Ming Porcelain

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Porcelain was a beautiful form of pottery that was created in China during many dynasties. Porcelain is made from kaolin, and it is so white that it’s almost translucent. For many years it was glazed with many colors but never blue. Cobalt was always desired but it would run, causing foggy lines and patterns. During the reign of Xuande, cobalt was experimented with. Eventually it was discovered that when manganese was added to the cobalt, the color dulled a bit and the lines became neater. This new form of porcelain was very unique and was desired by traders all over the world. It was considered the finest of all ceramics and was in incredibly high demand. This demand also helped with the development of mass production. Instead of one person spending hours working on a vase, a multitude of people would work together on each piece. Each artist would be assigned a specific task in creating porcelain and after that one task was done, the piece would be passed to another worker for the next step. With so many artists being involved in each piece, it was impossible for them all to sign the porcelain so instead it was stamped with the imperial stamp. With this system in place the Ming dynasty could produce thousands more porcelain pieces annually. One year over 400,000 bowls were made in the imperial family's factory. The production of porcelain was a vital part of the Chinese culture. It was not only a beautiful, unique form of art but also, a source of income for many Chinese artists.