Page 105 - Jindezhen Porcelain Production of the 19th C. by Ellen Huang, Univ. San Diego 2008

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Since its first appearance in print in 1815, the text and illustrations of the Jingdezhen

Tao lu have had a circuitous publication journey. The preface of the original edition,

coupled with biographical data about its two authors gleaned from prefectural and county

gazetteers shed light on the circumstances behind its first publication in printed form. The

text of the book was a joint effort. the first page of each section (juan) indicated the original

author as being a teacher named Lan Pu ᔝऌ (zi: Binnan浜ی). Each section’s first page

also included the name of the editor and compiler (bu ji໾፨) Zheng TingguiቍҒ࣭ (zi:

Wengu ਪԋ), who was Lan’s student (men ren ژɛ). Both of the authors, Lan Pu and

Zheng Tinggui, were described as Fuliang district residents, and thus Jingdezhen natives.

By the time of its original publication in 1815, the teacher Lan Pu had already passed away

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some twenty years earlier, presumably in 1795. He left behind a handwritten manuscript,
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the text of the Jingdezhen Tao lu. As the student Zheng Tinggui noted, “[my teacher] left

behind an unfinished manuscript (juan zhi ՜ᥱ) upon his death, and subsequently this

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manuscript has been buried and decaying away in his cabinets.” As most scholars agree,
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Lan Pu likely began writing his portions of the text at some point after 1790. Because

Lan’s only son, and thus heir, had also passed away, the draft of the manuscript remained in

the home of Lan’s widow, whereupon his student Zheng Tinggui gained access to the draft.

In 1811, the sixteenth year of the Jiaqing emperor’s reign, Zheng Tinggui presented Lan’s

draft to Liu Bingᄎ˯ (hao: Liu Kezhai ᄎдᓈ), then the county magistrate (zhixianٝጤ).

Zheng Tinggui was the tutor for Liu Bing’s second eldest son. Liu Bing was a native of

Wanping, Shuntian Prefecture, in Zhili province, and he earned the rank of an imperial

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scholar, passing the jinshi exam in 1811. Since no book devoted to ceramics had yet to