The Qinghua had the artistic effects and long heritage of both bright and colorful porcelain as well as elegant single- colored porcelain. Once a Qinghua is fired and done, its colors will never fade. It is also a technique that could be adopted for both upscale products as well as the average makes. Therefore, the Qinghua stayed as the mainstream for 300 years during the Ming Dynasty.

Yuhuchun vase with plum patterns in underglaze red. Ming Dynasty.

   After the Ming Dynasty, however, Chinese porcelain-making shifted from producing mainly single-colored porcelain to colorful, painted porcelain, which became the mainstream product. Especially in Jingdezhen, from the foundations Qinghua porcelains, new categories of colored porcelain were developed which included Doucai, Sancai, Honglucai, Jincai and so on. The decorative graphics, subject matter and theme, techniques of illustration, craft process, tools and materials came in such a multitude of forms and fashions that were never seen before. Of the new types of porcelain, the most characteristic were the Wucai and Fencai porcelains.

    Wucai porcelain was first known in the Jiajing (1522-1566 A.D.) and Wanli (1573-1619 A.D.) periods of mid to late Ming Dynasty. The name literally translated into "five colors", which really implied a multitude of colors. Wucai was the combination of overglaze colors and underglaze Qinghua. Not only were its colors bright and eye catching, its brushstrokes were also very interesting and densely arranged. It was the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty that Wucai porcelain reached its pinnacle of success, thus the finer pieces of Wucai were divided into two categories - the Da-Ming Wucai and Kangxi Wucai.

    Da-Ming Wucai had its roots in Doucai porcelain, which was a style of porcelain that had overglaze coloring within areas defined by Qinghua outlines. The Qinghua Doucai porcelain of Jingdezhen had already been fully developed and gained a high reputation by the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty. By the Jiajing period, with demand from the market, Wucai porcelain began to appear. The Wucai at this time still cannot be fully distinguished from Qinghua, as there was still no true blue and black coloring. Therefore, Qinghua coloring not only had to represent blue, it also had to be doubled as black for the outline of objects.

Therefore, Wucai porcelain at this time was also called Qinghua Wucai. Qinghua Wucai relied on intricate but dense patterns that fill the entire space on the vessel. In color choices, Wucai had red, light and dark greens, yellow, purple and underglaze blue. It especially emphasizes red so that the entire composition appeared more dashing and striking, purposely seeking resplendence. The Qinghua Wucai, which became very popular, reached its maturity in production technique by the Wanli period. Due to large export volumes, Da-Ming Wucai had become a familiar product of porcelain lovers worldwide.

Tri-pod cauldron on red ground with green ganoderma patterns. Jingdezhen Imperial Family kiln. Chenghua period, Ming Dynasty. Collection of the Jingdezhen Ceramics Research Institute.

plate, pot, jar, dun, lu case, dinglu, bowl, writing-brush washbasin, vase, zun, loop handled pot, square ding, container box, writing-brush holder, seal container and so on. The dun refers to all kinds of seats; Lu cases were containers made of porcelain, used to store cosmetic rouge, powders, seal ink paste, pigments and so on. dinglu, or cauldron, was an ancient cooking container that evolved into ritualistic and display objects.

    The xianglu, or incense burner, was often used for burning incense or joss sticks. There were other miscellaneous porcelain tools, mostly toys and display items such as go pieces, screens, hat holders, writing-brush racks, writing-brush holders, inkstones, shafts of writing brushes, writing-brush washbasins and so on. In addition, there were also porcelain ritualistic utensils. Decorative patterns were mostly depictions of dragons, phoenixes, flowers and plants, as well as scenes including frolicking children, the Eight Immortals, a hundred deer and so on. From these then popular utensils, we can readily see that porcelain products have seeped to every part of people's daily lives and were an indispensable part of life.  

 Da-Ming Wucai's decorative style was influenced not only by its contemporary -

Qinghua porcelain, but other related arts at the time as well. The Ming Dynasty was

a time of rapid development for the Chinese silk industry as many new types of silk

products were being made. Silk embroidery mainly featured graphics and design

patterns of plants and birds, symbolizing good fortune; as well as geometric designs. These graphic designs also grazed the surfaces of Wucai porcelain. For example, as

designs often found on brocades, tuanhua, or designs and patterns arranged in a circular shape (local artists called it ball patterns), as well as multilayered floral scrolls on top of patterns, were decorative elements created in the mid Ming Dynasty and continued to be improved and used until the Qing Dynasty. These were the intrinsic attributes of Wucai porcelain.

Qinghua urn with lid and colored fish and algae patterns. Jiajing Period, Ming Dynasty.

     In addition, Ming Dynasty engravings and prints injected fresh new inspirations

 into Wucai porcelain. Earliest Chinese prints from the Tang Dynasty were mostly

 depictions of scenes from Buddhist scriptures, as it was a period of prime influence for the Buddhist religion. The Five Dynasties Period and Song Dynasty had engravings and prints that were rather broad in subject matter. Especially in the Song Dynasty, as book publishing was a flourishing business and the advent of moveable type printing, the art of engravings and prints reached unprecedented prosperity. By the Yuan Dynasty, Chinese opera and literature, novels and story books were all highly developed trades, and were the most practically meaningful forms of art. A completely unobstructed path of development was thus paved for the art of engravings and prints.

  From the Wanli period of the Ming to early Qing Dynasty, the pages of all kinds of Chinese opera-turned-novels and biographies were coupled with highly informative

  prints. These illustrations provided a visual cue that made the plots even more tangible and understandable; they were warmly received by the readers. Chinese prints entered an era of popularity never before experienced. Many accomplished painters emerged to support the art of engravings and prints, and skillful craftsmen were there to help with the task. Engraving workshops and printers can be found in every city. Famous engraving artisans were found mainly in the cities of Huizhou, Nangjing, Hangzhou, and Beijing and so on. Of all these cities, Huizhou's engraved prints were top notch in quality and unmatched by all others. Throughout the life of the Huizhou school,some of the most talented and skillful hands were discovered. It held the highest status in achievement as a school of print-making and was a shining gem in the history of the art.

       Jingdezhen is geographically near Huizhou, as business and exchange of people between the two places were intimate. The exquisite engravings and prints from Huizhou opened up a whole new realm for porcelain artisans in Jingdezhen. Since the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, regardless of Wucai or Qinghua porcelain, the style of its expressed imagery had changed quite noticeably. The skillful porcelain artists transferred all the qualities of prints onto their porcelain ware.   

The god of longevity, Qinghua Wucai porcelain sculpture, L at base 12.2 cm W 6.6 cm, H 24 cm. Wanli period, Ming Dynasty.

 create light and shaded areas were new techniques employed in Wucai porcelain. Hence Wucai porcelain had expressive line works as well as bright and refreshing colors. Wooden engraving's influence on Wucai porcelain was more than adornment technique, it was in the subject matter as well. The wooden engravings, at the time, took its subject matters from not only popular novels, operas and biographies; there were also books of history, local records and albums of famed painters, which all gave their share of inspirations. Content wise, aside from the run of the mill

portraiture and landscape illustrations, there were also images that expressed the inner voices of the literati. Scenes from popular novels that were much loved by the people were also illustrated.

These story-rich and nearly presented wooden engravings made late-Ming Wucai porcelain improve in leaps and bounds. With great influences from accomplished painters such as Dong Qichang, Chen Hongshou and Liu Panyuan, many of their works were recreated in large areas on porcelain, which had well designed compositions and profound meanings.

    By the time of the Kangxi period, Wucai porcelain was an even more mature and refined art form. It really had nothing matching its quality since ancient times, and we are still not able to surpass its quality today. Therefore, all the Wucai wares of the Qing Dynasty were also called Kangxi Wucai. The most prominent contribution to come out of Kangxi Wucai was the discovery of real blue and black overglaze colorings. With a real blue pigment, Qinghua blue was no longer needed as a substitute color. Wucai colors were now directly painted on the white glaze

instead of on Qinghua porcelain. The intensity of the new blue coloring was far superior to those of Qinghua. The black color during the Kangxi period had the shine of black paint. When used among the images of Wucai, it strengthened the effects of the overall image. The material used for painting lines on Da Ming Wucai was glue bound distemper, and was upgraded to frankincense oil in Kangxi Wucai. With different properties between the old and new materials, the effects conveyed in the image were also different. Glue bound distemper is a water-based paint and not easily absorbed by the smooth and non-porous glaze.

Wucai goblet with patterns of clouds, dragons, flowers, and birds. Wanli period, Ming Dynasty.

    In addition, the coloring employed in Kangxi Wucai was a transparent, clear as glaze, vitric pigment. This kind of pigment can let the ground color show through. But the colors lack temperateness and it was difficult to paint a smooth and even

 layer with this pigment. Targeting such a tendency, the artists  when illustrating their images, tried to use lines instead of flat plains. In most paintings, plains are used to demonstrate lights and darks, but Kangxi Wucai relied on lines and points for gradations from light to dark. While outlines are important, the organization and arrangement of lines can be used to illustrate things such as tree trunks, leaves, flower petals, and rocks by  differentiating the light and dark plains in the objects. When these lines are covered by the transparent coloring, their rich textures can still show through and make the imagery more rich and expressive and the coloring brighter and more intense. The buoyancy of the Wucai colors was also balanced by these lines.

    Therefore, it would be rare to find a Wucai illustration with large areas of pure color and no lines to complement. When lines were inappropriate for the subject matter, pointillism was utilized;such as for painting the ground or the dark sides of natural rock sculptures, using points that were either highly concentrated or

gradually changing density. In Chinese, it was referred to as "sandy ground" or "plum flower dots." This technique can also be used to create exquisite motifs on the garments in illustrations of people. In short, artisans when making Wucai porcelain can rely on the crafting techniques to emphasize its strong points and avoid the shortcomings. This fully demonstrated the superiority and flexibility of the new crafting technique. Fusing contemporary painting and illustration techniques into the art, Wucai porcelain was in a class of its own.

    Kangxi Wucai's materia

Wucai vase with human figures. Kangxi period, Qing Dynasty.

    The commoner's kilns of this period produced many large porcelain products, especially carved vessels such as zun, gu, fish tanks and so on. Their sizes exceeded their counterparts from the Jiajing and Wanli periods in the Ming Dynasty. The increased size made for powerful statements and was aesthetically pleasing.

   There also emerged many rectangular shaped vessels, which were not made from molds, but instead formed by mounting several pieces together. It was quite difficult to achieve, thus such kind of vessel was rarely found in previous time periods. The improvement in material and technological standard ushered in a unique artistic style. The comers of adjoining facets were obvious, and the bends were executed with certainty. Even curved lines or surfaces contained elements of straight lines or sharp angles. In such a style of harmony, the straight lines have the qualities of masculinity and strength. When used together with the brightly colored decorative motifs, it conveyed an upward and unyielding spirit of its era - the period of Kangxi, the longest of all feudal eras ruled by a single emperor in Chinese history.

     Qing Dynasty Wucai not only possessed innovations in crafting, modeling and

illustrative techniques, it showed the greatest varieties in expressed subject matter of all porcelain during and before its time. The Qing rulers were promoters of Confucian teachings, advocating ruling the country with virtues and bonding the people with courtesy. This was congruent with traditional Chinese philosophy. Thus the porcelain products of this era contained much educational objectives. Stories of allegiance to the ruler often appeared in large illustrations on Wucai porcelain. These well known works included Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin.      

The Legends of Yue Fei, and Lady Zhao Leaving the Frontier and so on, mostly epic-scale stories taking place in a war-torn era. Such a genre of illustrations was commonly referred to as Dao Ma Ren, or literally "armed general on horseback." It often had imposing manners, with the character in a splendid and exaggerated pose. This genre of Wucai porcelain was not only loved by the domestic markets, foreign countries and especially Western painters also welcomed them. Another area reflected by Wucai illustrations

Wucai zun with Guanyin Bodhisattva figure. H 45.4 cm, Dia. 12 cm at mouth, Dia. 14.5 cm at foot. Kangxi Period Qing Dynasty. Collection of the Jinan Municipal Museum, Shandong Province.

    Furthermore, there were motifs such as the pomegranate with one hundred seeds; each seed would represent a son, which is phonetically the same as the word for seed. Other images wishing well of people, such as the pomegranate, lotus, and peach, together would signify sons, good fortune and longevity. Also there were design patterns that indicated high accomplishment and prosperity of ones children, such as the mystical animal - Kylin delivering a son to the family; male children and grandchildren abundant in the family, and so on. From the Imperial kilns, the best example of porcelain imagery were the "farming and weaving" illustrations, which were meant to be an incentive to the people of the agricultural and textile industries.

    By the 30th year under Kangxi's reign, the Emperor began mass-scale examinations and selections for candidates of government sits and thus promoted the Han Chinese culture. Thus poetry and poses began to appear on porcelain in mass numbers in the form of calligraphy, sometimes complemented with illustrations. The calligraphy was done in a masterful way, truly enhancing the image composition. This kind of porcelain which focused on text and calligraphy was later viewed as a unique element of recognition of Qing Dynasty porcelain.