Publish by Gazette Drouot International

Ceramics are to China what painting and sculpture are to Europe. While Europe distinguishes translucent porcelain from other Chinese ceramics, the "Middle Kingdom" is less restrictive.

In Europe, kaolin, a white clay, is considered the key ingredient in creating translucent porcelain, hard and resonant. In China, high firing temperatures earn ceramics their coveted title. But what they all have in common is their composition: a paste combining kaolin and feldspathic rock called petuntse: the "china stone". The forms obtained on a wheel or in a mold can be incised, embellished with relief or painted decoration, before or after an enamel layer is applied to make the porcelain impermeable. This protective covering is called a glaze, and may be high- or low-temperature. It is obtained by mixing a flux (a meltable mineral) with metallic oxides. The palette varies according to the historical period and technological developments. High-temperature glazes are fired at a high heat, known as "grand feu" (between 1,200° and 1,300°C), while low-temperature glazes only tolerate a "petit feu", i.e. a heat below 900°C. Knowing how to distinguish between the different types helps in dating a piece.

Underglaze Decoration
A piece of unfired porcelain can be coated with a colored or transparent glaze, or decorated with metallic oxides—copper green, copper red, cobalt blue—diluted in water before the glaze is applied. This is called underglaze decoration. This delicate technique does not permit any reworking, as the unfired paste immediately absorbs the oxides used for painting the decoration. Meanwhile the pigments, logically, withstand the same firing temperature as the glaze covering them, but change color if the firing is not perfectly controlled. The fusion of materials in the kiln produces a smooth piece where the glaze is inseparable from the body. This type of monochrome or decorated porcelain can also be enhanced with low-fired enamel ornamentation.

Overglaze Decoration
This technique allows craftsmen to rework a design, as the enamels are painted onto a smooth, glassy surface after the first firing. Once satisfied with her work, the potter low-fires the piece, whose main drawback is that the decoration, unprotected by glaze, is somewhat fragile.

Porcelain Biscuit
Another process consists of drying the unfired form before firing it at low temperature, during which the petuntse particles coat the kaolin particles, like "flesh and bone", according to a Chinese expression. What comes out of the kiln is a matt white substance known as biscuit porcelain. Biscuit can be left as it is or covered with an enamel decoration: a glaze containing enamels that only tolerate low-heat firing.

A Matter of Taste
Chinese porcelain appeared in its white, translucent form in the late 8th century during the Tang Dynasty (618-906). The influence from the Middle East imbued monochrome forms that copied and replaced silverware. At the same time, "three-color" sancai glazes on biscuit porcelain, combining browns, ambers, yellows and more rarely blues, were used with tableware and funerary statuettes. During the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the purity of form was delicately expressed. Porcelains might be small, but their proportions and archaic Chinese lines reflected the refined erudition of the elite. White glazes with creamy textures from the Ding kilns were much prized at this period, while the green tones of celadon glazes evoked jade. A turning point came during the Yuan Dynasty, its roots in Mongolia (1279-1368), when rapidly burgeoning trade brought about considerable changes in decorative techniques, now benefiting from new Islamic influences and the importation of cobalt. Potters took advantage of this to develop the contrasting blue and white underglaze decoration known as qinghua. Its success was embodied in meipings—very straight-necked vases—or gourds and dishes designed for the Middle East. Starting in 1369, the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) imposed porcelain for official rites. Monochromes sometimes featured anhua or secret decorations, made with incisions in the unfired porcelain so shallow as to be barely perceptible beneath the glaze. This refined elite still scorned the increasingly colorful decorations inspired by silks, but this did not last. The bourgeoisie fell in love with copper red and blue underglaze, "contrasting color" doucai and "five color" wucai decorations, characterized by a combination of blue underglaze and overglaze polychrome enamels. The kilns of Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital from the 15th century onwards, produced thousands of pieces soon stamped with imperial marks, while the Dehua kilns produced admirable white porcelains. At the same time, kilns began to produce for the middle class by levelling the quality.


The varied output of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) reserved a new luminous yellow solely for imperial use. By the 18th century, Chinese porcelain was at its peak, and had huge appeal in Europe, from where it borrowed Rococo influences. The development of wucai glazes gave rise to the porcelain known as famille verte, dominated by green overglaze enamels. Then the invention of pink and white enamels broadened the palette of pastel shades and led to famille rose porcelain, particularly popular in the first half of the 18th century. The reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735-1796) marked the end of this golden age, which declined in the 19th century with the profuse production of copies and scenes of gardens, children and animals on white backgrounds. Once possessing the power of enchanting the world by adapting its forms, contemporary porcelain seems frozen in the past. A few artists, including Zhang Hongtu and Lei Xue, have tried to escape it by exchanging tea bowls for bottles and soda cans modeled in qinghua porcelain.
Worth Seeing The Chinese porcelain collections at the Musée Guimet in Paris and Chinese export porcelain at the Musée de la Compagnie des Indes in Lorient.