An illustrated brief history of Chinese porcelain: history - culture - aesthetics

Abstract

"One of the treasures of Chinese civilization, porcelain was first fashioned in the five great kiln-sites of the Song dynasty (1960-1279) around AD1000, although it's origins lie as far back as the early ceramics of the second millennium BC. Porcelain evolved to form the splendid blue-and-white of the Yuan (1279-1368), before reaching its aesthetic and technical apogee in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). This book explains the development of porcelain from early times and the most notable characteristics of porcelain in different periods; it outlines the rise and fall of the great production centers, and describes the influence of social and economic development, political change, and non-Chinese cultures on the features and uses of porcelain. It brings out the cultural implications and the aesthetic and philosophical concepts which underlie the porcelain we know today"--Book flap.

Contents

From earthenware to porcelain -- The age of celadon and white-ware -- Song porcelain: expression through form and glaze color -- Yuan porcelain: appreciation of blue and white -- Official versus unofficial: porcelain of the Ming Dynasty -- Qing porcelain: the ultimate in skill -- Flowers of a foreign land: export porcelain of the Ming and Qing -- Appendices.