The best book ever published on and a necessary reference book for all who collects or have an interest in Japanese Geisha Girl porcelain. A valuable reference also for Japanese export porcelain in general.
Best Books on 'Chinese Ceramics'
This massive hard bound book is the catalog of a joint exhibition, between the Jingdezhen Institute of Ceramic Archeology and the Fung Ping Shan Museum, the University of Hong Kong in 1992.
The book includes a report on the excavation work that from the 1970 and onwards was made under the direction of Prof. Liu Xinyuan. The report covers the first period of ceramic activity during the Five Dynasties when mostly Yue green wares was imitated; over the Song dynasty when the industry stared to boom and the later development into Ming times. The main emphasis is on the early history and Song, some on Yuan and the touching upon the Ming dynasty in general.
I feel this is an important report, in particular about the Song and Yuan excavations in and around Jingdezhen but however thick with its 366 color illustrated items, I feel it is spread too thin over a too large an area to be really valuable. It is interesting, yes, and I believe if you have that kind of mindset that you want to get to the bottom of the Jingdezhen kilns, this belongs among the must have’s. However you also need to prepare for a long journey, before you have got the full picture because considering the wealth of material dug up in Jingdezhen during the last decades, this book really does not contain much at all. One good point is that quite often bases, foot rims and marks are shown. Something that is missing in the earlier book, Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods.
Still, what is here is here and I figure we need to be grateful for that, but as I said, many important areas are covered badly or not at all and is probably awaiting publication in their own sweet time.
JE
Text in English and Chinese, Around 400 pages of which 168 pages with introduction plus around 250 pages with 366 color photos of the exhibits. Any index is strangely missing and there are no pagination on the pages in the section with catalog entries.
University of Hong Kong 1992.
ISBN. 0856670766
Hardcover: 294 pages
Sotheby Parke Bernet, London and New York, 1980.
Publisher: Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications (December 1994)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0856670766
ISBN-13: 978-0856670763
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art: A Guide to the Collection, by Rosemary E. Scott
London: The Foundation and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1989.
A booklet introducing the Foundation, the founders of the collection, the scope of the collection, and different wares from the Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
112 pages
Publisher: School of Oriental & African Studies (September 1989)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0728601508
ISBN-13: 978-0728601505
Ice and Green Clouds: Traditions of Chinese Celadon
Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1987.
Catalog of a traveling exhibition with an excellent overview with details of Chinese celadon, its history and technological aspects. Appendix A is an article by Pamela Vandiver and David Kingery, ceramics scientists, entitled ACeladon: The Technological Basis of Their Visual Appearances,@ providing technical aspects of this ware.
Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr (June 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0936260173
ISBN-13: 978-0936260174
The Porcelains of Jingdezhen: Held on June 15-17 1992 in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Sir Percival David and the 40th Annive (Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia)
Porcelains of Jingdezhen (Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia; no. 16). Rosemary E. Scott (Ed.)
A seminar held on June 15-17 1992 in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Sir Percival David and the 40th Annive (Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia)
Contains 12 papers on the Jingdezhen kilns and their products, the most recent archaeological finds, types of wares from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and export porcelain.
London: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 1993.
ISBN. 0 7286 0216 4
Transactions (OCS, London)
Begun with an unnumbered issue for 1921/22, it is published annually. Many of the articles are studies on Chinese ceramics, but also on other aspects of Chinese and Asian art. The entire series as well as individual issues are unequaled sources of scholarly discourse on Chinese ceramics. Highly recommended.
Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society,
ISSN 0306-0926. London: The Society, 1923-
Translated from Chinese, the work provides an overview of the history of Chinese pottery and porcelain and their place in other cultures. It also provides a list of important ancient kilns in China, arranged by name of kiln, location, dates, products and bibliography.
Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, by Li, Chih-yen and Ch’eng Wen
Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1984.
Ceramics in Scholarly Taste
This book is a catalog from a Southeast Asian Ceramic Society exhibition in Singapore 1993. It is a very interesting review from a Chinese Scholars point of view about small items made for his desk. They are very nice and sophisticated and from a western point of view hard to understand and to identify properly. There are seal past boxes, brush rests, brush pots, water droppers, wrists rest, ink slabs and brush washers etc. If you like small and sophisticated Chinese porcelain collector’s items, this book is for you. I find it very interesting myself and to read it through is well spend time in pleasant company with the well known and accomplished scholar Maura Rinaldi as your guide. She is as you might recognize also the author of the standard reference work “Kraak Porcelain”, also mentioned on this list. The items span from the Song dynasty up until the early republic period.
JE
Paperback: 151 pages
Publisher: Southeast Asian Ceramic Society (October 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9810043953
ISBN-13: 978-9810043957
Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
The Private Trade in Chinese Export porcelain, as distinct from East India Company trade, has hitherto scarcely been recoginised as a subject in its own right. And yet the officers and supercargoes of the Hon. East India Company took full advantage of their license to trade on their own account; it is just this attractive and innovative ware, chosen by them at their own capital risk, that is most collected today. David S. Howard surveys more than two centuries of manufacture, and throws new light on how the trade was actually conducted. The Hodroff collection, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in the world, closely mirrors the tastes of the private traders and is the ideal source of illustration for this pioneering work
Hardcover: 298 pages
Publisher: London: Zwemmer (September 1994)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0302006427
ISBN-13: 978-0302006429
Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
Imperial Taste – Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation
This is the catalogue to an exhibition organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with pieces from the Percival David Foundation in London.
Smitten by the riches of the Imperial Collection, connoisseur Sir Percival David (1892-1964) braved the “insuperable obstacles” posed by rival Chinese collectors – and the chicaneries of the Chinese bank which then owned the priceless porcelains in the collection – to purchase, in 1926, the collection, which is now quartered at the University of London.
The 56 pieces that makes up this exhinbition date from the 9th to the 18th centuries. Formerly owned by Chinese emperors, they document fluctuating imperial taste and bear witness to an enduring high standard, from Jun ware from the 12th and 13th centuries – smudged generously with mottled plum and purple glazes – to the delicate naturalism of 18th-century Jingdezhen tea sets, painted with lotus blossoms.
Rounding out the many color photographs and catalogue essay by curator Rosemary Scott are other pieces by Rosemary Scott and scholars George Kuwayama, Roderick Whitfield, Wu Tung and Denise Patry Leidy discussing archeological research, the origins of ceramic painting styles, the role played by such porcelains in Chinese painting itself and the influence of East-West trade on the art.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Paperback: 136 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books (July 1, 1989)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0877016127
ISBN-13: 978-0877016120
2004 Christie’s London The E.T. Hall Collection of Chinese Monochrome Porcelains 6/7/04. This post auction catalog consists of 251 pages with 286 lots mostly illustrated in color and all described in detail. This was the sale that finally put monochromes on the map! Some really terrific pieces.
This substantial compilation of illustrated articles from ‘Orientations’ makes available new perspectives and the results of specialist research on many aspects of the history, design and production of Chinese ceramics.
This book just ought to be one of the best buys ever when it comes to substance. One slight drawback is that the book as such is compiled from a series of interesting articles.
Even if they so to speak covers the history of Chinese Ceramics, as a book, it lacks focus. But besides that, as a night table book, or the perfect reference look-up book if you are lucky enough to hit home on one of the topics covered. Very good.
Nobody hesitates about that this book is worth buying. Actually you should have subscribed to Orientation during 1982-2003 in the first place but if you didn’t; here’s a very good selection of the best of the best.
Format: Paperback, 430 pages
Published: 2004, Hong Kong, 2nd Edition
ISBN: 9627951325
Exhibition catalog. The Art of the Yixing Potter: the K.S. Lo Collection, Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware.
Hong Kong: The Urban Council, 1990.
With text in English and Chinese, this exhibition catalog describes Yixing stoneware, its history, some Yixing collections, and the collecting of such ware in the West. This work looks at tea drinking in China and offers a concise history of Yixing Ware, the collection of Yixing Ware in the Shanghai Museum, as well as Yixing and the West. Complimented by profuse photographic illustrations showing good examples of the pottery.
Colour and black and white photographic illustrations,
250 pages, 317 illustrations (247 in color) and 194 color reference illustrations. index, appendix:
Three Techniques of Making Yixing Teapots, dustjacket protected, quarto.
Text in English and Chinese.
Published by Urban Council, Hong Kong.
250 pp. 31 x 25 cm.
Hardcover.
Unfortunately, this book is currently out of print.
For the Imperial Court: Qing Porcelain from the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art
This book was published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name. Most of the objects featured in this exhibition are are pre-eighteenth century. This collection also features many objects produced in the “guyue xuan” style, the only other notable collection of which is found in the National Museum of Taipei. The collection from which the exhibition is drawn and the quality of the text, makes this modest book a “classic” or “must have”.
Format: Hardcover, 160 pages
Published: 1997, USA, 1st Edition
ISBN: 9813066016
CLASSIC – Chinese Imperial Porcelain
Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection
Alfred Baur (1865-1951) gave his collection to the foundation which bears his name shortly before he died, in 1951. He began collecting in about 1907 and continued right up until his death with creating one of the finest private collections of Asian art in the West. Little was known of the breadth and quality of his collection until his original four volume catalog of the Baur collection of Chinese ceramics was published. Those volumes have been long out of print and are much sought after.
Much as I would prefer the complete original set of Collections Baur, 1968-1984 in eleven volumes, or just the four volumes that containes the cermics, I think this more affordable set of two books gives good value for the money.
Its a compact but beautiful two volume set in a beautiful slip case. It is well produced and contains new photographs and new text by John Ayers.
CLASSIC – A Catalog of one of the finest private collections of Asian art in the West
Chinese Folk Painting on Porcelain
At the Shanghai Museum Shop and probably at many other Museum Shops this book should be available. This is an unusual book even if in some minor parts some dates are wrong, but most important is that he has an interesting point in speaking up for the “peoples porcelain” min yao as an art form separated from the Imperial tradition.
Translated from Chinese, the book discusses the art of underglazed porcelain painting at private kilns, various styles, decorations and artistic values. Its about the impressionistic and simplified peoples drawing that can’t help but being closely related to the Chinese written language. It is very easy to observe once you have begun to think about it and this is what makes this book valuable in my eyes. It also traces down the developmen of some well known patterns, and on the whole, makes common everyday wares more interesting.
Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1991.
CLASSIC – on decorations on Chinese folk wares
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Foreign Languages Press (December 1991)
ISBN-10: 7119014056
ISBN-13: 978-7119014050
Chinese Ceramics: Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911)
Comparably thin but a very important book. For those with a serious interest in Imperial Chinese porcelain.
Drawing from examples of V & A collections, the study is a useful introduction to Qing ceramics, focusing on objects produced for domestic use. Has a very useful chapter on sources in Chinese, French and English on the history of Jingdezhen. Also discussed is Jingdezhen kiln technology.
I think that when I am thinking about a good beginners book to recommend, it is not a book about cheap porcelain you can find at flea markets I am thinking of, but this book, for example, that in a modest format explains why Chinese porcelain is an exceptionally interesting art form and how come peopele are prepared to pay millions of $ for just one vase or a dish. I think that is where we should all begin, and then scale down towards what we can afford but with the goal in mind, that one day we should own at least one of these pieces.
CLASSIC – recommended beginners introduction, on Chinese Imperial ware
Blue and White – Chinese Porelain around the world
This wide-ranging and richly illustrated study of Chinese blue and white porcelain focuses on its international trade, which has had great significance since the 13th century Yuan Dynasty when export to the Mediterranean, and Southeast Asia was established.
This book is exceptional in that it focuses mainly on the origin of blue and white and deals with those rare early Ming blue and whites as if they were in some way accessible for us normal people. There are multimillion-dollar pieces page up and page down, superbly illustrated and with a modern text that consider the latest findings in the field, exemplifies with excavated pieces and museum pieces. A quite interesting book for the foundation of porcelain collection but not a shopping manual so to speak. Highly interesting. Brilliant pictures. A good book. Yes – to buy, but not on top of the “necessary” list so to speak.
The development of the trade throughout the world including Mexico, South America and Western Europe during the 16th century Ming Dynasty is described, and the Islamic influence discussed. The porcelain has been widely collected since the 17th century and past and present collections and discoveries are described and seen as an area for future discoveries and scholarship.
With line drawings, 240 color illustrations, bibliography and index.
Format: Hardcover, 208 pages
Published: 2000, USA, 1st Edition
ISBN: 071411491X
Oriental Blue and White, Sir Harry Garner
One of several old books on the subject I really like. It’s a time tested classic, originally published in 1954. Personally I think the third edition is the best. Garner is very “readable” even if later research has proved him not entirely correct in some details, but that will eventually happen to everybody, and does not detract from the overall understanding of the subject of Chinese porcelain that this book will bring.
It is a splendid classic and belongs in any serious reference library, but just that it does not need to come in there first, it should some day, but there is maybe no need to buy this book as one of your first.
Hardcover: 104 pages
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0571047025
ISBN-13: 978-0571047024
Classic introduction to Chinese Blue and White porcelain, mostly Ming. If you started to collect Chinese porcelain a few decades ago, this was on of the books you would find useful as an introduction to this exclusive passtime.
Chinese Blue and White Porcelain
Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, by Duncan Macintosh. In this volume the author walks you through the history of blue and white porcelain while explaining the historical setting which to me is very important for to understand why the porcelain ended up as it did. If you want to understand the porcelain on a deeper level this is an important book. At first most blue and white porcelain looks, well, just blue and white. This book helps you see the significat differences between porcelain from the different dynasties.
Chinese Blue & White Porcelain, by Duncan Macintosh 2nd ed. Hong Kong: Book Marketing Ltd., 1986,
Reprinted with minor amendments 1988.
The 3rd edition was published in 1994.
Reprinted 1997.
Format: Hardcover, 236 pages
ISBN: 9789622110670
Underglaze Blue and Red, Elegant decoration of Porcelain from Yuan, Ming and Qing by Wang Qingzheng.
Important book on Imperial and good quality folk porcelain. Important since it is written by a Chinese scholar and it is as important as rare that we in the West get to know, first hand, the point of views found among many Chinese scholars, without the information being filtered through the traditional opinions of western scholars. We have our bases that needs to be touched every time we go about writing about something. It might be a refreshing relief if we don’t, just for once, as in this book. Important information culled from Chinese sources regarding marks and period charateristics explained from their historical context.
The Chinese Potter
The Chinese Potter, by Margaret Medley, London, 1976. The publisher tells “Most studies of Chinese art deal with types, period or styles, but this historical examination of Chinese ceramics, which uses recent research, explains how the evolution of pottery depended upon the technological developments of the Chinese culture. The book’s practical approach makes full use of archaeological reports to show how differing geographical areas, materials and developing technology all shaped the evolution of Chinese ceramics.” Now, this is today a somewhat outdated book but the author is a good writer and with her excellent grasp of the subject, this book will not be too old to read for a very long time to come.
The work provides a very useful overview of Chinese ceramics, the technology, formation and development, varieties and forms.
China has the longest and most highly developed ceramic tradition in the world, encompassing early Neolithic earthenwares, the finely glazed stoneware pieces of the Song period – widely regarded as among the greatest ceramics ever produced – and the years of Imperial patronage and export ware for the new markets of the West. Margaret Medley’s groundbreaking study was the first to bring a practical approach to the study of Chinese pottery. She makes full use of archaeological reports to show how differing geographical areas, materials and developing technology all shaped the evolution of Chinese ceramics. Her revolutionary insights, along with an astute critical judgment in the field of art history itself, combine to form a classic but approachable account which has profoundly influenced the way in which Chinese pottery is studied.
1st ed. published in 1976
2nd ed. Oxford, U. K.: Phaidon, 1980.
3rd Revised edition issued in 1989, ISBN: 071482593X
A handbook of Chinese ceramics
Covers ceramics from the Neolithic period to the present. This is a good “summary” and draws on pieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The illustrations are good and the text concise and on the dot. There is something as too much, when it comes to information and this is “enough” in most cases. It is a good buy if you are looking into just one book. I like it because I can trust the information, and the selection of pieces is a good one. Does this sound like you have heard it before? Well, they are very similar but there are much more pictures in this then in Vainiker. The outlook is mostly technical.
The 2nd ed. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989 is a partially rewritten and much enlarged edition, the work includes an index, more illustrations and new information from recent archaeological discoveries. It provides a description of the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, but also gives a history of Chinese ceramics.
CHINESE POTTERY AND PORCELAIN: FROM PREHISTORY TO THE PRESENT
Covers ceramics from the Neolithic period to the present. This is a good “summary” and draws on pieces from the British Museum. The illustrations are good and the text consise and on the dot. There is something as too much, when it comes to information and this is “enough” in most cases. It is a good buy if you are looking into just one bok. I like it because I can trust the information, and the selection of illustration is good. It is actually hard to find just a few pieces that fairly well represent a whole period. The point of view is more humanistic than Valenstein’s (MET) book which is also a very good choice but which tends to do a lot of listings. I know, buy both. (LEFT: Second edition, 2005)
The publisher adds the following:
The art of Chinese ceramics encompasses prehistoric clay figurines of pregnant women, bronze ritualistic bells, exotic earthenware figures of merchants in the Central Asian silk trade, Ming writing-boxes bearing Arabic inscriptions, Taoist shrines adorned with lacquer and gilding, and pagoda tiles molded with monster masks. It’s an art as richly varied as Chinese civilization itself, as this resplendently illustrated survey makes abundantly clear.
Vainker, a curator at the British Museum, draws on the museum’s vast collection of Chinese stoneware, porcelain and religious sculpture in her absorbing narrative. Proceeding from the riotous gaiety of Tang “three-color wares” (A.D. 618-906) to the classical equilibrium of 12th-century Song pottery to a modern, softly glowing “eggshell” porcelain vase, Vainker vibrantly charts “a continued transformation of the contemporary into the collectible.”
Well this is not entirely the full truth. The author actually uses up close to 140 out of a total 216 (240 with appendixes) pages to approach actual porcelain and not before p 134 do we enter the world of blue and white porcelain. Still this is a splendid book which I highly recommended. (RIGHT: First edition, 1991.)
Chinese Ceramics, by He Li: A New Comprehensive Survey: From the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
If your interest is wider than ceramics, there is an old classic by William Willets, Foundations of Chinese Art (London 1965), I warmly recommend too even if it has a few years on its neck. It is by and large a product of Swedish contribution to the field and it reflecs very much of the Swedish I would call solemn view of old China.
CLASSIC – best starting point – must have
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