Qing Dynasty Porcelain

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

• Fine porcelain vessels were produced for both domestic and foreign markets.
• Potters focused on refining glazes, including:
  • Famille verte (green, yellow, and aubergine purple)
  • Famille noir (black ground)
  • Famille jaune (yellow ground)
  • Monochromatic copper red glazes (e.g., oxblood, peach bloom)
  • New glaze effects (e.g., tea dust, Claire de lune)
• Blue and white porcelain became a major export during this period.
• The most famous Qing porcelain wares were produced during the reigns of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong.

Glaze Types

• Sang de Boeuf (Oxblood): A glossy, rich, blood-red glaze with streaks of purple or turquoise.
• Peach Bloom: A glaze with a pinkish-red color, mottled with russet spots and tinged with green.
• Tea-dust: A dark green or brownish glaze with a speckled appearance.
• Claire de lune: A high-fired, soft, pale or lavender blue glaze.

Japanese Ceramics

• Prehistoric Ceramics (10,500 - 300 BC):
  • Characterized by large, cone-shaped cooking pots with stamped or rolled cord patterns.
  • Made using the coil method and low-fired earthenware.
• Jomon Period (10,500 - 300 BC):
  • Pots were decorated with ovals, circles, spirals, and human or animal faces.
  • Small figurines were also produced during this period.
• Yayoi Period (300 BC - 300 AD):
  • Introduced the use of bronze and finer alluvial clays.
  • Ceramics were characterized by thinner walls and more delicate shapes.
• Nara Period (710 - 784):
  • High-fire pottery was introduced, with monochromatic green or yellowish-brown glazes.
• Heian Period (794 - 894):
  • Natural ash glazes were developed, and celadons were introduced.
• Kamakura Period (1185 - 1333):
  • Ceramics industry flourished, with the production of Ki-seto (yellow Seto) and other types of ceramics.
• Muromachi Period (1338 - 1573):
  • The tea ceremony became popular, stimulating the production of ceramic vessels.
  • Shigaraki and other kilns produced high-quality ceramics.

Medieval Japanese Ceramics

• Kamakura and Muromachi Periods:
  • Characterized by a duality of strength of form and natural-ash glazes.
  • Stoneware and porcelain implements were used in the tea ceremony.
• Momoyama Period (1573 - 1603):
  • The tea cult spread to the military and merchant classes.
  • Stoneware and porcelain implements reflected the tasteful, subtle beauty of the ceremony.
  • Famous kilns and wares include Raku, Seto, and Oribe.

Decorated Stoneware and Porcelain

• Momoyama Period (1573 - 1603):
  • Raku ware was characterized by irregular shapes and soft, somber lead glazes.
  • Oribe ware featured brown iron-oxide painted designs.
  • Karatsu ware had several styles, including geometric patterns and iron oxide decoration.
  • Bizen ware was characterized by a hard, brick-red stoneware with natural-ash glazes.
• Tokugawa Period (1603 - 1867):
  • Kenzan ware was a type of high-quality decorative pottery.
  • Imari ware was a type of porcelain known for its bright-colored designs.
  • Nabeshima ware was reserved for family and friends, with designs drawn on thin tissue.

Philippine Ceramics

• Early Pottery (6000 BC):
  • Evidence of pottery-making has been found in Sanga-sanga Cave and Laurente Cave.
• Pre-Colonial Period:
  • Pottery was used for utilitarian purposes, such as cooking and storing liquids.
  • Burial jars, like the Manunggul Jar, were used to store the remains of corpses.
• Contemporary Ceramics:
  • Several potters have diverged from tradition to create unique designs.
  • Notable potters include Jon Pettyjohn, Lanuelle Abueva-Fernardo, Ugu Bigyan, and Hadrian Mendoza.### Ceramics
• Crazing: hairline cracks formed on the surface of a glaze due to differences in the thermal expansion rates of the glaze and the clay body.
• Crosshatching: a decorative technique that involves parallel lines crossed at right angles.
• Drying: achieved by applying non-fired clay which has been well-kneaded into a smooth, even surface.
• Enamel: a form of low-temperature glaze that is applied on top of an already fired higher-temperature glaze.
• Flux: a combination of materials that melts into a glass, coated, and regulated into a clay body to give the fired ceramic increased impermeability.
• Frit: a pre-fired glass that is either not completely soluble or completely insoluble when added to an un-fired glaze batch.
• Fusion: occurs in the kiln when the fire has melted (fluxed) enough of the glaze's components to make it flow smoothly into a continuous sheet.
• Glaze: a vitreous, mineral coating that can result from the fire at a lower temperature of the clay body and is normally transparent or translucent.
• Kiln: a refractory-lined chamber where clay objects are fired.
• Matte glaze: opaque glaze that has a flat instead of a glossy surface.
• Neutral: neither acid nor alkaline.
• Oxidation: refers to the burning process in a kiln in which there is sufficient oxygen in the kiln atmosphere for the fuel to burn completely.
• Peeling: refers to the flaking off of an applied glaze caused by the uneven thermal expansion of the glaze and the clay body.
• Pyrometer: an instrument that measures temperature.
• Reduction: firing atmosphere in which the kiln atmosphere is made to be reducing (devoid of oxygen) by introducing a carbonaceous material such as sawdust or oil into the kiln.
• Refractory: as in "refractory clay", capable of withstanding high temperatures without melting.
• Salt glaze: a glaze utilizing the vaporization of salt.
• Salt firing: traditional, rock salt is thrown into an oil-fired kiln at peak temperature for several firings. Salt volatilizes, combines with clay particles to form a glass coating on the ware.
• Sanitary ware: earthenware that can resist great heat and is therefore suitable for lining interior spaces such as bathrooms.
• Scumming: occurs when soluble salts rise to the surface during the firing process and are deposited on the surface of the ware.
• Segger: a porous box placed in the kiln to protect certain pieces, usually in the form of a box with an open top.
• Silica: sand, or powdered quartz.
• Slip: clay in a liquid form and is often used to decorate pottery.
• Stilt: a small stilt-like projection on a glazed ceramic ware which prevents the ware from sticking to the kiln shelf.
• Stoneware: a hard, non-porous ceramic made from high-fired clay.
• Terra sigillata: the technique was used to impressive effect in the 1st-century Romano-British pottery industry.

Glassware

Definition

• Glass is a hard, brittle, chemically inert substance produced by fusing silica together with a flux and a stabilizer into a mass that cools to a rigid condition without crystallization.

Composition and Properties

• Most glass is a mixture of silica, an alkali to lower the melting point, lime as a stabilizer, and cullet (waste glass) to assist in melting the mixture.
• Properties of glass are varied by adding other substances, commonly in the form of oxides.

Classifications of Glass

Soda-Lime Glass

• The most common commercial glass.
• Chemical and physical properties of soda-lime glass are the basis for its wide use.
• Soda-lime glass is primarily used for bottles, jars, everyday drinking glasses, and window glass.
• Light transmission is one of its important properties, making it suitable for use as flat glass in windows.

Lead Glass

• Also known as lead crystal.
• Has a high refractive index and relatively soft surface, making it especially suited for decorating by grinding, cutting, and engraving.
• The specific gravity of lead glass is higher than that of soda-lime glass, and it is mostly used as drinking glasses, vases, bowls, ashtrays, or as decorative items.

Materials of Decoration

8.3 Types of Glasses

• Borosilicate glass: composed of silica and boric oxide with smaller amounts of alkalis, known commercially as Pyrex.
• Special glass: the most significant factor is application and appearance.

8.4 Types of glass

• Flat glass: refers to all glass products in a flat form regardless of manufacturing method.
• Hollowware: consumer goods such as bottles, drinking glasses, etc. Most hollowware is made of soda-lime glass.

8.5 Three Major Types of Flat Glass

• Sheet glass: fabricated by drawing molten glass from a furnace or forming a cylinder.
• Plate glass: molten glass is rolled into a plate and subsequently ground and polished, providing virtually clear vision.
• Float glass: pouring molten glass onto a surface of molten tin and allowing it to cool slowly minimizes distortion and eliminates the need for grinding and polishing.

8.6 Varieties of Glass Products

• Annealed glass: glass that is cooled slowly to relieve internal stresses.
• Heat-strengthened glass: annealed glass that is partially tempered by a process of reheating and sudden cooling.
• Tempered glass: annealed glass that is reheated to just below the softening point and then rapidly cooled to induce compressive stresses in the surfaces and edges of the glass and tensile stresses in the interior.
• Laminated or safety glass: consists of two or more plies of flat glass bonded under heat and pressure to interlayers of polyvinyl butyral resin that retains the fragments if the glass is broken.
• Wired glass: flat or patterned glass having a square or diamond wire mesh embedded within it to prevent shattering in the event of breakage or excessive heat.
• Patterned glass: has a linear or geometric surface pattern formed in the rolling process to obscure vision or to diffuse light.
• Obscure glass: has one or both sides acid-etched or sandblasted to obscure vision.
• Spandrel glass: an opaque glass for concealing the structural elements in curtain wall construction, produced by fusing a ceramic frit to the interior surface of tempered or heat-strengthened glass.
• Insulating glass: a glass unit consisting of two or more sheets of glass separated by a hermetically sealed air space to provide thermal insulation and restrict condensation.
• Tinted or heat-absorbing glass: a float glass that has a chemical admixture to absorb a portion of the radiant heat and visible light that strike it.
• Reflective glass: has a thin, translucent metallic coating to reflect a portion of the light and radiant heat that strikes it.
• Low-emission (low-e) glass: transmits visible light while selectively reflecting the longer wavelengths of radiant heat, produced by depositing a low-e coating either on the glass itself or over a transparent plastic film suspended in the sealed air space of insulating glass.

8.7 Historical Evolution of Glass

• The discovery of glass: natural glass has existed since the beginnings of time, formed when certain types of rocks melt as a result of high-temperature phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, lightning strikes, or the impact of meteorites, and then cool and solidify rapidly.

Explore the development of fine porcelain vessels during the Qing Dynasty, including glaze refinement and prominent export wares.