Bonanza of Luxurious Old Chinese Blue and White Ceramics
Exquisite Chinese Blue and White Porcelain
Jar with lotus scroll design
Collectors passion for Chinese Blue and White
In The Best of Both Worlds, Chinese Blue and White Porcelain works donated to the Hong Kong Museum of Art by benefactors are on display.
Chinese Blue and White Porcelain exhibition
These treasures, art and artifacts dating from the Neolithic period to the early twentieth century show the broad range of items in the museum’s Chinese Antiquities collection and includes some of the museum’s oldest objects.
Related Ancient Xia, Shang, Zhou Dynasties Antiques and Relics
The collection is one of the core pillars of the Hong Kong Museum of Art and features over 300 items.
The most abundant and extensive category in the museum’s Chinese antiquities collection is ceramics.
Fine ceramics provided by collectors
The collection owes its breadth and scale to generous donors and private collectors, who shared their passion for Chinese ceramics by giving funds as well as donating works to the museum, thus providing some of the finest examples of these works for the public’s enjoyment.
Narcissus bowl with scrolling lotus design
The Museum has a considerable collection of underglaze blue porcelain, commonly known as blue and white ware, produced during the Yuan and Ming dynasties.
Related Chinese art from the collectors of Min Chiu Society
China’s history of ceramic making is delineated by technical innovations that give rise to unique styles of decoration.
Blue and white is the most well-known style of decoration on Chinese made porcelains.
Related Yuan Ming Yuan, the Old Summer Palace jewel of Chinese history
It resulted from the discovery of a new technical process that evolved during the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368).
Cobalt source of blue
The technique of painting blue pigment, made with cobalt, directly to unfired plain white ground porcelain, then adding a clear glaze, and firing at high temperatures was found to produce the most beautiful and intricate patterns of “blue on white”.
Pair of Plates with ladies and flowers design in underglaze blue
The cobalt ore required to make the blue pigment originally came from the Middle East. Later, other sources of cobalt contributed to the supply as well as to the variation in the intensity of the blue pigment.
Related Silk Road across Europe, Middle East and China
Because of differences in the source and purity of the cobalt, the “blue” underglaze could be significantly different in tone.
The resulting decoration can appear in all tonal ranges, from light to dark blue, tinged with grey to purple.
Narcissus bowl with scrolling lotus design in underglaze blue
Some fine examples show that craftsmen were highly skilled in their hand application of this underglaze-painting technique by the mid-1300s.
Related Chinese paintings by prolific artist: Wu Guanzhong
As trade flourished and demand for fine porcelain increased domestically and internationally, this method of decoration was popularized and perfected.
Trade flourished for fine porcelain
During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen produced massive quantities of superior quality ceramics.
The decoration on the porcelains varied in style and was influenced by the requirements of the market for which they were intended.
Related Tang dynasty golden age artistic highlights
For export, Chinese Blue and White Porcelain were decorated with images appropriate for foreign customers.
Hexagonal vase with scrolling lotus design
Porcelains for Arabic destinations may have been decorated with Islamic inscriptions.
Related Kings’ Inscriptions contemporary interpretations of traditional calligraphy
For Asian countries, foliage and lotuses were popular Buddhist motifs used in the decoration.
Images of Chinese landscapes and pagodas were favoured in European and Western markets.
Plate with ladies and flowers design
Items intended for domestic markets, such as for the imperial household, would have auspicious motifs, such as dragons to denote strength and power and cranes to symbolise longevity.
Related Myth and Muse Dragon legacy in Chinese Culture
The renown of this style of decoration is due to the overwhelming demand for Chinese blue and white porcelain in the European and Western markets, since it was introduced there in the seventeenth century.
China ware made for European elite
By the eighteenth century, millions of pieces of Chinese Blue and White Porcelain (simply called “china” due to its origin) were being shipped to Europe to satisfy the demands of the aristocracy for the delicately patterned tableware.
Pear-shaped vase with horse design
By the nineteenth century, Chinese Blue and White porcelain was being copied by Europeans, especially by the English.
Related Treasures from the Forbidden City and Palace of Versailles
With the mass production capabilities of factories in England, blue and white china was made more affordable and as such, this style of decorated china was purchased and used in more common households.
Related Grand Warwick Castle the wonders of 15th century England
So, although it was the original Chinese Blue and White that propelled its popularity, it was the English ceramic factories, with their advanced pattern making and printing methods, that put blue and white china on the tables of the western masses.
Plate with mandarin ducks in lotus pond design
In the early twentieth century, Chinese Blue and White porcelain was used in almost every western upper middle-class home.
Related French jewellery design from 1770 to 1970
In the twenty-first century, blue and white porcelains are not commonly used as table ware but are instead prized as decoration.
Chinese Blue and White apex of craft
Antique Chinese porcelain can command high prices at international auctions.
Related Chinese motifs and patterns in art and culture of China
The Hong Kong Museum of Art has a fabulous collection of porcelains produced during the Ming dynasty.
Large lobed bowl with design of the eight Buddhist emblems in underglaze blue
Their exhibition of blue and white porcelains shows the craftmanship and the workmanship of the potters and painters in Jingdezhen reached its apex during this period.
Text & photos Cammy Yiu
