Page 93 - 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

The following sections will show detailed account of the interactions between the

court and the other local manufacture. As by tracing how the technique was used and

how these three places interacted, the key issues about the ways in which knowledge

of enamel was transmitted from one place to another and the local perception of such

new techniques can be better explained.

2.4.1. The Role of Qing Court

It is evident that the Qing court played a very vital role in assembling the new

techniques and spreading them to other manufactures. It was the Qing court that

established the workshops of enamel, sponsored the experiments of producing enamel

and imported new materials from the Europe. Such workshops were, however,

evidence for the important role of Qing court sponsoring Chinese artisans from all

over the country in manufacturing enamelled porcelain, clocks, and glass. The court

drew enormous resources to recruit the best artisans and the newest ideas. The enamel

workshop was dominated by artisans from Jingdezhen and Canton. Different materials

were assembled to create new objects. Court painters, enamel makers and potters

worked together to fulfil the emperor’s demand. Simultaneously, because artisans

came from different places, technological innovation and creation occurred that could

not have been produced anywhere else.

More importantly, the imperial workshops not only recruited artisans but also sent

them back to their original places after they finished their mission either come to learn

or to teach. For example, Jingdezhen and Canton were in charge of sending craftsmen

who knew how to produce and paint enamel on porcelain or copperware to teach their

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