Language: Chinese and English bilingual
Published on: 2000-01
Paperback
This album, its first part devoted to the five major Song kilns，aims to familiarize the general reader by way of textual pictorial introduction with Chinese porcelain and，first of all，the forms and glaze characteristics of porcelain produced at the five major kilns so that the reader can gain some professional knowledge and be better informed in appreciating Chinese porcelain.
To give a fuller picture of China’s porcelain making tradition，other well-known kilns of the Song period，such as the Cizhou, Yaozhou，Jian，Dehua and Jingdezhen kilns，are also introduced. These were private kilns whose products，though not as sophisticated in glazing and manufacturing techniques as those of the "offcial kilns"，bore many unique features including their hand-painted designs and engravings, which represented another aspect of porcelain making during the Song period. Many of the works are valued by art collectors.
The traditional porcelain of the Song period，combining a simple and imposing style with sublime elegance and beauty in form, reached such heights in terms of glazing，moulding and baking techniques that they were deemed unsurpassable. Greater efforts were subsquently devoted to the development of hand-painted decoration in post-Song porcelain production.
The blue decorative designs of the Yuan and the Ming periods and the multi-coloured painted designs of the Qing period, as exemplified by the world famous Jingdezhen porcelain，represented a new high reached in porcelain making. Ample space is given to Jingdezhen porcelain in this album which also covers the full features of modern porcelain products of Zibo and Yixing, and the polychrome wares of Liling and Chaozhou.
1.Preface
2.Ru Porcelain
3.Guan Porcelain
4.Ge Porcelain
5.Jun Porcelain
6.Ding Porcelain
7.Cizhou Porcelain
8.Yaozhou Porcelain
9.Jian Porcelain
10.Jingdezhen Porcelain
11.zibo Porcelain
12.Yixinag Porcelain
13.Colour Porcelain of Liling and Chaozhou
14.Tang Tri-colour Pottery
