In 1698, the French Jesuit missionary Père Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles [1664-1741] arrived in China. He spent much of the next three decades at the famous ceramic mass production site of Jingdezhen. In letters back home, d'Entrecolles described the city as containing 18,000 families, and close to one million people, fronted on three miles of the River Chang. Gridded narrow streets, densely packed houses, and a row of temples did not fascinate d'Entrecolles nearly as much as the enormous community of 3,000 pottery kilns he found there.
Letters from Jingdezhen
What we know of d'Entrecolles' work in China is recorded in two letters he sent from Jingdezhen in 1712 and 1722 to his home Jesuit community. These letters drew on his own observations of the kilns and workshops, as well as those of some of his Chinese converts who worked in the potteries, and some of his own readings of Chinese texts on porcelain production. The letters became generally known when they were published in 1736 as part of the General History of China, written by Jean-Baptiste du Halde. By 1777, translations of du Halde's work would become a standard English-language reference on Chinese customs.
D'Entrecolles' letters include an evocative description of the ceramics works, as can be seen from this passage, translated from the French by Hopton and Hopton: "The whirling flames and smoke that rise in different places make the approach to Jingdezhen remarkable for its extent, depth and shape. During a night entrance, one thinks that the whole city is on fire, or that it is one large furnace with many vent holes. Perhaps these encircling mountains form a proper situation for the production of porcelain."
But, most importantly to commercial European and American potters of the day, the letters detail the many processes of porcelain manufacture, kiln construction and the economic details of production. Further, they describe a mass production of materials both for the Imperial court and for a global market of foreign customers, something their European readers would have been eager to hear about.
Myth of the Porcelain God
Among the stories recounted by d'Entrecolles is the famous "Myth of Feng Huo Shien" or myth of the porcelain god. This story involves the legend of an unfortunate kiln worker at Jingdezhen named T'ung Bun, who fell into a kiln to protect his co-workers, turning him into a deity known as Feng Huo Shien, the "Genius of Fire and Blast". If this story sounds familiar to westerners, it is because it became the basis for a "Chinese" ghost story written in the 1920s by Lafcadio Hearn. Further, says Geiger-Ho, this myth resonates with modern potters, who, like Geiger-Ho herself, construct porcelain gods of their own.
Impact of the letters
There is no doubt that D'Entrecolles' letters, as well as many other documents from Chinese and foreign scholars both, have formed the basis for changes and development of European and American ceramic manufacturing techniques in the 18th and 19th centuries. One important example is the Edgefield pottery in early 19th century South Carolina in the United States.
Some scholars (such as Georgeanna Greer, John Burrison, Charles T. Zug and John Michael Vlach, as reported in Koverman) believe that the American ceramic entrepreneurs Abner and John Landrum may have obtained an English-language copy of du Halde's General History of China and learned about Chinese techniques. The Landrums, goes the theory, put the alkaline glaze recipes to work at Edgefield pottery in 19th century South Carolina. Additional archaeological evidence supports this contention: in 2012, a Chinese style "dragon kiln" was identified at the Edgefield site.
Sources
Burrison JA. 2012. South Carolina's Edgefield district: An early international crossroads of clay. American Studies Journal 56.
Geiger-Ho MJ. 2003. Pathways of transmission: Investigating the influence of Chinese kiln god worship and mythology on kiln god concepts and rituals as observed by American ceramicists: Texas Tech University.
Hopton N, and Hopton A. 2006. Selected passages from the Letters of Père d'Entrecolles. Gotheborg.com: Jan-Erik Nilsson.
Koverman JB. 2005. The Ceramic Works of David Drake, aka, Dave the Potter or Dave the Slave of Edgefield, South Carolina. American Ceramic Circle Journal 13:83.
Koverman JB. 2006. Edgefield Pottery. In: Edgar W, editor. The South Carolina Encyclopedia. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. p 285-286.
