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This chapter describes the emergence, circulation, and provenance of major visual

sources on Jingdezhen ceramic history and production. In part, its purpose is to rectify the

dismissive generalization put forth by David in the 1930s. After all, illustrations devoted

to porcelain and ceramics were transmitted throughout the nineteenth century and they

appeared in the major monograph analyzed in the preceding chapter. As mentioned, the

first complete book on Jingdezhen porcelain history written in any language, was the

Jingdezhen Tao lu. First written in the last years of the Qianlong period (1735-1796) by a

Jingdezhen literati, it was later edited, augmented, and published in 1815. This illustrated

text formed the basis of many twentieth century studies on ceramic technology and art by

scholars based in and outside of China. It was the first document on porcelain production

and aesthetics devoted to Jingdezhen that was published in a non-official publishing

context. The 1815 edition was also the first document published about Jingdezhen

porcelain to have been accompanied by illustrations of ceramics.

However, the woodblock illustrations in Jingdezhen Tao lu were not the only

illustrations of porcelain manufacturing that were drawn in the era of active proliferation

of porcelain texts and knowledge exchange. Taking issue with David’s declaration by

focusing on visual documentation, this chapter narrates transformations in the meaning

Jingdezhen porcelain through highlighting the visual sources of porcelain. Instead of

imputing primacy to texts as historical data, I explore the uses of visual media for the

writing of historical change. In doing so, I show that to speak of porcelain history in the

time period between the late-eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries necessitates an

investigation of visual media, juxtaposed with material artifacts and textual records.

Lothar Ledderose introduces a similar point in his landmark study on Chinese art: he