Lili Fang - Böcker

The Chinese are famed as the first to have discovered and mastered the techniques needed to produce porcelain. Yet carefully crafted ceramics are valued not only for their beauty, but also as precious cultural artifacts shedding light on the period in which they were produced. Chinese ceramics represent works of art both in themselves and as a medium for painting, poetry, calligraphy and sculpture. This accessible, introductory survey takes the reader through the rich history of Chinese ceramics from primitive pottery to delicate porcelain, complemented by full color illustrations throughout.

This book seeks to understand the evolution of Jingdezhen handicraft culture from the micro to the macro perspective by comparing the recently arising ceramic workshops with the traditional approach to the craft.Following 1978 and China’s economic reforms, Jingdezhen, known as “the capital city of porcelain,” adopted a new look under the impetus of modernization. The author examines the change of social structure, people’s reaction, as well as the cultural motivation behind the change through research into the disappearance and reappearance of family porcelain workshops in Jingdezhen in the 1990s. This volume further discusses culture and techniques of Jingdezhen handicraft, as well as changes in art forms and art production during the process of China’s modernization.Representing an ethnographic account of the revival of local traditions within the broader context of globalization, this work is perfect for scholars of history, political science, sociology and cultural studies.

Adopting the perspective of anthropology of art and combining it with global academic insights, this book helps the readers to recognize that “history is, in great measure, the record of human activity which spreads from the local to the regional, from the regional to the global, and from the global to the universal.” Readers will learn that China was not only the first country to create porcelain, but also the first to export it to the world, both the products and its techniques. Therefore, the history of Chinese ceramics reflects the history of Chinese foreign trade on the one hand and depicts the expansion of Chinese ceramic techniques and cultures on the other. In addition to ceramics types, molds, decoration, and techniques, the book analyzes the spiritual impacts and aesthetic conceptions embodied in the utensils of daily use by the Chinese literati. Therefore, it reaches the conclusion that ideological systems and not technological systems are what bring about social revolutions. In addition, the book is richly illustrated with pictures of earthenware and finely glazed pieces from later periods.