Beautiful porcelains

Do you know why antique Chinese porcelains are so valuable? These porcelains developed over the centuries from simple white graze to the magnificent multi-colour glaze. Why there are very few porcelains with pure yellow glaze? What is the difference between potteries and porcelains?

We all know that porcelains are delicate art pieces that break easily if not handled properly. Antique porcelains are valuable and even priceless, especially for those Yuan blue and white pieces. Porcelains from the Ming dynasty (such as the chicken cup) can fetch millions of dollars in auction. The Qing porcelains (Kang Xi, Yong Zheng and Qian Long era) are also highly soughed after by collectors. These art pieces are so valuable because they were made for emperors. There could not be any mistakes or defects in the porcelains or else heads would start rolling. The early Qing emperors even assigned a high ranking officer to Jingdezheng to supervise the production of porcelains for imperial use. Sometimes, the emperors would order the officer to imitate some of the porcelains that were made during the Song dynasty due to the impeccable quality and unique colour of the glaze.

The different colours in the glaze of the porcelains depends on the elements/chemical used and the temperature in the kiln. Some of the common glaze colour includes white, red, blue and green with many combinations of intensity and shades.



Emperor's bowl

All the emperors in history were very particular on the use of colour. Emperor in Chinese meant Huang Di (Yellow King). So yellow symbolised divine power and kingship. As a result, the emperors would forbid other people to use this colour. If anybody put on a yellow robe, he was regarded as someone wanting to seize the throne. All his family members (close and distant relatives) would be put to death. The yellow colour was strictly reserved for emperors' use. This happened to the founding emperor of the Song dynasty. He was just a general at that time. As other generals were not please with the emperor at that time (from the Tang dynasty), they put a yellow robe on this general to declare him the new emperor. Immediately they started the revolution and overthrew the last emperor of the Tang dynasty. This was known in history as the "Yellow robe uprising" that led to the beginning of the Song dynasty.

Even in porcelains, the emperors would instruct his officer to produce pure yellow porcelains for his own use. The only persons allowed to use the yellow porcelains were the empress and the emperor's mother. This explained why there were so few pure yellow porcelains in the market. Then there is another type of imperial ware where the outside is yellow while the inside of the ware is white. Another type where the outside is yellow with paintings of green dragons. The one with the white glaze inside was for the use of the emperor's concubines while the one with painting of green dragons is for other royalties such as the prince and princess.

 

Concubine's bowl

Every year, the emperor would order the officer in-charge to make a certain quantity of bowls, plates and other wares for his house hold. The number of utensils made also depend on seniority. By looking at the colour of the utensils and their quantity, one would know the seniority in the imperial house hold.
It is very interesting if you research into the world of porcelains, you are sure to discover a lot of new things.