The Journal

Blue-and-white grapevine plate with a scalloped border, displayed on a wooden stand against a red wall.
How to Display Porcelain Plates at Home
A plate's border deserves to be seen. How to choose a viewing position and a suitable support, with a closer look at stands, wall mounts and adhesive hangers. Read more...
Blue-and-white floral gaiwan with a zigzag border below the rim, held on a matching saucer.
Why Are Some Gaiwans So Expensive?
The price of a gaiwan can reflect handwork, firing and an artist's decisions. What those differences add to the finished piece is a separate question. Read more...
Ivory-glazed Ding ware plate with two incised chrysanthemums, curling foliage and a narrow dark copper band around the rim.
A Ding Ware Chrysanthemum Plate at The Met, New York
Two chrysanthemums turn across the ivory surface of a shallow Ding ware plate. Made in the Jin period, it retains a hand-cut design as moulded decoration became more common. Read more...
Blue-and-white porcelain cup with a dense floral pattern inside and outside, standing on a woven mat.
Cleaning Tea Stains from Porcelain
A brown ring that survives washing does not call for a harder scrub. Start with the cup's surface, then choose a treatment suited to it. Read more...
Hands holding a blue-and-white gaiwan and lid decorated with flowers and curling vines.
Hand-Painted or Printed? Reading Porcelain Decoration
A painted petal does not tell the whole story. How to read hand-painted and printed decoration, with a closer look at outlines, colour and the questions worth asking. Read more...
Contemporary Azure Blanc linglong vase with blue scroll decoration and illuminated floral patterns against a dark background.
How Does Rice-Grain Porcelain Let Light Through?
The pale marks in rice-grain porcelain can look like holes. Pierced clay and translucent glaze explain the effect, from little grains to floral designs. Read more...
Oval Ru ware basin with a pale blue-green glaze and low shaped feet, seen without its display stand
A Ru Ware Basin Through a Collector's Eyes
A basin, a stand and a hidden album: how a later collector found room for his own work around a Northern Song ceramic. Read more...
White foot ring surrounding the glossy blue-green recessed base of a miniature vase
Why the Foot of a Porcelain Vase Is Left Unglazed
The glaze can continue underneath a vase while stopping short of the ring it stands on. A small detail with a practical reason. Read more...
Pale blue-green meiping with a short neck, rounded shoulders and horizontal rings around its tapering body
A Longquan Meiping, Ring by Ring
A small mouth, broad shoulders and rings that continue almost to the foot: looking closely at Cleveland's Longquan meiping. Read more...
White porcelain Guanyin with lowered eyes, overlapping hands and long robes above a curled base
The Flow of a Robe in Dehua Porcelain
Around a pair of resting hands, porcelain gathers into folds. A closer look at the Rijksmuseum's Guanyin Crossing the Sea. Read more...
Small red porcelain vase held in two hands, with leafy twigs rising above its white rim
A Small Vase for a Sprig of Green
A small vase gives a leafy twig or a stem of grass a place beside your tea, without waiting for a bouquet. Read more...
Qingbai bottle with a short narrow neck, rounded shoulders and curling foliage carved across a pale blue-green body
Following the Carving on a Qingbai Bottle
A pale glaze can make a densely decorated bottle seem almost plain. Following one carved curl reveals how the pattern fills this late-13th-century Jingdezhen vessel. Read more...
Jingdezhen porcelain jug with a flared neck, foot and inverted Portuguese coat of arms painted in cobalt blue
A Portuguese coat of arms, painted in Jingdezhen
A small jug at The Met carries a royal emblem upside down. Its shape and decoration trace a meeting of Chinese porcelain, Islamic metalwork and Portuguese trade. Read more...
A hand holding a contemporary porcelain teacup with green pine needles, slender bamboo leaves and orange plum blossoms
Pine, Bamboo and Plum: The Three Friends of Winter
Pine needles can look like flowers until you look closely. Read the Three Friends of Winter through two contemporary porcelain pieces and the plants that connect them. Read more...
Blue-and-white Millefleurs gaiwan with its fitted lid and broad saucer on a wooden surface
What Size Gaiwan Should You Choose?
Start with the cups on your table. Capacity, serving volume and rim width each tell you something different about the gaiwan you will use. Read more...
Pale Yingqing porcelain bail-handle teapot and two ribbed cups
Qingbai and Yingqing: Are They the Same?
Qingbai and Yingqing often describe the same blue-white glaze family. Learn what the terms mean, what carving reveals and what a label cannot prove. Read more...
Deep Celadon and Sky Cyan Longquan meiping vases shown together
Why Celadon Looks Blue, Green or Gray
Celadon is a family of iron-bearing glazes, not one fixed green. See how light, glaze depth and photography change what you see before buying. Read more...
Contemporary Meiping, Yuhuchun and Tianqiu vases shown side by side; images are not to scale
Meiping, Yuhuchun and Tianqiu: Three Vase Shapes
Compare Meiping, Yuhuchun and Tianqiu vase shapes by neck, shoulder, body and visual footprint, with practical guidance for cabinets and consoles. Read more...
Crackle Glaze: Intentional Surface or Ceramic Defect?
Crackle Glaze: Intentional Surface or Ceramic Defect?
A web of fine lines across a glaze is not automatically damage. On some ceramics it is the intended finish; on others it is an unwanted result of the glaze... Read more...
Contemporary blue-and-white meiping beside a famille rose Yuhuchun vase, showing underglaze and overglaze decoration
Underglaze Blue vs Overglaze Enamel: Reading the Surface
The quickest way to separate underglaze blue from overglaze enamel is to ignore the palette for a moment and watch where the light catches. On blue-and-white porcelain, cobalt is usually... Read more...
Contemporary underglaze-red Yuhuchun vase with a reproduced Qianlong-style mark
What a Reign Mark Means on Contemporary Chinese Porcelain
A practical reading of reproduced reign marks on contemporary Chinese porcelain, separating the inscription from production date and origin. Read more...
Contemporary Jingdezhen blue-and-white Yuhuchun vase with pine, bamboo and plum decoration
Jingdezhen's Porcelain Industry on the World Heritage List
What UNESCO inscribed at Jingdezhen in 2026: a connected landscape of raw materials, kilns, workshops, transport and trade. Read more...
Kangxi-period blue-and-white landscape vase detail with dark cobalt outlines and paler washes
Kangxi Blue-and-White and the Five Shades of Cobalt
How Kangxi blue-and-white used dark cobalt, diluted washes and white reserve to build depth without adding a second color. Read more...
The “Guiguzi Descending the Mountain” Jar: Narrative, Woodblock Prints, and Yuan Blue-and-White
The “Guiguzi Descending the Mountain” Jar: Narrative, Woodblock Prints, and Yuan Blue-and-White
The “Guiguzi Descending the Mountain” jar stands among the best-known narrative vessels of Yuan blue-and-white porcelain. Its significance extends beyond its auction record and its intense, varied cobalt. More importantly,... Read more...
“Sumali Blue” and the Heaped-and-Piled Effect in Blue-and-White Porcelain
“Sumali Blue” and the Heaped-and-Piled Effect in Blue-and-White Porcelain
On some Yuan and early Ming blue-and-white porcelains, the cobalt gathers into areas noticeably darker than the surrounding decoration. These passages may appear deep blue-black, brownish-black, or slightly metallic beneath... Read more...
Yongle and Xuande Blue-and-White Porcelain: Rich Cobalt and Early Ming Court Taste
Yongle and Xuande Blue-and-White Porcelain: Rich Cobalt and Early Ming Court Taste
The Yongle (1403–1424) and Xuande (1426–1435) reigns are often regarded as one of the high points in the history of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. Although the two periods were relatively brief,... Read more...
Yuan Blue-and-White Porcelain: How the Fourteenth Century Changed Chinese Ceramics
Yuan Blue-and-White Porcelain: How the Fourteenth Century Changed Chinese Ceramics
he most important development in Yuan blue-and-white porcelain was the way vessel form, painted decoration, and international trade came together within a mature working system. Before the Yuan dynasty, Chinese... Read more...
From Tang and Song Experiments to Yuan Maturity: How Blue-and-White Porcelain Took Shape
From Tang and Song Experiments to Yuan Maturity: How Blue-and-White Porcelain Took Shape
Blue-and-white porcelain was not invented at a single moment. It emerged gradually as three developments came together: the ability to produce a sufficiently white porcelain body capable of high-temperature firing,... Read more...
What Is Blue-and-White Porcelain? Cobalt, Underglaze, and Kiln Fire
What Is Blue-and-White Porcelain? Cobalt, Underglaze, and Kiln Fire
Blue-and-white porcelain refers to porcelain decorated with cobalt pigment on an unfired body, covered with a transparent glaze, and fired at a high temperature. Its familiar appearance is created through... Read more...
The Qianlong Carmine-Red Graviata Meiping
The Qianlong Carmine-Red Graviata Meiping
This type of Qianlong meiping represents one of the most technically elaborate forms of Qing court porcelain. It brings several demanding techniques together on a single curved surface—a ruby-toned enamel... Read more...
Decoding an Imperial Benchmark: The Qianlong Five-Dragon Meiping
Decoding an Imperial Benchmark: The Qianlong Five-Dragon Meiping
AzureBlanc Archive Edition, recreating the Qianlong-period blue-and-white meiping in a contemporary setting. In 2012, a Qianlong-period blue-and-white meiping featuring five dragons, clouds, and waves sold for over $15 million USD... Read more...
From Sotheby’s to the Shanghai Museum: The Fate of a Yongzheng Famille Rose Olive-Shaped Vase
From Sotheby’s to the Shanghai Museum: The Fate of a Yongzheng Famille Rose Olive-Shaped Vase
At the 2002 Sotheby’s Autumn Auctions in Hong Kong, a Qing dynasty Yongzheng-period Famille Rose olive-shaped vase sold for over $5.3 million USD (41.5 million HKD), setting a world record... Read more...
The Weight of a Celestial Sphere: The Qianlong Famille Rose Vase
The Weight of a Celestial Sphere: The Qianlong Famille Rose Vase
At the 2011 Sotheby’s Autumn Auctions in Hong Kong, a 51-centimeter Qianlong-era Famille Rose vase sold for over $11.5 million USD (90.26 million HKD). While the numbers make headlines, for... Read more...
Dehua Ware (Blanc de Chine): The Mastery of Pure Luminous White
Dehua Ware (Blanc de Chine): The Mastery of Pure Luminous White
Most people pause when they first encounter Blanc de Chine. There are no cobalt blue narratives running across its surface, no layered enamels competing for attention. It is, seemingly, just... Read more...
Beyond Replicas: Museum-Informed Ceramics
Beyond Replicas: Museum-Informed Ceramics
Ancient ceramics are usually kept behind museum glass or locked in private archives. Predictably, the market is full of modern reproductions trying to offer a piece of that history. But... Read more...
The Return of Ritual Living
The Return of Ritual Living
Modern life moves at a relentless pace. We are saturated with information, yet deprived of sensory depth. The fatigue we feel in the digital age often stems from a lack... Read more...
Front view of an Azure Blanc nine-peach Tianqiu vase with a rounded body and tall neck
How to Choose a Porcelain Vase for a Console, Cabinet or Floor
A practical guide to measuring height, depth, width and base stability before choosing a porcelain vase for a cabinet, console or floor position. Read more...
Blanc de Chine and the Modern Interior
Blanc de Chine and the Modern Interior
Among all Chinese ceramics, Blanc de Chine integrates most seamlessly into the contemporary home. It lacks the graphic intensity of blue-and-white. It avoids the ornate complexity of Famille Rose. It... Read more...
Jingdezhen: Why the Porcelain Capital Still Matters
Jingdezhen: Why the Porcelain Capital Still Matters
For many, Jingdezhen exists only as a historical footnote. A name printed on museum plaques, auction catalogs, and documentary voiceovers. It feels anchored in the past, almost detached from the... Read more...