[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

But, the discovery of an earth layer from that period at Jingdezhen, which contained a large number of porcelain shards, debunked that theory.

In 2014, a site containing broken porcelain was also discovered at the Forbidden City, which could have been the dumping ground for an institution getting rid of used porcelain from the imperial court.

According to Wang Yamin, deputy director of the Palace Museum, the two exhibitions are a part of an agreement on academic research signed in 2014 between the museum and the Jingdezhen Archaeological Research Institute.

"A vast majority of the 360,000 porcelain items at the Palace Museum come from Jingdezhen," says Wang. "The two places are closely connected. It is part of an inevitable trend of letting academic research serve the public. More comparative exhibitions showcasing imperial-kiln porcelain from other reigns of the Ming Dynasty are in the pipeline," he says.

If you go

8:30 am-4:30 pm, through Feb 26. Mondays closed. Palace of Prolonging Happiness (Yanxi Gong) and Hall of Abstinence (Zhai Gong), in the eastern part of the Palace Museum. 4 Jingshan Qianjie, Dongcheng district, Beijing. More information at en.dpm.org.cn.