Collector’s Notes: Blue and White Chinese Porcelain
Global Trade in Blue and White

Image via Global Connections
At first trade in blue and white Chinese porcelain centered along the Silk Road and with the Near East and Southeast Asia. But by the early 16th century, Portugal made direct contact with China and began participating in the silk, tea, silver, porcelain, and pepper trade. King Manuel I of Portugal is credited with stimulating the European taste for blue and white when he offered the porcelains as diplomatic gifts to other European courts. While blue and white had been actually used in China and the Near East, upon reaching Europe its beauty and exoticism was so admired it quickly reached object d’art status.
In the 17th century the Dutch, particularly through the Dutch East Indian Company (Verenigde Oostindische Companie) came to dominate European trade with China. Porcelain grew in status and value even surpassing gold at one point, and spurring a race to reproduce the vitreous luminous ceramic body. Not until the 1709 did a German alchemist, Johann Fredrich Böttger, succeed, leading to the foundation of a porcelain industry at Meissen.
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Understanding Chinese Ceramics
Collectors and historians date and discuss Chinese porcelain in relation to the dynasty it was produced in and when possible the emperor it was produced under as well as the type of decoration, which is also called the family (blue and white, celadon, wucai, etc.). There are stylistic differences and developments that affect the colors used, the shapes of the vessels, and the motifs used in decoration as porcelain production was impacted by the different governing dynasties and interaction with the Near East and West.
The three main dynasties to concern yourself with in regards to blue and white:
For a full listing of dynasties and emperors head here.
Another important point to understand is that Chinese porcelain falls within 3 distinct groupings, particularly after the Imperial kilns were set up in Jingdezhen during the Yuan dynasty:
- Porcelain made for the Imperial court (Guanyao)
- Porcelain made for the Chinese people (Minyao)
- Porcelain made for the export market (the West, the Near East, Japan, and South East Asia)
The difference in these 3 types is found in the shapes of the porcelain bodies and the decoration. Porcelain made for the domestic market (imperial or people) was made in the “Chinese taste” and that made to export was made with the stylistic tastes of that culture in mind as best understood by the Chinese potters.

Image via Arts of Asia, Smarthistory Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqinggong), Forbidden City
Imperial porcelain is almost always marked with a 4 or 6 character period mark/reign mark, while export porcelain is usually not marked (except when we get to 1892 and “made…” in marks are required to certain Western markets). Imperial Ming porcelain is the crème de la crème of blue and white and it commands 5 figures and up. Since it was made for the emperor and his court, these porcelain wares are extremely refined and of high quality, so you should not see any firing flaws or kiln grit.
Flaws were more acceptable on minyao or export pieces. Peoples ware is much more common and available at more affordable prices as is export porcelain.
Consequently, pieces with fake Imperial marks are common and have been produced according to some scholars from day one, so you could very well have a vase created during the Ming period but with a fake Imperial mark, and many pieces were made by Chinese potters in homage to periods past, which may have a retrospective mark.
It is very difficult to date Chinese porcelains only by their marks!