100 Best Books on Chinese Porcelain

Treasure of Satsuma

This is really a price guide and although it is about 30 years old and the prices are off, it is still a great book with lots of great information. You should easily be able to find this second hand at about $30.

Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Wallace-Homestead Book Co; 1st ed edition (October 1981)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0870693182
ISBN-13: 978-0870693182

Satsuma – Masterpieces from the World’s Great Collections by Louis Lawrence

Satsuma – Masterpieces from the World’s Important Collections

This recent and very fine book is the book of choice for the advanced Satsuma collector. Both the strength and the weakness of this book is that it concentrates on top end pieces from 1870 to 1915, from the very good and great Kyoto makers and artists. It has a good marks section too, but only for these artists.

It featured some of the finest examples from Kinkozan and Yabu Meizan. Each piece is beautifully illustrated and described, some fold out sections showing full panoramic views of the decoration.

Hardcover: 220 pages
Publisher: Dauphin Pub. (December 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1872357040
ISBN-13: 978-1872357041
Product Dimensions: 13.9 x 11 x 1.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds

CLASSIC on top end Satsuma

Collector’s Encyclopedia of Noritake by Joan Van Patten

The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Noritake (Second Series)

Solid reference book for those interested in specifically Noritake porcelain.

Chinese Export Porcelain, Standard Patterns and Forms 1780-1880 by Herbert, Peter and Nancy Schiffer

Chinese Export Porcelain, Standard Patterns and Forms, 1780-1880: Standard Patterns and Forms

I list this book a bit reluctantly, because there are a risk that anyone that only look at the cover will be disappointed, since this book deals almost exclusively with Rose Medallion, and is thus one of the the best books on the market for that kind of decorations. However there has happened a lot since this book was written.

The typography is homemade (yes) with a typewriter it seems, and the mostly black and white illustrations are mediocre.

Still due to its sheer mass of illustrated pieces I still think this belongs among one of the better books to have on this subject, in particular if your main interest in Rose Medallion decorated porcelain for the North American market.

Despite a few minor mistakes, it sorts out the North American terminology on Chinese export porcelain pretty well and you get all of the traditional definitions down pat.

Someone needs to keep up the traditions and I think this book does that pretty well. If you want better illustrations, there are plenty books with good pictures around. In that respect, this book hits pretty near rock bottom I would say. Maybe you should try to take a look inside it before you decide, but since I think it is available dirt cheap second hand, it’s not that big a decision.

Porcelain for Palaces: The Fashion for Japan in Europe 1650-1750 by John Ayers, Oliver Impey, JVG Mallet et al.

Porcelain for Palaces: The Fashion for Japan in Europe, 1650-1750

This is an exhibition catalog written by some of the best scholars in the field and is to be considered the standard work on early Japanese Export porcelain. It is published by the Oriental Ceramic Society in London. The pictures are perfectly wonderful as they should in such an important reference work.

Hardcover: 328 pages
Publisher: Art Media Resources, Ltd. (May 1990)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1588860647
ISBN-13: 978-1588860644

Chinese Export Porcelain in North America

Chinese Export Porcelain in North America

By: Jean McClure Mudge

Provides a historical survey of the history of collecting Chinese porcelain in North America, from the late-16th to the early-20th century. One chapter deals with the United States where the China trade began in late-18th century.

I think I would call this an introductory book on Chinese export porcelain. The perspective is the North American and I think if that is where you are, maybe this is the book to begin with. It is not a “master piece”, maybe it tries to cover too much, but I still think it is a good beginners book which covers most bases and illustrates some of the more serious collectors items that belongs to the North American history and tradition. If you just want one book on this topic, this could be a good choice.

New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1986.

China for the West
By David Howard and John Ayers

China for the West: Chinese Porcelain and Other Decorative Arts for Export Illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection

When I met Mildred Mottahedeh in New York in 1978 this book set was just off the presses, so I could talk her out of a signed copy for myself. She and her husband had single-handedly pushed up the auction prices on export porcelain to never before seen heights and this was the result. Their collection, catalogued and described by two of the most knowledgeable scholars in the field.

There were at the time nothing like it on the market and I would say as an individual book, even if it happens to be a set of two, it has not yet been rivaled. In its dry manner it is very British. I can recognize David Howards very knowledgeable but light-hearted academic prose. This is a set of two books and the definitive must have if you are interested in Chinese export. This is a must. A very large proportion of all “classical” export patterns from the 18th century are illustrated and described. There are certainly more pieces and decorations around of importance that are not here, but this book is a must and very practically so too.

CLASSIC – on Chinese export porcelain in general

Chinese Armorial Porcelain
Volume I

By: David Sanctuary Howard

Glaze and Pottery Technique

This is the first volume of the well known standard works on Chinese Armorial porcelain for the British market, between 1695 and 1820. Besides this, an excellent tool for anybody who want to be able to date 18th century Chinese export porcelain in general. It give a good background to how the porcelain that was made specifically on order was made decorated sold and, bought. This book is a masterpiece and an indispensable book for any in the antiques business as well as most any collector of Chinese Export Porcelain.

The illustrations that are mostly in black and white feels today a bit dated but are OK for identifying purposes.

CLASSIC – on export porcelain in general and specifically, on Armorial porcelain for Great Britain

Chinese Glazes
By: Nigel Wood

Chinese Glazes: Their Origins, Chemistry and Recreation

Chinese Glazes. Nigel Wood, London, 1999. This is an important book. If you are aiming at a “collection” of Chinese porcelain and really want to know this subject, this is definitely a must together with the He Li book above. If you are planning to buy 10 books on Chinese porcelain, this should be one of them. It is also highly recommended for those interested in Song Dynasty ceramics since glazes was very important during that period and, because I think Nigel is sorting out the fundamentals for that period in a very understandable way.

This book is also something of a “dictionary” since it is a very good book for looking up things in.

CLASSIC – absolutely necessary for understanding glazes. Also good as a Chinese Ceramics dictionary. Relevant and well researched.

Chinese Ceramics:
Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911
By: Rose Kerr

Chinese Porcelain (in general) // Imperial Chinese Porcelain

Chinese Ceramics: Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911)

Comparably thin but a very important book. For those with a serious interest in Imperial Chinese porcelain.

Drawing from examples of V & A collections, the study is a useful introduction to Qing ceramics, focusing on objects produced for domestic use. Has a very useful chapter on sources in Chinese, French and English on the history of Jingdezhen. Also discussed is Jingdezhen kiln technology.

I think that when I am thinking about a good beginners book to recommend, it is not a book about cheap porcelain you can find at flea markets I am thinking of, but this book, for example, that in a modest format explains why Chinese porcelain is an exceptionally interesting art form and how come peopele are prepared to pay millions of $ for just one vase or a dish. I think that is where we should all begin, and then scale down towards what we can afford but with the goal in mind, that one day we should own at least one of these pieces.

CLASSIC
Recommended beginners introduction
on Chinese Imperial ware

Kraak Porcelain: A moment in the history of trade
By: Maura Rinaldi

Blue and White // Chinese Export Porcelain // Ming Porcelain

Kraak Porcelain – A Moment in the History of Trade

This is the classic book on Kraak Porcelain and early Dutch market export wares. The time period is limited to the decades before and after 1600 but, this book is important for the understanding of late Ming porcelain in a similar way as David Howard Armorial Porcelain I+II give the keys to the dating of all common 18th century export porcelain.

This is not “better” than A D Brankstone, but while Brankstone explains the soul of early Ming, this is the key reference book on late Ming and a fundamental classic on “Kraak Porcelain”

CLASSIC – Fundamental reference on late Ming export “Kraak” porcelain

Blue and White
Chinese Porelain Around the World
By: John Carswell

Blue and White

Blue and White – Chinese Porelain around the world

This wide-ranging and richly illustrated study of Chinese blue and white porcelain focuses on its international trade, which has had great significance since the 13th century Yuan Dynasty when export to the Mediterranean, and Southeast Asia was established.

This book is exceptional in that it focuses mainly on the origin of blue and white and deals with those rare early Ming blue and whites as if they were in some way accessible for us normal people. There are multimillion-dollar pieces page up and page down, superbly illustrated and with a modern text that consider the latest findings in the field, exemplifies with excavated pieces and museum pieces. A quite interesting book for the foundation of porcelain collection but not a shopping manual so to speak. Highly interesting. Brilliant pictures. A good book. Yes – to buy, but not on top of the “necessary” list so to speak.

The development of the trade throughout the world including Mexico, South America and Western Europe during the 16th century Ming Dynasty is described, and the Islamic influence discussed. The porcelain has been widely collected since the 17th century and past and present collections and discoveries are described and seen as an area for future discoveries and scholarship.

With line drawings, 240 color illustrations, bibliography and index.
Format: Hardcover, 208 pages
Published: 2000, USA, 1st Edition
ISBN: 071411491X

Oriental Blue & White by Sir Harry Garner

Oriental Blue and White, Sir Harry Garner

One of several old books on the subject I really like. It’s a time tested classic, originally published in 1954. Personally I think the third edition is the best. Garner is very “readable” even if later research has proved him not entirely correct in some details, but that will eventually happen to everybody, and does not detract from the overall understanding of the subject of Chinese porcelain that this book will bring.

It is a splendid classic and belongs in any serious reference library, but just that it does not need to come in there first, it should some day, but there is maybe no need to buy this book as one of your first.

Hardcover: 104 pages
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0571047025
ISBN-13: 978-0571047024

Classic introduction to Chinese Blue and White porcelain, mostly Ming. If you started to collect Chinese porcelain a few decades ago, this was on of the books you would find useful as an introduction to this exclusive passtime.

Ming Ceramics in the British Museum by Jessica Harrison-Hall

Ming Porcelain

Ming Ceramics in the British Museum

Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, by Jessica Harrison-Hall, London, 2001. The world’s broadest collection of Ming Ceramics, here published in its entity. 640 pages and 1155 pictures of which 1025 in color. A well done book production. Hard to ever beat as a fundamental reference to porcelain from the Ming dynasty. You can find more books but not a single one better. This book also deals with the rarely discussed topic of funeral Ming figures and architectural ceramics.

This substantial study of the very diverse achievements in ceramics of the Ming period (1368-1644) draws on the world’s broadest collection, that of the British Museum. Authoritative background chapters on the history of the Ming period, the development of the ceramic industry, the roles of ceramic artifacts in Ming life and in burials precede the presentation of a thousand objects each with photograph and commentary. Appendices deal with forgeries, markings, tombs, shipwrecks, conservation, pigments and photography. Indexed, with bibliography, listing of Chinese names and maps. This work will be of major importance to student, collector and scholar alike.

CLASSIC – best individual book on Ming porcelain

Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, by Jessica Harrison-Hall

Format: Hardcover, 640 pages
Published: 2001, United Kingdom, 1st Edition
ISBN: 071411488X

Yuan and Ming Blue and white wares from Jiangxi
By: Yau, Hok Wa

Min Yao // Ming Porcelain // Yuan Dynasty

This is a catalogue produced in conjunction with an exhibition jointly organized by the Jiangxi Provincial Museum and Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

It consists of 128 items of Yuan and Ming (14th to mid 17th centuries) provincial blue and white wares. Half of the exhibits, primarily specimens with datable contexts, come from Jiangxi Provincial Museum and the cultural institutions in Jiangxi. The rest, mostly products for local and overseas markets, are selected from the Art Museum collection and loans from private and public collections in Hong Kong and the Philippines. All exhibits are illustrated with colour plates and detailed entries in both Chinese and English. It contains also two scholarly essays, “Yuan and Ming Provincial Blue and White Ware from Jingdezhen” by Peng Minghan and Yin Qinglan and “Chinese Blue and White ware of the 14th to 15th Centuries: A Philippine Perspective” by Rita C. Tan, and an appendix of “A Selection of Dated Ming Blue and Whites”. The book provides indispensable reference materials for studies on the Yuan and Ming blue and white wares from Jiangxi. 8.5 x 11.8″, 238 pp., 151 color plates, text in Chinese and English, hardcover, Hong Kong, 2002.

Probably the best book on so called “provincial Ming” available in English. Worth trying to find.

Chinese Ceramics
in the Topkapi Saray Museum

Ming Porcelain // Yuan Dynasty

Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, by Regina Krahl, et al., London, 1986. This is not really a book. This is a career. It is a heavy set of three books really and they are very expensive. Still they are a “must have” if you really want to understand early Ming blue and white.

The wares in this complete catalogue present a continuous review of porcelain made for export from the 13th to the 20th century which in it’s range of styles and designs is without equal in other collections. With some 4500 pieces dating from the Yuan and Ming dynasties and 5500 from Qing, this three volume set constitutes one of the most extensively illustrated works on Chinese ceramics.

Volume 1 : ‘Celadon Wares’, volume 2 : ‘Yuan and Ming’ volume 3 : ‘Qing’. The three volumes are in slipcases, limited edition of 1500 numbered copies. English text. 1986, fol., 1,384 pages, 5000 ill., cl.

Publisher: Sotheby Parke Bernet Pubns (May 1986)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0856671843
ISBN-13: 978-0856671845
Product Dimensions: 15.5 x 11.5 x 7 inches
Shipping Weight: cool 35.4 pounds !

There is also a recent edition of only two volumes available but I have not compared them and don’t know how much you loose in comparison with the first edition.

CLASSIC

Early Ming Wares of Qingdezhen
By: A. D. Brankstone

Imperial Chinese Porcelain // Ming Porcelain

This is the most charming book that is likely ever to be published on the subject of early Chinese porcelain.

This book is a collector’s item in itself and I highly recommend it for the understanding of early Ming.

The personal enthusiasm and brilliant mind of the author goes a long way to explain why we collect Chinese porcelain in the first place. This is a good friend to have in the book shelf. Go for a first edition if you can find one, for the “ambiance”.

CLASSIC – on understanding early Ming

Chinese Blue and White Porcelain by Duncan Macintosh

Blue and White // Chinese Porcelain (in general)

Chinese Blue and White Porcelain

Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, by Duncan Macintosh. In this volume the author walks you through the history of blue and white porcelain while explaining the historical setting which to me is very important for to understand why the porcelain ended up as it did. If you want to understand the porcelain on a deeper level this is an important book. At first most blue and white porcelain looks, well, just blue and white. This book helps you see the significat differences between porcelain from the different dynasties.

Chinese Blue & White Porcelain, by Duncan Macintosh 2nd ed. Hong Kong: Book Marketing Ltd., 1986,
Reprinted with minor amendments 1988.
The 3rd edition was published in 1994.
Reprinted 1997.

Format: Hardcover, 236 pages
ISBN: 9789622110670

Underglaze Blue and Red by Wang Qingzheng

Underglaze Blue and Red, Elegant decoration of Porcelain from Yuan, Ming and Qing by Wang Qingzheng.

Important book on Imperial and good quality folk porcelain. Important since it is written by a Chinese scholar and it is as important as rare that we in the West get to know, first hand, the point of views found among many Chinese scholars, without the information being filtered through the traditional opinions of western scholars. We have our bases that needs to be touched every time we go about writing about something. It might be a refreshing relief if we don’t, just for once, as in this book. Important information culled from Chinese sources regarding marks and period charateristics explained from their historical context.

The Chinese Potter: A Practical History of Chinese Ceramics by Margaret Medley

The Chinese Potter

The Chinese Potter, by Margaret Medley, London, 1976. The publisher tells “Most studies of Chinese art deal with types, period or styles, but this historical examination of Chinese ceramics, which uses recent research, explains how the evolution of pottery depended upon the technological developments of the Chinese culture. The book’s practical approach makes full use of archaeological reports to show how differing geographical areas, materials and developing technology all shaped the evolution of Chinese ceramics.” Now, this is today a somewhat outdated book but the author is a good writer and with her excellent grasp of the subject, this book will not be too old to read for a very long time to come.

The work provides a very useful overview of Chinese ceramics, the technology, formation and development, varieties and forms.

China has the longest and most highly developed ceramic tradition in the world, encompassing early Neolithic earthenwares, the finely glazed stoneware pieces of the Song period – widely regarded as among the greatest ceramics ever produced – and the years of Imperial patronage and export ware for the new markets of the West. Margaret Medley’s groundbreaking study was the first to bring a practical approach to the study of Chinese pottery. She makes full use of archaeological reports to show how differing geographical areas, materials and developing technology all shaped the evolution of Chinese ceramics. Her revolutionary insights, along with an astute critical judgment in the field of art history itself, combine to form a classic but approachable account which has profoundly influenced the way in which Chinese pottery is studied.

1st ed. published in 1976
2nd ed. Oxford, U. K.: Phaidon, 1980.
3rd Revised edition issued in 1989, ISBN: 071482593X

A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
By: Suzanne G. Valenstein

A handbook of Chinese ceramics

Covers ceramics from the Neolithic period to the present. This is a good “summary” and draws on pieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The illustrations are good and the text concise and on the dot. There is something as too much, when it comes to information and this is “enough” in most cases. It is a good buy if you are looking into just one book. I like it because I can trust the information, and the selection of pieces is a good one. Does this sound like you have heard it before? Well, they are very similar but there are much more pictures in this then in Vainiker. The outlook is mostly technical.

The 2nd ed. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989 is a partially rewritten and much enlarged edition, the work includes an index, more illustrations and new information from recent archaeological discoveries. It provides a description of the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, but also gives a history of Chinese ceramics.

A Dictionary of Chinese Ceramics
By: Wang Qingzheng

Hand and Reference Books

Chinese Pottery and Porcelain:
From Prehistory to the Present
By Shelagh Vainker

Chinese Porcelain (in general) // Ming Porcelain

CHINESE POTTERY AND PORCELAIN: FROM PREHISTORY TO THE PRESENT

Covers ceramics from the Neolithic period to the present. This is a good “summary” and draws on pieces from the British Museum. The illustrations are good and the text consise and on the dot. There is something as too much, when it comes to information and this is “enough” in most cases. It is a good buy if you are looking into just one bok. I like it because I can trust the information, and the selection of illustration is good. It is actually hard to find just a few pieces that fairly well represent a whole period. The point of view is more humanistic than Valenstein’s (MET) book which is also a very good choice but which tends to do a lot of listings. I know, buy both. (LEFT: Second edition, 2005)

The publisher adds the following:

The art of Chinese ceramics encompasses prehistoric clay figurines of pregnant women, bronze ritualistic bells, exotic earthenware figures of merchants in the Central Asian silk trade, Ming writing-boxes bearing Arabic inscriptions, Taoist shrines adorned with lacquer and gilding, and pagoda tiles molded with monster masks. It’s an art as richly varied as Chinese civilization itself, as this resplendently illustrated survey makes abundantly clear.
Vainker, a curator at the British Museum, draws on the museum’s vast collection of Chinese stoneware, porcelain and religious sculpture in her absorbing narrative. Proceeding from the riotous gaiety of Tang “three-color wares” (A.D. 618-906) to the classical equilibrium of 12th-century Song pottery to a modern, softly glowing “eggshell” porcelain vase, Vainker vibrantly charts “a continued transformation of the contemporary into the collectible.”

Well this is not entirely the full truth. The author actually uses up close to 140 out of a total 216 (240 with appendixes) pages to approach actual porcelain and not before p 134 do we enter the world of blue and white porcelain. Still this is a splendid book which I highly recommended. (RIGHT: First edition, 1991.)

The Collector’s Encyclopedia of
Geisha Girl Porcelain
By: Elyce Litts