For more than a thousand years, the world's idea of Chinese porcelain has started here.
During the Jingde reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song (1004-1007), locally produced tribute porcelain earned the imperial era name 'Jingde'. The town took that name and gained the foundation for a thousand years of ceramic growth.
In the Yuan dynasty, cobalt imported from West Asia through the Silk Road merged with Jingdezhen's mature white porcelain body. The result was mature blue-and-white ware, which moved beyond monochrome and carved decoration to become one of the most recognizable visual languages in Chinese ceramics.
Zheng He led the treasure fleet on seven voyages across the western seas, carrying large quantities of Jingdezhen porcelain as diplomatic gifts and trade goods to states around the Indian Ocean. It marked the first large-scale, systematic global reach of Chinese porcelain and foreshadowed Europe's later fascination with it.
Across the 17th and 18th centuries, Chinese porcelain in European courts could rival gold in value and status. Augustus II of Saxony, known as Augustus the Strong, famously traded 600 Saxon dragoons for 151 Kangxi-period Jingdezhen blue-and-white pieces, later remembered as the 'Dragoon Vases'.
Today Jingdezhen is still widely recognized as the porcelain capital of the world. Traditional wood firing and contemporary studios coexist here, while blue-and-white, famille rose, and color-glaze traditions continue to evolve through living practice.
