Page 88 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780

CHAPTER 2 The Production of Enamelled Porcelain and Knowledge Transfer

Figure 2-12 An eighteenth century closed stove.

Tao shuo, which was first published in 1774, mentions that two muffle kilns were

used in Jingdezhen，

The open stove is used for a smaller piece, the door of which opens

outwards. A charcoal fire having been lit all round, the pieces of porcelain

are placed upon an iron wheel, supported upon an iron fork, by which it is

passed into the stove, the wheel being made to revolve by means of an

iron hook, so as to equalize the action of the heat. It is taken out when the

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colour appears clear and bright.
This section shows the process of how to produce a piece of enamelled porcelain.

The key procedures were preparing the enamel colours, the application and use of

enamel colours, as well as a means of firing enamelled porcelain. As will be shown in

the following section, technological innovations actually occurred in these key

32 Stephen W. Bushell, Description of Chinese Pottery and Porcelain being a Translation of the
Tao Shuo (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1910), p.26.
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