A Series of Video Documentary's From Ancient Pottery to late Qing Porcelains
A series, Documentary Chinese Porcelain History
A well narrated (including Lu Minghua) and illustrated documentary series on the history of and methodology of making Chinese pottery and it's evolution into high fired porcelains. With a good section on the Song kilns and "Ru" wares and their fascinating evolution into "Ge" (older brother) wares. Some terrific examples and accompanying explanations for glaze techniques.
In addition to learning and understanding about authentic porcelains, be careful! Potters in China are cranking out fakes and copies by the boatload of very good quality to learn more visit a post we did on this, Buying Chinese Imperial Porcelain or Kangxi, Qianlong Era Material on Ebay? Yes, you can buy some outstanding real examples on eBay, however you need to be careful. The home page of this site has links to over 125 reputable dealers from the US, European Union and Canada. You should start with them, most have decades of experience.
Song, Yuan, Ming and High Qing Porcelains
Part 1 Ancient times through the Song Dynasty
Part 2 The Song Dynasty through the Yuan Dynasty
The second in the series picks up where the Song left off starting with "Shadowy Blue" porcelains of the Southern Song and the evolution of the kilns at Jingdezhen resulting eventually with what we know today as Porcelain.
This video provide a good explanation of the discovery of what's known today as Kaolin and an explanation of this clay's high aluminum content and its natural purity caused by weathering, making it ideal for fine porcelain making starting in the Yuan period under the era of Mongol rule. This era from the end of the Song and into the Yuan was a truly pivotal time in the making of true porcelains.
Part 3 The Ming and Qing Dynasty's
The final phase in porcelain making was well under way by the beginning of the Ming Dynasty . In this video they go into rather good details about Imperial porcelain making as well as non-Imperial kilns. The story end around the start of the 20th C. when the kilns fell on hard times and production from the Forbidden City came to an almost complete end.
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