Chapter I Classification
Section I How to Classify
A beginner should know how porcelain wares are classified. They are classified in four ways.
1. Time of Production
To classify or name porcelain wares is a most common approach. We have to mark out, first of all, in which dynasty they were produced, for instance, they were produced in Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming or Qing Dynasties. Secondly, in which period of that dynasty, for instance, if they were produced in the Ming Dynasty, were they produced in the Hongwu Period or Xuande Period.
2. Place of Production
Porcelain wares are also classified according to place of production. For instance, if they were produced by the “Yue Kilns—Yuè Yáo—越窑”, it is the Shaoxing area of Zhejiang Province. If they were produced by the “Yaozhou Kilns—Yàozhōu Yáo—耀州窑”, it is the Tongchuan area of Sha’nxi Province.
3.Five Major Factors
Quality of the inner body, glaze, patterns, form and inscription are the five major factors that compose
apieceofporcelain. Among them, glaze is the most crucial one. In glaze, there are single color glaze and multi-color
glaze.Single color glaze can be blue, white, red, yellow, green and black. Multi-color can be a surface of patches ofdifferentcolors, and patterns painted by different colors, such as blue and white, and porcelain with painted patterns. Multicolors can also be divided into above-glaze, under-glaze and double layer glaze.
4. Production Kilns
There have been official kilns and civilian kilns in China. Official kilns were set up and run by the governments, their
products are of exquisite quality and dignified and sumptuous appearance.
Section II Names of Porcelain
1. Celadon: In Chinese it is called “Qíng Cí” and written as “青瓷”. It is in bluish green color because of ferrous content. Owing to the poor reducing atmosphere technique, the color looked a bit yellowish or brown. However, “Qíng Cí” first appeared in the Eastern Han period and had been the main type of porcelain product in ancient China for a long time.
2. Pale Blue Porcelain: In Chinese it is called “Piǎo Cí” and written as “缥瓷”. It is bluish white color. It is an early celadon first appeared in the Jin Dynasty.
3. White Porcelain: In Chinese it is called “Bái Cí” and written as “白瓷”. It is a general term for porcelain wares with both a white inner body and a white glaze. It first appeared in the Northern Dynasty and matured in the Tang Dynasty.
4. Bluish White Porcelain: In Chinese it is called “Qīng Bái Cí” and written as “青白瓷”. It is porcelain in the color between blue and white. It is also called “shadow blue”—“Yǐng Qīng—影青”. It was an original product of Jingdezhen in the middle period of Northern Song.
5. Black Porcelain: In Chinese it is called “Hēi Cí” and written as “黑瓷”. It is a general term for porcelain with a black glaze. It first appeared in the Eastern Han period in Shangyu and Ningbo in the south. The north only began producing it after the Eastern Jin Period.
6. Porcelain with Plain Colors: In Chinese it is called “Sù Cí” and written as “素瓷”. It is a general term for porcelain without colored glaze or patterns. Before the Ming Dynasty porcelain with plain colors took up a greater portion of the products. The development of colored porcelain prospered in the Ming Dynasty. That’s why we regard the pre-Ming period as plain color period and post-Ming period as colored period.
7. Colored Porcelain:In Chinese it is called “Cǎi Cí” and written as “彩瓷”. It includes colored dots, under-glazed colors, above-glaze colors and blending of colors. It originated in the Jin Dynasty and flourished in the Ming Dynasty.
8. Blue and White Porcelain: In Chinese it is called “Qīng Huā Cí” and written as “青花瓷”. It is the most important variety of China’s porcelain. It was originated in the Yuan Dynasty. Its color does not easily fade and durability is longer. It used cabaltous oxide as the colorant. Patterns were directly painted onto the inner body and burnt after glaze was applied on it.
9. Transparent Porcelain: It is called “Líng Lóng Cí” in Chinese and written as “玲珑瓷”. It was developed on the basis of skeleton technique some 500 years ago in the Ming Dynasty. Being one of the four traditional porcelain products of Jingdezhen, it has a thin inner body and regularly lined tiny holes on it. Multiple layers of glaze were applied over the holes, and after burning they seem to be transparent.
10. Transparent Blue and White: It is called “Qīng Huā Líng Lóng Cí” in Chinese and written as “青花玲珑瓷”. Blue and white and transparent porcelain were combined in the Qing Dynasty.
11. Porcelain with Colored Glaze: In Chinese it is called “Sè Yòu Cí” and written as “色釉瓷”. It is a single color glaze. Having gone through the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, it climbed to its peak in the Qing Dynasty. Because of contents of oxides, colors of grey, brown, red and blue all come out on the surface while kiln transmutation and cracks inject vigor into the ware; it has been regarded as the “mother of colored porcelain” and has occupied an important position in the history of porcelain.
12. Porcelain with Dappled Glaze: In Chinese it is called “Huā Cí” and written as “花瓷”. On such wares, sky blue, milk and brownish green dots are applied over black or yellow glazes. These dots, which look like clouds or tree leaves, are usually placed in the middle part of the ware.
13. Sweet White Porcelain: In Chinese it is called “Tián Bāi Cī” and written as “甜白瓷”. Transparent glaze, which has no or very little ferrous content, is applied onto the white inner body and then burnt in high temperature. The glittering and moist white looks sweet, that’s why it is called “sweet white.”
14.Thin Porcelain: In Chinese it is called “Bō Tāi Cí” and written as “薄胎瓷”. The wall of these type of porcelain is as thin as the wings of a cicada. When the inner body becomes hard, glaze was applied on one side of the wall. When the glaze dried up, the workman would scrape the other side of the wall. This would be done for over a hundred times, and 2-3 cm thick wall would be reduced to a thin wall like an egg shell. Afterwards, it has to be burnt in a high temperature of 1300℃ without cracks or transmutations. Thin porcelain first came into being in the Yongle Period of the Ming Dynasty.
15. Porcelain Made of Mixed Clay: In Chinese it is called “Jiaǒ Tái Cí” and written as “绞胎瓷”. It is so named because white clay was mixed with brown clay, and the inner body was made of the mixed clay. It first appeared in the Tang Dynasty.
16. Porcelain with Mixed Glaze: In Chinese it is called “Jiaǒ Yòu Cí” and written as “绞釉瓷”. It first appeared in the Tang Dynasty as well. It was so named because colorants were added into the glaze.
17. Porcelain with Goose Egg White: In Chinese it is called “Shū Fǔ Cí” and written as “枢府瓷”. It came into being in the Yuan Dynasty. It was so named because its glaze looked like that of a goose egg. “枢府” in Chinese means “Privy Council”. As a matter of fact, such porcelain was ordered by the Privy Council and was for its exclusive use.
18. “Mi” Color Porcelain: In Chinese it is called “Mì Sè Cí” and written as “秘色瓷”. It was produced by the Yuè Kiln in the Wūyuè State and was for the exclusive use of the ruling family. “Mì—秘” in Chinese means “secrecy”. The glaze was greyish blue and dull.
There were other names such as Porcelain with Its Opening Unglazed,
Bone Ash Porcelain, Porcelain Made of Clay Mixed with Sea Shell Powder, Porcelain with Pattern of Images, Porcelain Pieces Inlaid on Furniture, New Colored Porcelain and Porcelain with Cracks and Veins. We shall not go further into them, because the above are the most important ones.
Chapter II The Inner Body, Glaze and Colors
Section I The Inner Body
The inner body decides what kind of porcelain it is. In Chinese it is called “Tái” and written as “胎”. However, before it was burnt, it is called “Pī” and written as “坯”, which means a “base”. The base of porcelain is usually made of silica, alumina, aluminium oxide and ferric oxide, and a small amount of calcium, sodium and magnesium. The inner body is divided into thin ones and thick ones.
Section II Glaze
Glaze is one important material in porcelain production. It first appeared on pottery in the Shang Dynasty. It is a vitreous layer over the clay body and is made of feldspar, quartzite and clay. There are the following kinds of glaze in China:
1. Single Color Glaze: In Chinese it is called “Yán Sè Yòu” and written as “颜色釉”. It is pure and elegant. Its color is decided by the content of chemicals. If it contains ferric, the color might be blue; if it contains copper, the color might be red or green.
2. Blue Glaze: In Chinese it is called “Qíng Yòu” and written as “青釉”. Iron was its colorant and calcium oxide was its solvent. Being the first glaze ever appeared in China, it is not purely blue, but a mixture of yellow, green and blue.
3.Plum Green Glaze: In Chinese it is called “Méi Zǐ Qíng Yòu” and written as “梅子青釉”. It is a glaze of celadon produced at Lóngquān Kiln in the Southern Song Period. The color is green and moist as that of a plum. The material making the glaze was lime alkali, which did not flow easily under a high temperature. The glaze surface is highly vitreous and glittering.
Tiny bottle in plum green glaze made in the Southern Song Period
4. Bluish Green Glaze: In Chinese it is called “Dōng Qíng Yòu” and written as “东青釉”. Porcelain with such a glaze was produced at the Eastern Kiln of the Capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. That was how the glaze was named, for “东” means “east”. It is also called in Chinese “冬青釉”， “冬”is pronounced the same as “东”. The earliest porcelain with “Dōng Qíng Yòu” that we can see today was produced in the Yǒnglè Period of the Ming Dynasty. Green glitters in the blue background on such wares. The layer of glaze was thick with tiny bubbles. During the Xuāndé Period, the inner body became thicker, there was no orange-skin like glaze and there was almost no bubbles. When it came to the Yōngzhēng Period of the Qing, the surface of the glaze became very smooth and the color was very stable thanks to the high level reducing atmosphere technique.
5. Bean Green Glaze: In Chinese it is called “Dòu Qíng Yòu” and written as “豆青釉”. It was one of the major glazes used by the Lóng Quǎn Kiln of the Song Dynasty, and it was a derivative of blue glaze. It is a bit yellowing and not as bright as light bluish green and plum green glazes.
6. Bluish White Glaze: In Chinese it is called “Yǐng Qíng Yòu” and written as “影青釉”. The ferrous content in such glaze is under 1%, and the whiteness can reach up to 70% after being burnt at a reducing atmosphere from 1200 ℃. “影” means “shadow”, so it could also be called in English “shadow white” to differ from “blue and white—青花” even though the color is really white and blue.
7. Sky Blue Glaze：In Chinese it is called “Tiān Qíng Yòu” and written as “天青釉”. It was a special glaze burnt by the Rǔ Kiln in Henan Province in the Song Dynasty for the exclusive use of the imperial court
8.Light Bluish Green: In Chinese it is called “Fěn Qíng Yòu” and written as “粉青釉”. The color is bluish green, a glaze used by the Lóng Quǎn Kiln of the Song Dynasty. The glaze was applied onto the inner body before burning at a degree between 1180-1230 ℃. It looks different from vitreous glazes because of the tiny bubbles and guartzite granules.
A Light Bluish Green Bowel of Yongzheng Period of the Qing Dynasty.
9. Pale Blue: In Chinese it is called “Piǎo Sè” and written as “缥色”. It is a glaze that has a color like a pale blue cloth.
10. Imitation of Longquan Glaze: In Chinese it is called “Fǎng Lóng Quǎn Yòu” and written as “仿龙泉釉”. A variety of blue glaze that was made during the periods of Yǒnglè and Xuāndē of the Ming Dynasty to immitate that of the Lóng Quǎn Kiln. The Yǒnglè period immitations were a bit greenish and had many tiny bubbles to the contrary of those made in the Xuāndē period.
11.Under-glazed Red: In Chinese it is called “Yòu Lǐ Hóng” and written as “釉里红”. Being one of the most precious varieties of Chinese glaze, it first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty with copper as its colorant. But, the firign is most difficult for copper, under high temperature, is easy to evaporate. Both fresh rend and ruby red in the Ming Dynasty were top grade glazes.
12. Jun Kiln Red: In Chinese it is called “Jūn Hóng” and written as “钧红”. This is the earliest red glaze produced at the Jūn Kiln in the Song Dynasty. Because there were other metal contents in the glaze other than copper, the color was purple red, like the color of rose and begonia. Therefore it is also referred to as “begtonia red”. Ruby red, rainbow red of the Ming Dynasty and Láng Kiln red of the Qing Dynasty were based on Jūn Kiln red.
13. Rainbow Red: In Chinese it is called “Jì Hóng” and written as “霁红”. It is so named because it looks like the red in the rainbow. It first appeared in the Kāngxī Period of the Qing Dynasty and prospered in the two later periods—Yōngzheng and Qiānlóng Periods. For your knowledge, there are also the following red color glazes: Applied Red, Cowpea Red, Fresh Red, Lang Kiln Red, Bauxite Red, Flame Red and Rouge Water.
14. Green: In Chinese it is called “Lǜ Yòu” and written as “绿釉”. It is a lime glaze that contains copper oxide, which in the oxidative atmosphere, is green. Ever since the Ming Dynasty, there have been high temperature green and low temperature green glazes. The “peacock green” glaze produced in the Chénghuà Period of the Ming is most precious.
15. Turquoise Green: In Chinese it is called “Sōng Shí Lǜ” and written as “松石绿”. Being a low temperature green glaze, it used copper oxide as the colorant and was first produced in the Yōngzheng Period and developed in great strides in the Qiānlóng Period of the Qing Dynasty.
16. Water Melon Green: In Chinese it is called “Guā Pí Lǜ Yòu” and written as “瓜皮绿釉”. So named because of the samilarity of color to that of the peel of the water melon. It is a vitreous low temperature glaze, first appeared in the early Ming and became matured in the Qing Dynasty
17. Apple Green: In Chinese it is called “Píng Guǒ Lǜ Yòu” and written as “苹果绿釉”. It is also called “Láng Kiln Green” because it is a change of color inside the kiln when burning red glaze in the Láng Kiln, and it is more precious than the Láng Kiln red.
18.Parrot Green: In Chinese it is called “Yīng Gē Lǜ Yòu” and written as “鹦哥绿釉”. It is also called “Gē Lǜ”. It is a single color glaze, which is applied onto a white glaze and being burnt at a degree of 800 ℃. The green is darker than the pea green, is similar to the green on the weather of a parrot. The cracks and veins on the surface is identical to that on the wares producecd by the Gē Kiln.
A Kāngxī Period Vase in Gē Lǜ and painted patterns.
19. Blue: In Chinese it is called “Lán Yòu” and written as “蓝釉”.
Its first appearance was as one of the Tang Tri-colors, which was a low temperature glaze. It was only in the Yuan Dynasty that high temperature blue glaze became a fact. It is lime with an appropriate amount of cobalt as the colorant, and is burnt at 1280-1300 ℃ inside the kiln.
20. Foreign Blue: In Chinese it is called “Húi Qīng” and written as “回青”. It refers to only those produced in the Jiājìng and Wànlì Periods of the Ming Dynasty. The imported colorant was mixed with a little of local blue called “Shízǐqīng” and the color is pale.
21. Rainbow Blue: In Chinese it is called “Jì Lán Yòu” and written as “霁蓝釉”. It is a high temperature glaze, widely used in the Xuāndé Period of the Ming Dynasty. There are, for your knowledge, also Blue with White Dots, Peacock Blue and Sky Blue.
22. Yellow: In Chinese it is called “Huáng Yòu” and written as “黄釉”. The technique of producing it only became matured in the Hóngzhì Period of the Ming. There are also high and low temperature glazes. The yellow comes from the ferric oxide in the reducing atmosphere. Its first appearance was in the Tang Dynasty. There are Tender Yellow (Jiaó Huáng—娇黄)、Wax Yellow （Mì Là Huáng—蜜腊黄）、Egg Yellow （Dàn Huáng Yòu—蛋黄釉）and Eel Yellow (Shàn Yú Huáng—鳝鱼黄).
23. White: In Chinese it is called “Bái Yòu” and written as “白釉”. In ancient China, people didn’t add white colorant into the glaze, rather, they selected clay that contained less than 0.75% iron, and any clay that contains that little iron is white. What was applied onto the inner body was only transparent glaze. The white glaze produced in the Yǒnglè Period of the Ming Dynasty has been considered the best in history.
24.Egg White: In Chinese it is called “Luǎn Bái Yòu” and written as “卵白釉”. It is a high temperature glaze, in which blue is hidden, and the color resembles that of a goose egg. It was first produced at Jǐngdézhèn in the Yuan Dynasty
25. Sweet White: In Chinese it is called “Tián Bái Yòu” and written as “甜白釉”.
26.Ivory White
27.Black
28.Glaze of Tree Leaf Pattern
29.Oil Drop
30.Rabbit Hair Pattern
31.Hawksbill
32.Partridge
33.Black Gold
34.Mixed Colors
35.Soybean Source
36.Sesame butter
37.Purple
38.Eggplant Peel
39.Glass
40.Multiple Colors
41.Unpredictable Color Change in Kiln
42.The Glaze of Jun Kiln
43.Crystal
44.Minced Tea Leaves
45.Iron Rust
46.Low Temperature Glaze
47.Rouge Red
48.Peacock Green
49.Encaustic
50.Low Temperature Glaze imitating Jun Kiln
51.High Temperature Colors
