Late chinese porcelain

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Late chinese porcelain
(17th-20th c.)

From the beginning of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) porcelain production was a strictly controlled and organized state industry centered in Jingdezhen (in the second half of the 18th c. there were more than 3000 kilns in the town). True Chinese porcelain (Chinese ci) was produced from a mixture of kaolin and the mineral baidunzi and had to be fired at temperatures of 1300-1350º in order to produce a strong ceramic body. Every stage of the work (purifying the raw material, mould-shaping, applying the pattern) required specialist workmen.