The book shows what was done during the late Qing Dynasty where high artistic standard was developed within a group of Qianjiang color artists, painting on porcelain.

The small booklet is extremely well illustrated in color despite its small size. Around 100 items are shown, often from several perspectives; regularly front and back. 64 artist porcelain painters are presented, the book includes a “China Qianjiang colour artist list” for easy reference.

Hangzhou: Zhejiang University Press, 2006
21×14 cm, Paperback.
102 pages, more that 200 Colour illustrations
Marks, seals and inscriptions are illustrated and occasionally prices of the items are given.
The text is entirely in Chinese.
In the captions any date in the inscriptions are given in Arabic numerals.

For Qianjiang pieces this book is one of the better published so far. It illustrates many pieces from more accomplished Qianjiang artists. It’s a useful and well-illustrated addition to the literature on the subject of Qianjiang painted porcelains from the late Qing and Republic periods. Illustrated throughout in color. Text in Chinese.

Shijiazhuang 2003.
58 pages introduction in Chinese, 193 pp. colour plates.
B/w text illustrations and drawings.
30×21 cm.

Part I – Republican Period Ceramics: Paste, Glazes, Painting and Shapes

This is one book is a set of two, both written by Tie Yuan and Xi Ming detailing Republican period ceramics. This volume start with a discourse on the production of ceramics complemented by early black-and-white photographs. Follows with an examination of glazes, painting on Republican ceramics and an in-depth presentation of the many new and prevalent shapes from this period. Illustrated with hundreds of color plates showing many previously unpublished pieces.

Part II – Republican Period Ceramics: Designs, Seals and Forgeries

Second book in this set by the same authors continues the in-depth discourse on Republican period ceramics. Many inscriptions on porcelain are shown that include artists’ seals plus hall and studio marks. Finishes with a section on the problem of forgeries of Republican period ceramics and Republican period imitations of earlier works.

Both books are recommended on behalf of the illustrations although the text remains a closed door to non-Chinese readers. Dates are occasionally given in western numerals in the captions.

Beijing, 2004.
302 resp. 310 pages.
Colour plates throughout.
Book I – Two foldout color illustrations on porcelain figures.
B/w illustrations.
Size 29×22 cm.
Hardbound. Text in Chinese

This book created quite a stir in the west and in all circles that had held the opinion that no porcelain of any merit had been made since the mid 10th century. This exhibition proved that there were lot to be found also from later periods and in excellent taste and workmanship. There are several books published now from this period, but this one still stands out as one of the most important.

The catalog illustrates and details 186 items of porcelain plaques, wares and sculptures decorated in famille rose enamels, wucai enamels, monochromes and under glaze blue. The rich contents include imperial wares for the last Qing Emperor Xuantong and also the short-lived Hongxian regime, painted porcelain by accomplished ceramic artists including the celebrated group of the “Eight Friends of Zhushan”, sculptures and painted plaques of the Cultural Revolution period (1960s and 70s), a variety of antique-type wares and porcelain painted with new techniques.

The majority of the pieces are selected from the collection of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Museum – this is augmented by items from private and public collections in Hong Kong. Most pieces are here published for the first time. The catalog contains full color plates of all items with detailed descriptions and an introductory essay by Cao Ganyuan, Academic Director of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Museum. Dual text in English and Chinese.

Hong Kong, 2004. 255 pp. Over 150 colour plates.
Text in English and Chinese.
Format 30×24 cm. Cloth.

This is the unquestionable best and most wanted book so far written on qianjiang porcelain. The most outstanding feature of porcelain decoration of this period was the predominance of painting with enamels in a style directly inspired by painting on paper. It was also one of the only times in the history of Chinese ceramics when the artists signed their work.

469 Pages,
165 colour plates, many text-illustrations, some in colour.
Hong Kong Museum of Art
Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1990.
ISBN. 962 215 098 5

The book includes biographies of many of the painters. The standard reference on the subject in what is now a keenly-collected field. Illustrated throughout in color and with a dual text in English and Chinese.

Qianjiang painting is landscape painting outlined with ink and complemented by pale umber. It lends itself well to porcelain decoration.

Qianjiang painting on porcelain flourished in the latter half of the 19th century. Objects decorated in this style includes brushpots, plaques, teawares, bowls, hatstands etc.

The style is a Yuan Dynasty literati painting style, introduced on porcelains around in the late Qing Dynasty up to early Republic Period mainly for painting landscapes with mountains (Shan) and waters (Shui) in a particular color scheme: ink for mass, tree trunks and areas in the shade, and a reddish brown for foliage, water and elements in the light.

On porcelain the painting was drafted with black and completed with washes of thin enamels in muted colors. The subjects depicted are varied and besides landscapes, human figures, and ‘birds and flowers’ occurs. This combination resulted in paintings that are pale in coloration and delicate in feeling, in sharp contrast to the richly almost gaudily painted porcelain of the time.

The pioneers and most famous qianjiang painters on porcelain in the Tongzhi (1862-1874) and Guangxu (1875-1908) periods were Wang Shaowei, Jin Pinqing and Chen Men. It is thought that both Jin and Wang worked for the Imperial porcelain factory during these eras.

The enamels used for this type of paintings was common on-glaze enamels, but with the following distinctions:

for outlines on Qianjiang, the cobalt pigment is mixed with a sparse amount of lead glaze substance and applied directly to the glazed porcelain surface, while for fencai the black cobalt outlines can be covered with a layer of a transparent lead-based substance so that it would be protected and adhere better to the glaze after firing. Due to the difference with application technique, fencai black can be glossy and appear darker while that on Qianjiang is mostly pale black in color and easily wears off.

For fencai or “Famille Rose”, this palette was based on Canton enamels on copper where the typical technique was that, before any colors could be applied, an arsenic-based opaque white pigment was first applied to the area to be colored. Than any colored enamel applied on top of this could be brushed out to give tonal gradations. This beside the style and color palette as such (including pink rose color based on gold), this is the deciding definition for famille rose.

However, for Qianjiang, the enamel was to a much lesser extent applied on top of a white base, but rather directly on the white glazed porcelain surface, giving the decoration the appearance of watercolor painting on silk or paper – which probably was the purpose.

Although many of these accomplished painters and calligraphers were active during the late 19th century and well into the 20th century very few records about them seems to be left. Unfortunately, not many of their work seem to have survived either. One of the reasons beside these masters habit of mixing their own enamels to their own specifications, being that these enamels also have a tendency to fade and wear off very easily.