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Beyond the Aesthetics of Porcelain

Eleanor Powell
Write About Art 4
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Located on the south of the Yangtze, Jingdezhen has been producing Chinese porcelain for over 2000 years.1 In being referred to as the ‘Porcelain Capital of China’, the city’s reputation arose during the Eastern Han Dynasty, but expanded in the 1600s when considerable amounts of porcelain were exported for European royalty.2 Many present-day artists choose to continue using China’s signature blue-white glaze, which was established in the Northern Song Dynasty.3 It remains the most popular of the four customary styles of porcelain manufactured in Jingdezhen,4 and can be seen in the work of Chinese contemporary artists Ni Haifeng, Liu Jianhua and Liu Xiao Xian. The inclination for contemporary Chinese artists to use porcelain as a medium is bifocal. This is so, as porcelain encompasses a distinctive aesthetic quality within the artwork itself, and also carries historical significance in Chinese culture.
Ni Haifeng’s artwork Of the Departure and the Arrival (2005) considers the significance of porcelain, past and present, in both European and Chinese cultures. Ni produces porcelain sculptures of everyday objects from Western culture. The common objects are transformed into works of luxury, given the medium and the meticulous blue-white pattern that adorns each piece. The indigo design is Ni’s adaption of Delftware, a style popular in Europe when the Dutch East India Company started producing porcelain domestically.5 The Dutch East India Company was a major participant in the importation of porcelain to Europe.6 These activities resulted in the Netherlands economic growth, as well as instigating Chinese trade on a large scale with Western society.7 The arrangement is presented on a white table, including items such as an iron, a jug and a rolling pin. The elaborate paint work refers... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

Liu Xiao Xian, The way we eat, 2001. Porcelain, slip-cast, 33 pieces ranging from 26.6 x 8 x 4.5 to 10.8 x 1 x 1cm; (installed size variable). Purchased 2002 with funds from Tim Fairfax through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation

Liu Xiao Xian, The way we eat, 2001. Porcelain, slip-cast, 33 pieces ranging from 26.6 x 8 x 4.5 to 10.8 x 1 x 1cm; (installed size variable). Purchased 2002 with funds from Tim Fairfax through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation

Liu Jianhua, Obsessive memories, 2002. Porcelain, modelled and with overglaze colours, incised, 54 x 33 x 37cm. Purchased 2004. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation.

Liu Jianhua, Obsessive memories, 2002. Porcelain, modelled and with overglaze colours, incised, 54 x 33 x 37cm. Purchased 2004. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation