Chinese ceramics. (Current and Coming).

The study of Chinese ceramics is constantly being revised thanks to archaeological activities and new research into primary sources in China, which is being shared with colleagues around the world. However, a type of porcelain known as blanc de chine is elusive because the archaeological information is scanty and so many important examples exist in collections outside of China and have not been studied in depth by Chinese specialists. An exhibition entitled Blanc de Chine: Divine Images in Porcelain, on view at the China Institute Gallery in New York City from September 19 through December 7, presents nearly eighty important examples drawn from collections in the United States. The guest curator, John Ayers, has written an essay for the catalogue that emends flaws in dating and attribution erroneously accepted as the last word for decades.

Blanc de chine is a white porcelain noted for its lustrous translucent glaze. It is particularly esteemed by collectors who have a penchant for the figures of deities and animals. Blanc de chine was made in Dehua (along with blue-and-white wares) in the Fujian Province of southern China known for its mountains. In earlier times it had dense forests that provided the wood needed to fuel the family-owned kilns that dotted the region By the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) factories were producing these white wares that were shipped to Quanzhou, which Marco Polo called the richest city in China. By the seventeenth century blanc de chine was highly prized in Europe, and this is often considered a golden age of craftsmanship in Dehua. The elegant figures created there for local consumption were integral components of domestic and public shrines. The output of ...