarcely visible under the glaze; moulded floral decoration on the inside and incised decoration on the outside
Blue-and-white wares
• FORMS bottles, bulbous wine jars, and large platters
(many with bracketed rims) for the export market
• GLAZE viscous in the Yuan period and inclined to
the pitted “orange-peel” effect in the early Ming
• BLUE dark speckled blue, known as “heaped and piled”, on some Xuande and Yongle pieces
• DECORATION themes include fish among aquatic plants, flower motifs, grapes, and vine tendrils (specifically for the export market)
• STYLE crowded arrangements in the Yuan, but elegant, harmonious spacing in the Yongle and Xuande periods

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