Porcelain is a high-fired type of pottery with a white paste primarily made from kaolin clay. It was invented in China at least as long ago as the Han Dynasty [206 BC-220 AD], although its technological roots may be traced to the Shang Dynasty [1600-1050 BC], when the first lime-rich glazes were produced. It was just one of an enormous range of luxury materials exported from China to markets around the world beginning with the Silk Road merchants more than 2,000 years ago. Silk, gold, sugar, canvas, linen, paper, spices, pearls, various gems: it was the report of these items that drew all sorts of explorers from all corners of the planet to all corners of the planet.
This article describes a bit about how Chinese porcelain became part of an international market beginning in the 13th century AD, and how archaeologists have traced that spread.
Exporting Ceramics
Archaeological evidence suggests that Chinese pottery manufacturers began exporting porcelain products as early as the Southern Song dynasty (AD 1127-1279).
The earliest trade connections established by Chinese merchants moved ceramics by way of both overland trade networks and sea routes, delivering pottery vessels to Sri Lanka and India, the Persian Gulf and the Swahili coast. The earliest examples arrived in Europe in the 14th century, and they were reserved for the highest elites.
Portuguese naval expansion into the east began in the early 16th century: the explorer Vasco de Gama acquired a piece in 1499 which he presented to the king of Portugal. Indian Muslim traders distributed Chinese ceramics throughout the Indian Ocean, despite Hindu prohibitions against porcelain. The Dutch East India Company transported as many as three million porcelain pieces to the Netherlands between 1602-1637; including over 600,000 pieces between 1608-1616 alone.
By the end of the 18th century, at least 70 million pieces of Chinese porcelain had made their way into Europe.
Chinese Exporters
Many of the most important kilns in China produced a range of products, some for local and regional use, some for official use, some for the emperors, and some for the export trade. At Jingdezhen, for example, there were separate kilns set up to produce special requests for export markets in Portugal, the Netherlands (called "Kraak porcelain"), Japan, and beginning in 1662, the American colonies.
Important Chinese Kilns
- Five Dynasties [907-960]: Jingdezhen (Jiangxi province)
- Song Dynasty [960-1280]: Jingdezhen, Xing (Hebei), Ding (Hebei), Jingxing, Longquan Zhejiang (where "celadon" was produced)
- Yuan Dynasty [1280-1368]: Jingdezhen, Yuxi (Yunnan), Jianshui (Yunnan), Cizhou (Hebei), Longquanwu (Hebei), Dehua (Fujian)
- Ming Dynasty [1368-1644]: Jingdezhen, Yuxi, Jianshui, Pinghe (Fujian), Dehua, Zhangzhou (main production site for "Kraak"), Wun Yiu (Hong Kong)
- Qing Dynasty [1644-1911]: Jingdezhen, Zhangzhou
Early Accounts of European Travelers
The marketability of Chinese porcelains was helped along by reports from foreign travelers into China. The earliest known European reference to Chinese porcelains is in letter dated 1255 from William of Rubruck (Willem van Ruysbroeck), who reported to the court of the French king Louis IX about his travels to the Mongol capital of Karakorum, where he visited a Chinese craftsman quarter--William used the terms "Cataia" or "Cathayans" to refer to Chinese.
Over the next centuries, numerous explorers conducted an ad hoc marketing campaign that made Chinese porcelains a coveted luxury item for Europeans. A list of a few documentary references from missionaries and other European travelers to China is below, but see Gerritsen and McDowall for detailed discussion of these travels.
- William of Rubruck [Flemish, ~1220–~1293]
- Marco Polo [Italian, 1271-1295]
- Gaspar da Cruz [Portuguese, ~1520-1570]
- Martin de Rada [Spanish, b. 1533]
- Matteo Ricci [Italian, 1552-1610]
- Alvaro Semedo [Portuguese, 1585-1658]
- Thomas Browne [English, 1605-1682]
- Johan Nieuhof [Dutch, 1618-1672, 1658]
- Domingo Navarette [Spanish, 1618-1686]
- Louis-Daniel Le Comte [French, 1655-1728]
- Père d’Entrecolles [French, 1664-1741]
- Jean-Baptiste Du Halde [French, 1574-1743]
- John Bell [Scottish, 1691-1780]
Sourcing Ceramics
The provenance of Chinese porcelains--where (in what kiln) and when (in what dynasty) they were made--has long been of interest to researchers investigating the porcelain market.
Chinese kilns primarily used local clays, and the chemical make up of the pottery they produce is based on the geochemical and mineralogical composition of the soils, as well as production techniques such as firing temperatures and kiln constructions. Southern Chinese clays have different amounts of kaolin and quartz than do northern clays. Specific kilns have specific chemical signatures, which change over time as the technologies developed. Traditionally, styles, inscriptions, forms, and decorative techniques are used by scholars to identify the provenance and date of ceramics of all types; but recent analytical techniques based on soil chemistry have been added to the researchers' tools.
Pottery provenance has been successfully identified using instrumental neutron activation analyses (INAA) (among others). What INAA does is compare the relative percentages of rare earth elements in the region of a particular kiln to that in evidence in the pots themselves: the theory being that clay sources close to a kiln are likely those used at the kiln. The chemical signatures are quite clear; but of course, the specific matches are not.
Sources
Dias MI, Prudêncio MI, Pinto De Matos MA, and Rodrigues AL. 2013. Tracing the origin of blue and white Chinese Porcelain ordered for the Portuguese market during the Ming dynasty using INAA. Journal of Archaeological Science 40(7):3046-3057.
Gerritsen A. 2009. Fragments of a Global Past: Ceramics Manufacture in Song-Yuan-Ming Jingdezhen. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 52(1):117-152.
Gerritsen A, and McDowall S. 2012. Material Culture and the Other: European Encounters with Chinese Porcelain, ca. 1650-1800. Journal of World History 23(1):87-113.
He Y. 2010. Prosperity and decline: A comparison of the fate of Jingdezhen, Zhuxianzhen, Foshan and Hankou in modern times. Frontiers of History in China 5(1):52-85.
Huang EC. 2012. From the Imperial court to the international art market: Jingdezhen porcelain production as global visual culture. Journal of World History 23(1):115-145.
Lee Mei-Wah M. 2008. Wun Yiu Pottery Kiln Site: University of HongKong.
Ma H, Zhu J, Henderson J, and Li N. 2012. Provenance of Zhangzhou export blue-and-white and its clay source. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(5):1218-1226.
Rehren T, and Yin M. 2012. Melt formation in lime-rich proto-porcelain glazes. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(9):2969-2983.
