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Chinese and Japanese Ceramics

Collection Info
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid;

China and Japan have been mastering the art of making various forms of earthenware since neolithic times. However, one of the most significant and far-reaching inventions in ceramic history was the discovery of porcelain in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). Chinese porcelain is composed of two materials: kaolin (a fine white china clay) and petuntse (pulverised feldspathic rock, also known as china stone). When fired at temperatures in excess of 1250º C. the body and the glaze fuse together and the porcelain becomes vitrified. Porcelain is characterised by being white, transluscent, impermeable, and is resistant to thermal shock.

China dominated the production of porcelain and its trade for thousands of years. However, the methods of its manufacture spread elsewhere in Asia, notably to Korea and Japan. Porcelain was also traded to Asia, where it influenced the development of tin-glazed earthenware in present-day Iraq in the ninth century. Eventually tin-glaze technology spread throughout the Islamic world and most of Europe, and its decoration was often inspired by imported Chinese porcelain. Influenced by both Chinese and Japanese wares, porcelain was made commercially in Europe from the late seventeenth century. The designs and forms of Chinese and Japanese ceramics continue to reverberate throughout the world today.

Chinese and Japanese Ceramic Collections:

Chinese Blue and White Porcelain

Other Chinese Ceramics

Japanese Porcelain and Its Influence

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287 results
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
1700-1725
Object number: G18.1.5
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.1650-1660
Object number: G11.13.8
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
Early 17th century
Object number: G15.7.1
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.1600-1625
Object number: G01.2.29
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.907-1124
Object number: G08.8.5a-b
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
15th-16th Century
Object number: G10.4.1
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
15th-16th Century
Object number: G10.4.2
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
12th-13th Century
Object number: G10.4.3
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
13th-14th Century
Object number: G10.4.4
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
18th Century
Object number: G10.4.5
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
13th-14th Century
Object number: G10.4.6
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.1403-1424
Object number: G01.2.1
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
Mid-16th century
Object number: G01.2.2.1-2
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.1480-1525
Object number: G01.2.3
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
16th century
Object number: G01.2.4
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
late 16th Century
Object number: G01.2.5
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.1570-1620
Object number: G01.2.6.1-2
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.1522-1566
Object number: G01.2.7
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.1522-1566
Object number: G01.2.8
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.1522-1566
Object number: G01.2.9
Lobed jar with "Three Friends of Winter"
c.1600-1640
Object number: G01.2.10
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.1550-1580
Object number: G01.2.11
Storage jar with Buddhist lions
c.1550-1600
Object number: G01.2.12
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
c.1567-1572
Object number: G01.2.13