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Qing before 1800
Following the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty by the Qing Dynasty in 1644, production at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province was severely disrupted until 1677, when one of the classic eras of porcelain production began. This lasted until c.1750.
BLUE-AND-WHITE WARES
Blue and white dominated the export market during this period, but these wares were not prominent among the ceramics made at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen. Before 1800 Qing imperial blue-and-white wares tended to imitate early Ming versions, particularly from the Yongle (1403-24) and Xuande (1426-35) reign periods, with decoration that was carefully spaced. The designs on these pieces are generally formal, measured arrangements showing stylized lotus flowers among scrolling foliage. The blue was applied in imitation of the “heaped and piled” effect that connoisseurs so admired in the early Ming wares. Often the reign mark used on those wares was used again in deference to the earlier period.
ENAMELLED WARES
Enamelled porcelains came into their own during the Qing period, replacing blue-and-white wares as the focus of technical and artistic innovation. The technical advances signalled by the development of famille-verte and famille-rose wares greatly enhanced the decorative possibilities of the medium, while the body had now become so refined and delicate as to be the perfect foil for artistic virtuosity. Increasingly, the white porcelain was not so much decorated as painted in the manner of silk-scroll painting.
The famille-verte palette was first introduced during the late 17th century as a development of the wucai palette. In early famille verte the blue is applied under the glaze in the Ming wucai style, but distinguished from it by a generally brighter palette. In the mature famille verte, which dates from the last years of the 17th century, the blue was applied over the glaze and is transparent. Gold was sometimes applied to famille verte wares of the early 18th century. The designs on these wares tended to be detailed representations of nature, including dramatic rocky landscapes and flowers, or precious objects such as classic vases and items for the scholar’s desk.
The famille-rose palette was created c.1720, at the end of the Kangxi reign period. The palette is named after one of the constituent colours – opaque pink enamel, which was achieved using gold. The palette also includes Lin opaque white and yellow that made blending and shading of colours possible in a way that could not be achieved with the transparent colours of the familleverte palette. This gave rise to the exquisitely refined decoration seen on porcelain of the Yongzheng period, with ink-and-wash-style landscapes or
naturalistic depictions of flowers and fruit
rendered in a painterly style against superbly
clear white backgrounds. Among the most
refined Yongzheng and Qianlong wares are
famille-rose wares known as guyuexuan, which were painted in the imperial workshops. Some of these bear poetic lines or calligraphic designs, and they were copied widely in the 20th century.
MONOCHROMES
In this period monochromes were the ceremonial wares used by the emperor and had to be of the very finest quality. In the early 18th century copper-red glazes, which had been so highly prized in the early Ming period, were reintroduced. However, as a result of a longer firing time, these new colours are not as resonant and fresh as their earlier Counterparts, and they can be distinguished from the originals by the extra laver of clear glaze over the copper red. Copper oxide was also used to make the so-called “peachbloom” glaze, which was introduced at this time and applied to a limited range of small wares intended for the scholar’s table, including water droppers and brush rests. This glaze is characterized by the combination of a pinkish red and a cloudy greenish bloom, creating a colour reminiscent of the blush on a ripening peach.
REIGN MARKS
The practice of marking imperial wares with the name of a reign period was introduced during the early 15th century, and continued to the end of the Qing period. Either four or six (or, in very rare cases, eight) characters were inscribed in underglaze blue, and often enclosed within a double circle. In the Yongzheng period, seal-script reign marks became common, and during the succeeding Qianlong period they were the norm. Conventional script became popular again at the end of the 19th century. Reign marks should not be taken at face value when dating a piece, since it was common practice to inscribe wares with the mark of art earlier reign period, particularly those of the much-esteemed Nling period and especially of Emperor Chenghua (1465-87). This was not so much a question of fraud as of admiration for and imitation of antiquity.
The experimentation with monochrome glazes resulted in many innovative effects, such as the speckled turquoise and dark-bloc “robin’s-egg” glaze, which is thought to have been inspired by the Jun wares of the Song period. The “teadust” glaze is created when iron oxide is underfired, resulting in a mottled green on a yellowish-brown background. The “iron-rust” glaze is
a streaked reddish-brown with a metallic sheen, achieved by cooling the ware very rapidly after firing. The pale-little Clair-de-lone glaze was created by incorporating a very small amount of cobalt blue and was applied only to the most delicate wares.
“ARCHAIC” WARES
The Qing emperors, especially Qianlong, were avid collectors of antiquities, and many Qing imperial ceramics closely imitate ancient models. This is particularly evident in the traditional forms that were favoured, which include pastiches of early bronzes and jades and also of classic ceramics of the Song and Ming Dynasties; some wares were made using a combination of the two forms. The Qing potters also tried to re-create the glazes applied to the archaistic pieces of the Song period; these included thick, crackled glazes used on Guan wares. The Qing copies are generally smoother and shinier than the originals.
Qing reign periods Shunzhi ( 1644-6 1 ) Kangxi(1662-1722) Yongzheng (1723-35) Qianlong ( 1736-95) Jiaqing (1796-1820)
Daoguang ( 182 1 —50) Xianfeng (1851-61)
Tongzbi ( 1862-74)
Guangxu (1875-1908) Xuantong (1909-11 )
• BODY very fine white porcelain
• POTTING extremely neat with smooth, rounded foot-rims, the bases of bowls and dishes arc flat, unlike the slightly convex form of the bases of Ming wares; there are no visible joins on vases and pots
• GLAZES a wide range of innovative glazes appears on monochromes; imitations of crackled Song-period Guan glazes are found on “archaic” pieces
• ENAMELS many colours enhanced with opaque white and yellow in the famille-rose palette, permitting shading and more decorative potential
• FORMS small, fine pieces for delicate porcelains as well as imitations of archaic bronze and jade forms
• Di CORATION blossoming and fruiting branches
rendered in a painterly manner; emblems of good luck, such as the characters sbou (long life) and fu (bat), are often integrated into the designs
Reign marks
Reign marks for Shunzhi and Kangxi are always written in conventional script; for the period of Yongzheng they may be written in the same manner or in seal script; Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang are usually done in seal characters; from the Xianfeug reign onward, marks may be written in either style

Later export porcelain
The loss of imperial patronage at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province in 1608 prior to the death of Emperor Wanli (d.1619) encouraged the Chinese potters to seek new markets for their wares. They made dishes to European specifications, introducing new shapes and decorative motifs. They also had an unrivalled artistic freedom, which unleashed a great creativity, while the technical quality of the body and glaze improved noticeably.
TRANSITIONAL WARES
Blue-and-white porcelains of the Transitional period (1620-83) are characterized by the purplish tone of the blue, and by the easy naturalism of the brushwork. Narrative scenes were common, while landscape painting was given unprecedented importance. Colophons were very rarely added, but when they are found they often give details of where the object was produced, which clearly aids the dating of such items. Enamelled Transitional wares are the forerunners of the group of wares known as fanzine verte, and the colours are noticeably bright and clean. The Transitional period also marks the appearance of the first truly European shapes, including table salts, mustard-pots, square flasks, and candlesticks.
EXPORT PORCELAINS FROM JINGDEZHEN
The porcelains produced at Jingdezhen after Emperor Kangxi reorganized the kilns in 1683 are markedly more refined than earlier wares. The potting is economical and neatly trimmed, while the glaze is very thin and glassy. The foot-rims often have a faint amber blush due to oxidization. The blue varies from a silvery hue to an almost purple tone. After c.1730 export wares began to decline considerably; this is evident in the poorly trim med foot-rims and in the presence of sugary kiln grit, as well as in deeper oxidization, and an irregular and bluish glaze.
The range of decorative themes is varied and includes flowers and plants growing among rocks, sometimes enclosed within a fence, especially from the Yongzheng period (1723-35). The landscape designs used during the Kangxi period (1662-1722) have a sense of craggy remoteness, which later gives way to a more comfortable, idealized structure, with pavilioned isles, drifting sampans, and bending trees.
In the early 18th century northern-European clients
began to order dinner services decorated with their own
coats of arms, although the Spanish and Portuguese had ordered individual pieces with arms more than a century earlier. These armorial services were executed in underglaze blue or in the famine-verte palette (green, iron-red, blue, yellow, and a manganese purple). However, the later famillerose armorial services, often embellished with gold, are more numerous; hundreds of thousands of pieces were dispatched each year as wealthy British families ordered vast dinner services.
Europeans commissioned a variety of designs to be copied, sending paper patterns and wooden models to the Chinese. Early during the reign of Qianlong (1736-95), plain, blank porcelains from Jingdezhen were probably sent to be decorated in Guangzhou (later Canton) in Guangdong Province; blue-and-white ware was already fully decorated, as the decoration was underglaze. Their close proximity to the decorators’ workshops enabled East India Company employees to complete their private trade orders quickly and effectively. By comparison with general-trade porcelains, these private orders form a much more interesting and collectable group. In addition to the armorial wares, which are by and large formulaic, there are pieces with designs meticulously copied from European engravings.
By the second quarter of the 19th century tailor-made wares were the exception, and production concentrated on heavily enamelled decorative wares and dinner services. Pink, green, and gold with touches of yellow and turquoise were the usual palette of these later porcelains, decorated in Canton and known as “Canton” wares. The material and glaze are generally of secondary quality, with deposits of sugary kiln grit.
SHIPWRECK CARGOES
Among the many ships carrying tea, porcelain, spices, and silk from China to India and Europe, a number inevitably sank before they completed their journeys. In recent years some of these shipwrecks have been salvaged and their precious cargoes auctioned. They include the Dutch ship Geldermalsen, carrying the so-called Nanking cargo, which sank in 1752 with 25,000 pieces of porcelain intended for sale in Amsterdam and was found in 1986. The Diana, which sank in 1817 in the Strait of Malacca en route to Madras, was salvaged in 1994; just under 24,000 pieces of intact blue-and-white porcelain were recovered from the ship, indicating the popularity of this type of export ware.
SWATOW WARES
Named after the port of Shantou (Swatow), Swatow wares are roughly decorated porcelains made around Chaozhou in Guangdong Province from the mid-16th century for export principally to India, South-East Asia, and Japan. Although wares include blue-and-white and slip-painted pieces, it is the polychromes that are best known. The decoration is executed with great flourish in overglaze red, green, and turquoise, with a sparing use Of black. Forms include plates and dishes, and kendi ritual vessels), while characteristic motifs include the ..split pagoda”. Often red character seals are alternated with cartouches around the edges of these wares.
DEHUA PORCELAIN
White porcelain from Dehua in Fujian Province was produced from the Song period. Ming wares from Dehua have a warm ivory tone, while the Qing wares are usually more bluish, or dead white. The most typical forms of Dehua porcelain (known in Europe as blanc-de-Chine) are hollow figures of Buddhist deities – most notably of Guanyin, goddess of mercy – although in the Ming period figures of the Madonna and Child were also produced for the Portuguese. Small cups decorated with reliefs of blossoming prunus were also exported. Dehua wares are usually signed with a small seal impressed into the back of the sculpture.
YIXING WARES
Yixing wares are red stonewares, made in Jiangsu Province, which were exported to Europe from the mid-17th century until the end of the 18th century. The most commonly exported wares were small teapots and cups, either left plain or decorated with ,garden scenes in relief, or with sprigged decoration such as prunus branches. In the 1670s potters in Delft began to produce a low-fired redware in imitation of Yixing, and from the late 17th century potters in Staffordshire produced a similar ware. A number of small Yixing figures were exported to Europe.
Transitional wares
• BODY greyish-white porcelain
• BLUE rich and purplish, applied in washes
• DECORATION taken from printed sources: narrative scenes and flower studies applied as outlines filled in with a wash, a technique known as “line and wash”
• THEMES narrative scenes taken from literary classics
Kangxi blue-and-white porcelain
• POTTING generally very economical and neatly trimmed around the base
• GLAZE very thin and glassy
• FOOT-RIMS faint amber blush due to oxidization
• BLUE varies from a silvery to an almost purple tone
• THEMES flowers and plants growing among rocks; landscapes
Jingdezhen enamelled export porcelain
• SHAPES many European shapes drawn from silverware or European pottery and porcelain prototypes
• DECORATION translucent overglaze enamels with dominant green in densely meshed patterns; gilding
Dehua wares
• BODY white porcelain
• GLAZE warm ivory (Ming); bluish white (Qing)
• SHAPES tall, hollow sculptures of Buddhist deities, figures of the Madonna and Child, and small cups
• DECORATION reliefs of plum blossoms on cups
• MARKS seal signature on the back of sculptures
Yixing wares
• BODY red stoneware
• GLAZE some figures are covered with a pale-grey glaze
• SHAPES small teapots and cups
• DECORATION relief or sprigged decorations
• COPIES made in Europe in the late 17th century by the Elers brothers in Staffordshire and Arij Milde in Delft

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