Description of the Twenty
Illustrations of the Manufacture of Porcelain

By Tang Ying, Director of the Imperial Factory at Jingdechen,
in obedience to an Imperial edict... (1743)

Open air enamel decorating of porcelain in Jingdezhen.
Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson, 1992

17. Round Ware and Vases Decorated in Foreign Style

"Both round ware and vases of white porcelain are painted in enamel colors in a style imitate from Western foreigners, which is consequently called Yang ts'ai, or 'Foreign Coloring.'

Clever artists of proven skill are selected to paint the decoration. The different materials of the color having been previously finely ground and properly combined, the artist first paints with them upon a slab of white porcelain, which is fired to test the properties of the colors and the length of firing they require.

He is gradually promoted from coarse work to fine, and acquires skill by constant practice; a good eye, attentive mind, and exact hand being required to attain excellence.

The colors which are employed are the same as those used for cloisonné enameling upon copper (Fa-lang). They are mixed with three different kinds of medium, the first being turpentine the second liquid glue, the third pure water. Turpentine is best adapted for free coloring; glue is more suitable for thin washes, water for retouching the colors in relief.

While it is being painted the piece is either supported upon a table or held in the hand, or laid upon the ground, according to its size and it is laced in the position most convenient for the read use of the brush."

Page credit and sources
This page is based on an English translation by S. W. Bushell, first published in 1899, of a Chinese text compiled under imperial command in 1743. The author was Tang Ying, the superintendent of imperial porcelain production in Jiangxi. The text has been widely reprinted in later literature. The version generally regarded as the most authoritative is preserved in the Provincial Annals of Jiangxi (Jiangxi tongzhi), Book 93, folios 19 to 23. An earlier draft appears to have been written around 1735. In 1743, the text was incorporated into a set described as the “Twenty Illustrations of the Manufacture of Porcelain,” compiled under imperial auspices. The original illustrations associated with this set have not been securely identified. The present page is edited to more modern language in 2025, and illustrated with photographs taken on site in Jingdezhen in 1991 and 1992, by Jan-Erik Nilsson