Ming Dynasty

 Correlative History: Ming's Achievements In Porcelain , Porcelain Exports of Ming Dynasty
 Famous Kilns: Imperial Porcelain Factory, Dehua Kiln
 Shape and Technique: Red Glaze, Sweet White Glaze, Porcelain of Yongle Reign, Tricolors, Porcelain of Xuande Reign, Globular Vase, Yellow Glaze, Porcelain of Chenghua Reign, Doucai, Red-Green Color, Oxhead-Shaped Zun, Porcelain if Jiajing Reign, Five-Colors , Porcelain of Wanli Reign, General Jar, Elephant-leg-shaped Vase

Ming's Achievements In Porcelain (AD 1368-1644)


Ming Dynasty occupied a very important position in China's porcelain-making history. The firing and making skills of Jingdezhen porcelain was improved remarkably on the basis of Song and Yuan Dynasties. Especially in early period of Ming Dynasty, the "Imperial Kiln Factory", which made porcelain only for the imperial family, was set up in Zhushan of Jingdezhen, and the factory did not take consideration of cost while only paid special attention to improving quality and developing new forms, which had played an important role in boosting the comprehensive development of Jingdezhen porcelain-making skills and making the town become the national center for porcelain. The qinghua porcelain, which was created in Yuan Dynasty, became excellent after the making skills was improved and perfected in Ming Dynasty. The successful manufacturing of such new varieties as Chenghua contrasting colored ware and Wanli Five-colored ware laid foundation for the rapid development of overglaze-colored porcelain in Qing Dynasty.

Porcelain Exports of Ming Dynasty


The Ming Dynasty saw the enlarged scale and scope of porcelain exports, which were expanded to all over the Asia, Africa and Europe. China's porcelains could reach foreign countries through 4 channels. They were offered by the imperial palace to foreign countries as rewards, or bought and brought back by foreign envoys who had come to China to pay their tributes. They were also transported to other countries through sea expeditions of Zheng He the famous eunuch in the Ming and non-governmental foreign trade activities. In Hongwu Reign at the beginning of Ming, maritime trade was prohibited for a time, halting non-government porcelain exports. Yet the granting of rewards by the Ming Palace to foreign countries still continued. According to the History of Ming Dynasty, in the 16th year of Hongwu Reign alone, 19,000 pieces of porcelain were granted to the countries of Zhancheng (some ancient country in South China Sea), Xiaoluo (today's Thailand) and Zhenla (today's Kampuchea) respectively. Zheng He's eight sea expeditions, which brought him as far as East Africa, also contributed to the great flow of China's porcelains into other countries, even to East Africa, at the beginning of Ming Dynasty. Many diplomatic envoys to China also bought porcelains to take them back when they returned to their countries. Yet the amount was rather small due to the quantity limitations imposed by Ming government. After opening country to foreign trade, non-government foreign trade became increasing prosperous. In the mod Ming Dynasty when the Portuguese invaded the Strait of Malacca, China's porcelain began to be transported directly to Europe. According to historical documents, China began to receive orders for custom-made porcelains from Europe in 1608 at the latest. In 1634, some Netherlands pirates looted 107,300 porcelain cups and 10,451 porcelain plates just in one action. Land transportation also extended to the countries of Dada (in East Mongolia) and countries in Tianfang (Middle East). Yet it was of smaller scale compared with sea transportation. Together with the porcelain ware, the porcelain techniques were also spread to other countries, first to Korea, Vietnam and Japan, then to the Middle East. In 1470 they reached Italy via Arab. Imported glaze was also used in China since Ming, such as the "sumali" blue pigment of used in Yongle and Xuande Reigns and the "Mohammed bile" used in Zhengde and Jiajing Reigns.

Imperial Porcelain Factory (Imperial Factory)


The Imperial Porcelain Factory, situated at Zhushan, Jingdezhen during the dynasties of Ming and Qing, was the designated official kiln producing porcelain ware special for the imperial palace during these two dynasties. In Qing, it was also called as "Imperial Kiln Factory", or abbreviated as "Imperial Factory". The Factory came into existence in Hongwu Reign of Ming. As for the precise year of its establishment, there has been two versions of explanations: 1369, namely the 2nd year of Hongwu Reign, and 1404, namely the 35th year. When it had been just established, there were altogether 20 kilns. By Xuande Reign the number reached 58. in the Factory, there were 23 workshops respectively specialized in items such as big bowl making, plate making, or ware painting. The production thus proceeded in cooperation. The porcelain -making task of the Factory was of fixed quantity each year assigned by the Ministry of Works, referred to as the "ministry quota"; the quantity of production additional to the Ministry quota temporarily ordered by the palace was called the "imperial quota". Before Jiajing Reign of Ming, the whole production process of the porcelain special for the imperial palace were accomplished in the factory. From the late Ming, the method of "manufacture in private kiln for official kiln" started to be adopted. And after the 19th year of Kangxi Reign of Qing, this method was fixed as an institution in imperial porcelain making. The Imperial Factory was generally managed by the regional officials of Jiangxi Province. When the porcelain of imperial quota was of great quantity, the imperial palace would assign official as inspector in the Factory. Because it had a large assembly of good ceramic craftsmen and it spared no expense when improving the quality of its products, the Factory did accelerate the development of porcelain-making industry accompanied with its great varieties in the creation and innovation of new porcelain works.

 

Dehua Kiln


Dehua Kiln was a famous kiln specialized in white porcelain making. Its sites spread about within the scope of today's Dehua Country, Fujian Province, among which Wanpinglun, Qudougong, and Nanyaoling are the well-known kiln sites. The Kiln was established in Song Dynasty. Up to Ming, its white porcelain product became a representative genre of Chinese porcelain industry. The body of its while porcelain was low in iron content and high in potassium content, the color of the glazed surface was of bright, smooth luster, and milky as frozen fat. It was thus often called as "lard white" or "ivory white". Dehua white porcelain used to be one of the major varieties for export in various dynasties. In the West it was named as "Chinese white porcelain" or "Marco Polo porcelain". Its common shapes were burner, cup, Zun, and Ding, and the porcelain figurine was also remarkably exquisite. Distinguished ceramic craftsmen include He Chaozong, Zhang Shoushan, and Lin Chaojing.

Red Glaze


It was the colored glaze made out of the proper compound of copper burnt in the high-temperature reducing atmosphere, with fresh red in color, so it was named "red glaze". Jingdezhen started to make the works in red glaze in late of Yuan Dynasty and early of Ming Dynasty, and they were in vogue during Yongle and Xuande Reign. In Jiajing Reign, the official kiln had turned to make "alum red glaze", and the red glaze was recovered till Kangxi Reign of Qing dynasty, and turning out such new colored glaze as the Langyao red and kidney-bean red. There were a variety of the red glaze including the ruby red, vermilion, blood red, alter red, spread red, orange red, purplish red, kidney-bean red, rouge red and beauty's flush in addition to the fresh red glaze.

Sweet (Lovely) White Glaze


It was the white glaze created in the Jingdezhen official kiln during the Yongle Reign of Ming Dynasty. Because the eggshell of the article was so thin that the figure could be seen through the eggshell under the light and the glaze was gentle and mild like jade in the feeling of "»Î¾»(tianjing: lovely and clean)", thus it was called "lovely white glaze". It was also called "»»Òù(tianbai: filled white glaze)", meaning that colored patterns could be filled on this white glaze. The glaze saw a further development in Xuande Reign of Ming Dynasty, with its color brilliant like jade, with extremely-slim veiled pattern about dragon and phoenix inside the thin eggshell and with orange-peel-like pattern faintly seen, which because the superb one of the lovely white ware. It was stall made in Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns of Qing Dynasty.

  Porcelain of Yongle Reign (1403-1424 AD)

This period of time witnessed incomparably prosperous production of qinghua porcelains in Mnig Dynasty. The qinghua pigment of "sumani", brought back from overseas by Zhenghe during his several sea expeditions, provided a material guarantee for the production of qinghua porcelains, which were of bright colors and some black flaws. The black flaws constituted a major characteristic of such products during that time. Instead of being simple and dignified like those of Yuan, Yongle porcelains were delicate and exquisite. One of the examples was the famous qinghua yashou cup. The emergence of "bodiless ware" made the production of eggshell porcelains possible, which were mainly in lovely white glaze. Success was also made in the production of porcelains in fresh red glaze. The glaze, with its dazzling brightness and pure red color, was also called "ruby red", and ranked as a major achievement attained during Yongle Reign.

  Tricolors (or Sancai, or Single Tricolors)


A kind of porcelain color mainly with three glazes of yellow, green and purple made during Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was also called the "tricolors without red" because it was no red color. To made the tricolors, first of all to burn it into unglazed porcelain in high temperature, and to draw out patterns with color pigments, then again to kiln it in low temperature at on stroke. Besides yellow, green and purple, the tricolors had still black and white color. It was originally created in Jingdezhen in Ming Dynasty, and became exquisite in Zhengde Reign, and it prevailed mostly in Kangxi Reign of Qing Dynasty.

 
Porcelain of Xuande Reign (1426-1435 AD)


This period witnessed further development and achievements of artistic porcelains, especially in qinghua ware, which boasted delicate eggshell texture, glistening and fat glaze, quietly elegant colors hue and artistically arranged decorative patterns. The consummate porcelain texture, colors and patterns have been claimed by generations of porcelain critics as three insurmountable heights of porcelain art. The tone of the glaze color in copper red in this period tended to be dark red, looking glossy and imposing. And the porcelains often had white mouth rim, called "deng cao kou (rush mouth)", achieving a strong sense of beauty through the sharp contrast between deep red and pure white.

Globular Vase


It was named because of the small mouth, upright neck, round belly like a ball. It was created in the Jingdezhen kiln during Xuande Reign, Ming Dynasty. The vase had thick and weight body, rough and short neck, broad upper, narrow lower body, large and oblate belly, unglazed base slightly sunken, mostly as qinghua ware. Among them, the porcelains decorated with sea water, dragon and clouds patterns often are the first class work. They were largely modeled on in Qing Dynasty and turned out such new varieties as underglaze red vase, qinghua and underglaze red vase and fencai vase, characterized by round belly and long neck.

Yellow Glaze


The glaze was made from oxidizing flame with proper quantity of iron as stainer. There were two sorts of yellow glaze including the one from high temperature and the other from low temperature. The yellow glaze in low temperature was made by using lead as the main dissolvent, thus also called "lead glaze". And the yellow glaze in high temperature was made by using lime glaze containing a little iron and turned yellow while forming di-iron trioxide in oxidizing atmosphere. The yellow glaze appeared as earliest as in the pottery work made in Han Dynasty and the Tang (Dynasty) tricolors ware, appearing yellowish-brown. The pure yellow glaze emerged since Xuande Reign of Ming Dynasty and reached the highest level in Chenghua and Hongzhi Reigns, with its color quite elegant, delicate and charming, thus called "tender yellow". There again appeared the porcelains in fish-egg yellow, in hen-oil yellow and so on after Jiajing Reign.

Porcelain of Chenghua Reign (1465-1487 AD)


The most outstanding achievement during this period is the appearance of porcelains in contracting colors, which were achieved by combining the under glazed qinghua with the other colors over the glaze. Most of Chenghua were of small size, with wine cups being the most famous. One representative is the wine cup called "jigang (chicken) cup", which bears the picture of a hen and chickens, displaying deep parental love. It is very small and exquisite, winning the hearts of people. The Chenghua patterns demonstrate high artistic attainments, which could find examples in the decorative colors both inside and outside the porcelains and the unique pattern of "guozhi (branches stretching from external to internal surfaces)."

Doucai (Contrasting Colors)


Also called "doucai". The contrasting colors process was a technology in combination of qinghua (underglaze blue) and overglaze colors, create in the Jingdezhen kiln during Chenghua Reign of Ming Dynasty. Using qinghua pigments to draw the twin-lined (outlined) patterns on the unglazed porcelain body, then putting glaze on the body and sending for burning, and then filling colored pigments within the qinghua outlines over the glaze, after that putting it for kilning, thus it was also called "filling color" and "dyeing color". The contrasting colored ware made in Yongzheng Reign of Qing Dynasty was also one of the successful product.

Red-Green Color


It was a new variety with patterns in green painted over the red glaze or with patterns in red painted over green glaze. The red glaze and green color was created in the imperial workshop in Jingdezhen during Chenghua Reign of Ming Dynasty, and the green glaze and red color appeared in Jiajing Reign.

Oxhead-Shaped Zun

Large mouth gradually enlarged from below mouth, without neck, round lower belly, and ring foot, mostly with symmetrical attacking twin-loops to two sides of shoulder, named since it looked like a ox head. Mostly belies of Zuns were decorated with the hundred dears painting, farming, weaving, fishing and wood-cutting, and the flowers scrolls pattern painting. The work with hundred dears pattern was also called "Bai Lu (with hundred dears pattern) Zun." It was already made in the Jingdezhen kiln in late of Ming Dynasty, and became popular in the period of Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Qing Dynasty, with the marks of the year on the base, and the qinghua Ware took the majority of the products.

Porcelain if Jiajing Reign (1522-1566AD)

Large amount of porcelains were produced during Jiajing Reign, which saw more detailed division of productive processes. A great volume of porcelains were used in the imperial palace and porcelain exports rose increasingly. The style of qinghua porcelains was completely different with that of previous generations. As Mohammed blue pigment was introduced into the porcelain, a vases were very popular. The large output of porcelains in five-colors opened up a new prospect for the production of colored porcelain. Most of porcelains were a qinghua and five-colors, which began to see other new varieties featured by their big sizes, such as big Kong with dragon patterns and big flower vases. Decorative patterns began to include contents related to Taoism, such as the eight Taoist immortals, the Eight Trigrams and cranes in the clouds. Porcelain techniques of civilian kilns in Jingdezhen were also gradually improved, represented by some famous porcelain craftsmen, such as Cui Guomao, whose imitations of porcelains of Xuande and Chenghua Reigns could pass for authentic ones. His craftsmanship won him the name "the Cui's ware".

Five-Colors (famille virte)

The five-colors was made when the qinghua porcelain works finished in the big kiln was drawn with the vitric-containing color pigment in red, yellow, green, blue and purple, and then put for burning in "color kiln" for the second time. The five-colors was developed on the basis of the adding colors over the glaze in Song and Yuan Dynasties, officially created in the Jingdezhen kiln in Xuande Reign of Ming Dynasty. Different from the Chenghua (Reign) contrasting colors, it was to fill in the colorless parts of the qinghua pattern to make a complete pattern, so, it was also called "five-colors added amid the qinghua" and "underglaze blue and five-colors". It prevailed mostly in Jiajing and Wanli Reigns of Ming Dynasty; and during Kangxi Reign of Qing Dynasty there again added the varieties including the overglaze blue and the overglaze black. The five-colors was also called "hard colors", not as solf as fencai.

Porcelain of Wanli Reign (1573-1620 AD)


Garlic head-shaped vases were very popular during Wanli Reign. They had large areas of colors and patterns of lotus petals which gradually were stylized. Decorations of children at play were also often used. Blue color in beautifully bright tone was introduced into the five-colors, with alum red as the background, achieving a sharp contrast between these gay colors. The period saw the production of many large works, such as big Kong with dragon patterns, big flower vases and various kinds of drum-like seats. There were a wide variety of porcelains in novel styles, such as bowls with scoop-formed (square0 mouth, multi-layered box and wall vase. Some of them were openwork works, looking very delicate.

General Jar


Straight mouth, short neck, round shoulder, swelling belly, gently barrowing down from the lower belly, mostly flattened base without glaze, high and large in modeling, perfectly round all over the body, named since its cover with jewel-like knob seemed like the helmet worn by military general in ancient times. It appeared for the first time during Jiajing and Wanli Reigns of Ming Dynasty, and fell into the style in Shunzhi Reign of Qing Dynasty, and became widely prevalent during Kangxi Reign. Most of the products were made in the Jingdezhen kiln, with varieties including the qinghua, five-colors, tricolors, yellow glaze, eggplant purple glaze, white glaze and so on.

Elephant-leg-shaped Vase


Wide mouth everted outwards, short neck, broad shoulder whose size being the same as the mouth, straight body like a jian (bamboo slip) , smooth and exquisite fine unglazed base, it was named since the whole body was just like a brawny leg of elephant. It appeared in eggshell during Wanli Reign, Ming Dynasty. In the Shunzhi period, it was endowed with the parable "The great Qing unifies the earth", and turned to be the most popular object in Shunzhi and Kangxi Reigns. The whole body is decorated with patterns in underglaze blue or in five-colors.