Page 144 - A Re-examination of Late Qing Dynasty Porcelain, 1850-1920 THESIS

actively collecting porcelain. In China the term for porcelain ciqi 瓷器 is a broad

category including both porcelain and stoneware. In comparison, the West considers

porcelain to be an object that is high-fired resulting in a white translucent body.

Stoneware is classified as a non-translucent material that is fired at a significantly lower

kiln temperature. 179 China’s broader terminology for porcelain promoted early

collections that included both porcelain and stoneware. Early works like Cao Zhao’s 曹

昭 Gegu yaolun 格古要論 (Discussions about assessing antiquities) dating to 1387

outlined Ming era collecting. One of the categories of collecting discussed included

porcelain, forming a basis for both porcelain scholarship and collecting. The porcelain

collecting associated with the Ming era inspired the Qing trends analyzed later in this

chapter. Chinese officials and scholars began amassing private porcelain collections as a

means of self cultivation. 180 These early porcelain collections predate the origins of

Western porcelain collections by several hundred years, establishing a dramatically

different foundation for both east and west collectors.

Historically, Chinese collectors prized specific porcelains, including those dating

from the Song (960–1279), Ming (1368–1644), and Qing dynasties (1644–1911).

Collectors attempted to find wares like the elusive five great wares known as ding 定窯,

ru 汝窯, jun 鈞窯, guan 官窯, and ge 哥窯. These wares were produced at five different

kilns and were composed of high-fired stoneware with a distinct glaze. The five great

179 Porcelain is high-fired in a kiln reaching temperatures of approximately 1300° while
stoneware is low-fired in a kiln temperature of approximately 1100°-1200°.
180 For further discussion of Ming era collecting see Robert D. Mowry, “Objects from the Chinese
Scholar’s Studio: Examples from the Shanghai Museum,” Orientations 18, no. 8 (August 1987):
16–27. For further text see Chu-tsing Li and James C.Y. Watt, eds., The Chinese Scholar’s
Studio: Artistic Life in the Late Ming Period. An Exhibition from the Shanghai Museum (New
York: Asia Society Galleries, 1987).
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