Page 63 - Jindezhen Porcelain Production of the 19th C. by Ellen Huang, Univ. San Diego 2008

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Palace (today’s Forbidden City). There, he not only gained exposure to an array of
ceramic objects, paintings, and calligraphy scrolls, he also learned the art of photography

when cataloguing inventory. Later, he started his own photography studio, called Shuxin

ᛟอ, the main business of which was to take pictures of precious antiques. He

supposedly became such an adept photographer that he became the main photographer

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for Yuan Shikai’s second son, Yuan Kewen ঺д˖. Through his dealings and

interactions in the antiques market circles, which at the time included officials at the Qing

court, of which Duanfang is the most well-known example, Guo acquired favor in Yuan

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Shikai’s eyes and by 1901 worked as a secretary for Yuan Shikai’s administration. At
the time, Yuan Shikai was governor-general of Zhili province (present-day Hebei).

In 1915, Yuan Shikai, in his failed attempt to restore the dynasty and a

constitutional monarchy, re-established the Qing imperial kilns. Following in the

footsteps of previous Qing emperors, Yuan ordered 40,000 pieces of porcelain, the

production of which would be supervised by a position he re-established in late 1915 the

“Supervision of Ceramic Affairs” (taowu jiandu shuௗي္ຖ໇) that was based in

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Jingdezhen. To oversee the task, he appointed Guo Baochang, who had since 1912

been serving in rather high-ranking position in Yuan’s presidential administration as the

Director of General Affairs (Shuwu sicheng ੲਕ̡ϓ) for Yuan’s Presidential Palace

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(zongtong fu ᐼ୕ִ).

Upon being assigned the task of producing coronation porcelain for Yuan Shikai,

Guo Baochang then faced an important decision regarding the type of porcelain

appropriate for a dynastic restoration. With a group of selected Jingdezhen potters, Guo