Page 71 - 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

kaolin and porcelain stone mix. Traditional underglaze blue was obscured by this new

white body. It is suggested that the appearance of blue enamel was a reaction to the

loss of underglaze blue that apparently was considered essential as a contrast to other

17
enamel colours. It is also suggested by Jörg, such the application of overglaze
enamel was inspired by Japanese export wares or influenced by Japanese ceramic

18
technology which blue enamel was used in Arita. Vainker, on the other hand,

19
suggests the overglaze blue enamel as a deriving from cloisonné technology.
In the late 1720s, other new enamel colours were introduced to the porcelain

production, which can be mixed with other pigments to produce new colours, thereby

enormously increased the porcelain painters’ palette. The introduction of new enamel

colours represented a major technological breakthrough and also played significant

impact on the porcelain trade. This new technological innovation and its impact to the

trade is the focus of this thesis. In the following sections, I will discuss it in details.

2.3. Enamelled Porcelain Production of the Eighteenth Century

2.3.1. The Enamel Workshop at the Court

During the 1680s, enamelled objects (mainly copper and glass wares) were first

introduced to the Qing court. Soon, the Qing court established imperial workshops at

the Forbidden City under direct imperial control, and was led by princes and high

17 C. J. A. Jörg, Famille Verte: Chinese Porcelain in Green Enamels (Groninger Museum, 2011),
p.11; S.J. Vainker, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain from Prehistory to the Present (London: The
British Musuem, 1995), pp.202-203.
18 Jörg, Famille Verte, p.11.
19 Vainker, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, pp.202-203.
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