Shanghai Museum: Porcelain & Minorities Galleries

August 12, 2015

Porcelain vase on display in the Shanghai Museum.

The Shanghai Museum is so expansive that it’s not to be taken in and a drive-by visit… or to be done justice by a single blogpost.

This second and final Museum post visits its dazzling collection of Chinese porcelain, and the intricately decorated costumes of China’s national minorities.

Porcelain plate on display in the Shanghai Museum.

PORCELAIN GALLERY

Porcelain was invented in China around two thousand years ago. It’s made by firing clay mixtures to create a light but strong ceramic which lends itself to decorative art.

This early porcelain, known as celadon, was jade green to bluish in color. Within a couple of centuries, the technique had been refined to produce a translucent porcelain.

Porcelain vase on display in the Shanghai Museum.

During the European Middle Ages, the popularity of tea drinking in China spurred the production of porcelain tea ware. This, in turn, increased exports via the northern Silk Road and the southern Chama Road. Porcelain vessels were highly valued in the Muslim world.

Porcelain figurine on display in the Shanghai Museum.

It is also during this period that harder, white porcelain was introduced.

A Muslim visitor wrote at the time that, “They have in China a very fine clay with which they make vases which are as transparent as glass; water is seen through them. ”

Porcelain vase on display in the Shanghai Museum.

The quality of kaolin deposits around the southeastern town of Jingdezhen made its porcelain most highly prized.

Around the turn of the first millennium, Jingdezhen was designated as the imperial production center, a role which it retained for nearly 900 years.

It was here that blue porcelain was first produced by adding cobalt. This blue and white porcelain was highly prized in the Muslim world.

By the 1400’s, technical innovation made possible the addition of manganese, which prevented cobalt from bleeding and distorting fine artwork during kiln firing.

Porcelain plate on display in the Shanghai Museum.

White porcelain remained in use for ritualistic and religious purposes, and by the 1600’s seafaring merchants were bringing it to Europe, where the French called it “blanc de Chine.”

When the Dutch auctioned thousands of Ming porcelain pieces captured from Portuguese cargo ships, it ignited a porcelain mania in Europe. These pieces were so highly prized that they became known as “white gold.” Wealthy Europeans and Americans began ordering personalized porcelain art featuring designs including portraits and coats of arms.

Although Europeans had learned to make porcelain by the 1700’s, Chinese porcelain remained recognized for its higher quality and relatively lower cost.

MINORITIES GALLERY