Jingdezhen Porcelain

( chinahighlights.com, travel-china.net )

Updated: 2011-09-05

For over 2,000 years, Jingdezhen is known as the Porcelain Capital of the world. For centuries, the city has been considered to be China’s most important center for porcelain production. Ceramics were produced here as far back as the Han dynasty (206-220 BC). The imperial porcelain was so exquisite that it was described as being "as white as jade, as bright as a mirror, as thin as paper, with a sound as clear as a bell".

The porcelain industry experienced further development at Jingdezhen during the Ming and Qing dynasties, when skills became perfected and the quality refined.

Today, Jingdezhen remains a national center for porcelain production. The most famous types of porcelain from Jingdezhen are the blue and white porcelain, which has been produced since the Yuan dynasty (AD 1280-1368) and the rice-patterned porcelain that was introduced in the Song dynasty.

Major styles of Jingdezhen porcelain

Blue and white porcelain

is simple and elegant and belong to the variety of under -glazed porcelain. The Chinese are familiar with this kind of porcelain, as it is highlighted in a popular song. Blue and white porcelain has no leaden toxicity. It will never be corroded by acid and alkali, and the color will never fade. So it is called the “pearl in the porcelain world”. There are many kinds of blue and white porcelain including the hand-drawing one, the appliqué one, and the printing one. If you want to buy porcelain Jingdezhen will be your best choice. Blue and white porcelain is very popular in China. 

Rose porcelain

has the history of more than 300 years, and was created in late Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. It is also one of the four great traditional porcelains and characterized by the beautiful colors and the unique exquisite painting.

The pattern and tracery of rose porcelain are vivid, and the brushwork on the surface is of primitive simplicity and beauty. Rose porcelain gives people a stereoscopic sensation, and its color does not fade with the passage of time.

Eggshell porcelain

enjoys the reputation of “man made precious stone” because of its colorful and transparent feature. It has been that way since the North Song Dynasty.

Eggshell porcelain is burned with the metal oxide and natural ore. The red eggshell porcelain is bright and magnificent; the green one is quiet and refined; the yellow one is lucid and bright; the colorful one is classical; and the crystal one is hard to describe, constantly changing into different colors and patterns.

During different times, this kind of thin and transparent porcelain has always been the shining star among ceramics. Significant eggshell porcelain products are vases, tableware, and other pieces.