Page 127 - Jindezhen Porcelain Production of the 19th C. by Ellen Huang, Univ. San Diego 2008
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concepts that were unique for 1815. Zhu Yan’s Tao Shuo was less written to eulogize
Jingdezhen’s local environs and people, and much more about ware styles and objects.
Even more telling was the fact that Tao Shuo organized ceramics around dynasty reign
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names and their corresponding objects.
Moreover, by nature of its translation history, Jingdezhen Tao lu left a lasting
impression on ceramic researchers about imperial kilns. As Margaret Medley has pointed
out, the very concept of “imperial kilns” in western-language studies on ceramics can be
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traced to the publication of Jingdezhen Tao lu in Western European languages. It was
because of the French translation that the existence of imperial kilns came to be known.
By pivoting the magnificence of porcelain on an axis of Jingdezhen-court relations, the
book was an instrument of self-promotion: It was an argument for maintaining continued
court presence and patronage of Jingdezhen porcelain. Tao lu’s rationale hinged upon
promoting the quality of Jingdezhen porcelain upon the locality and imperium
simultaneously. Compared to the earlier Tao Shuo penned by an imperial official, the
Jingdezhen Tao lu and Zheng Tinggui’s other writings such as his poems accented more
strongly the “Jingdezhen”- specific nature of porcelain composition, history, and
production. Only Tao lu inflected such local meanings onto porcelain.
The initiation and completion of the Jingdezhen Tao lu occurred in a period in
Jingdezhen history during which important changes in the court’s administration of
Jingdezhen porcelain production took place. The thrust of Tao lu can be viewed in this
context of changing relations between the court and Jingdezhen. Editorial comments
throughout the book reveal that Zheng Tinggui was sensitive to the recent changes in
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court administration over Jingdezhen. In the second section of the book, Zheng
