The Journal

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...
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...
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...
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...
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...