Twenty Illustrations of the Manufacture of Porcelain HOME |  Introduction |  1. Mining and paste |  2. Purification |  3. Glaze |  4. Saggars |  5. Moulds |  6. Round ware |  7. Vases |  8. Blue color |  9. Selction of blue |  10. Molding / grinding color |  11. Painting in blue |  12. Decorating vases |  13. Glazing |  14. Turning and foot |  15. Firing |  16. Opening the kiln |  17. Foreign style |  18. Muffle stoves |  19. Packing |  20. Worshipping Introduction Page 1-20 Twenty Illustrations of the Manufacture of Porcelain, by Tang Ying, 1743 "The natives take advantage of the mountain torrents to erect wheels provided with crushers. Having been finely pulverized, it is then purified by washing and levigation, and made up in the form of bricks, which are called pai-tun or white bricks (petuntse)" Text by: by Tang Ying, 1743. Translation: S.W. Bushell, 1899. Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson, 1992 This section contains the full text of the "Twenty Illustrations of the Manufacture of Porcelain" written by Tang Ying, the celebrated superintendent of the porcelain manufacture in the province of Jiangxi during 1736-1753. In 1991 and 1992 I had the privilege of spending a few weeks in Jingdezhen together with Professor Bo Gyllensvärd and some friends. The pictures illustrating Tang Yings text here, is taken by me during these visits. The text is thus by: by Tang Ying, 1743. Tre translation is by S.W. Bushell, 1899 and the pictures © Jan-Erik Nilsson, 1991, 1992. It is one of the most important texts there is, on how antiques Chinese Porcelain actually was made. The original translation of the Chinese text was made by S.W. Bushell in 1899 and has carefully been edited here by me. The first draft seems to date from 1735 and was on Imperial command added to a set of "twenty illustrations of the manufacture of porcelain" in 1743. Unfortunately, the actual illustrations have never been identified. Almost all Chinese Porcelain was - and still are - made in the town of Jingdezhen on the banks of the Chang river in the southern Chinese province of Jiangxi. At the height of the China trade, thousands of kilns and workshops turned out millions of pieces of porcelain each year. All work was done in an assembly line way where each worker performed a simple, yet specialized task. Père d'Entrecolles, Jesuit missionary to China, remarked that one piece of porcelain could pass through the hands of as many as seventy craftsmen. Even when decorating the porcelain each craftsman specialized in a specific element in the design "and human subjects was often treated the worst", he wrote. Today, porcelain is still made in Jingdezhen using basically the same manufacturing processes as described by Tang Ying more than 250 years ago. Jan-Erik Nilsson This text was written on Imperial command in 1743 by Tang Ying, the celebrated superintendent of the porcelain manufacture in the province of Jiangxi. It is widely reprinted and the most authentic version is to be found in the official annals of the province of Jianxi, Book XCIII, folio 19-23. The first draft seems to have been written in 1735 and the version above was added to a set of twenty illustrations of the manufacture of porcelain in 1743. The actual illustrations have never been identified. Original translation from Chinese by S.W. Bushell, 1899. The text is illustrated with photos taken on location by Jan-Erik Nilsson in 1991 and 1992.