Jingdezhen porcelain
| Jingdezhen porcelain | |
|---|---|
Jingdezhen ware blue and white jar with cobalt decoration under transparent glaze, Ming dynasty (mid-15th century). Metropolitan Museum of Art. | |
| Branch | Chinese ceramics |
| Years active | Eastern Han – present (2nd century – present); peak during Ming and Qing dynasties |
| Location | Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, China |
| Influences | Yue ware, Ding ware, Qingbai ware |
| Influenced | European porcelain (Meissen, Sèvres), Arita ware, Korean porcelain, Vietnamese ceramics |
Jingdezhen porcelain (simplified Chinese: 景德镇陶瓷; traditional Chinese: 景德鎮陶瓷) is Chinese porcelain produced in or near Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province in southern China. Jingdezhen may have produced pottery as early as the sixth century CE, though it is named after the reign name of Emperor Zhenzong, in whose reign it became a major kiln site, around 1004. By the 14th century it had become the largest centre of production of Chinese porcelain, which it has remained, increasing its dominance in subsequent centuries. From the Ming period onwards, official kilns in Jingdezhen were controlled by the emperor, making imperial porcelain in large quantity for the court and the emperor to give as gifts.
Porcelain production in Jingdezhen was divided into two distinct systems: Imperial Kiln Factory (Chinese: 御窰廠) and the private kilns (Chinese: 民窰). The Imperial Kiln Factory was officially established in 1369 during the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, located at Zhushan (Pearl Hill) in the city center. It was directly administered by the court and produced porcelain exclusively for the imperial household. These wares were subject to strict quality control; defective pieces were destroyed on-site to prevent them from entering the market. The factory operated regardless of cost, prioritizing artistic excellence over commercial considerations.
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, more contemporarily called pottery 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. The imperial kilns were in the centre of the city at Zhushan (Pearl Hill), with many other kilns four kilometres away at Hutian.
It has produced a great variety of pottery and porcelain, for the Chinese market and as Chinese export porcelain, but its best-known high quality porcelain wares have been successively Qingbai ware in the Song and Yuan dynasties, blue and white porcelain from the 1330s, and the "famille rose" and other "famille" colours under the Qing dynasty.