Clarke porcelain: Blue-and-white porcelain made by the Chinese but crowned with foreign names

Blue and white badge and inscription Clark bowl

It was one day in 1602 when the Dutch East Indies found a Portuguese merchant ship at sea with a large number of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain.Because the Dutch did not know the origin of the porcelain, they named the merchant ship Clark.”Clark porcelain” has been popular in Europe since then and has become a synonym for blue-and-white porcelain sold in China.

blue-and-white Clarke porcelain plate

Minchong Zhen Clark plate

It is now widely believed that the clark porcelain is a kind of export blue-and-white porcelain produced by china in the late ming and early qing dynasties (the ming dynasty wanli-qing dynasty qianlong) in order to meet the needs of europeans.The patterns in the porcelain are mainly characters, landscape, flowers, and so on. These flowers and figures have typical European style and are popular in the European market.According to relevant records, only the Dutch East Indies Company, less than 10 years after 1680, has shipped away more than 16 million pieces of porcelain.

16th-17th century Dutch East Indies ship

Mingwanli Clarke porcelain blue and white flower folding plate

China’s blue-and-white porcelain, named after Clark, was able to be exported to Europe and had a deep relationship with the times.Since the Ming Dynasty Longqing switch, lifting the sea ban, China has carried out unprecedented collision with the world, Clark porcelain can also be sold overseas, widely welcomed by European countries.

Blue and white official residence——————————-

The Clarke porcelain sold well in Europe, and there was a lot to do with the porcelain craft.Clarke porcelain is mostly blue-and-white porcelain, and blue-and-white porcelain was quite mature during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Clarke porcelain production mainly concentrated in the Wanli period, later Kangxi although production, but the overall style of Wanli influence.The blue-and-white porcelain of Wanli period was painted with Zhejiang materials, which formed several tones of turquoise, gray-blue and light-blue, and formed three to four color orders by using water separation techniques, which laid a foundation for the maturity of Kangxi blue-and-white porcelain.

Qing Kang Xi blue and white flower and bird pattern porcelain plate

Clarke porcelain overall shape is a membrane, disk, bowl and other life-based appliances.In the decorative, Wanli period of blue and white porcelain painting natural free and easy, in order to highlight the theme of decoration, the use of “open light” decoration method, that is, in the prominent parts of the objects to outline the frame lines, frame drawing various patterns, such as landscape, characters, flowers, etc.This style was so well suited to the European aesthetic that it was no wonder that the Clark porcelain was of general concern to European countries at the time.

The Capital Museum of Qinghua Mountain and Landscape

Qing Kang Xi blue and white flower and bird pattern porcelain plate

Clarke porcelain overall shape is a membrane, disk, bowl and other life-based appliances.In the decorative, Wanli period of blue and white porcelain painting natural free and easy, in order to highlight the theme of decoration, the use of “open light” decoration method, that is, in the prominent parts of the objects to outline the frame lines, frame drawing various patterns, such as landscape, characters, flowers, etc.This style was so well suited to the European aesthetic that it was no wonder that the Clark porcelain was of general concern to European countries at the time.

Clarke porcelain blue-and-blue flowered plate

At the end of the article, let’s talk about the origin of the Clark porcelain.There are two theories about the origin of Clark porcelain: one is in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, and the other is in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province.The first evidence of this is that the Heping and Kiln in Dehua Kiln in Fujian is the site of the Clark porcelain kiln, which proves that there is indeed a production of Clark porcelain in this area.And about Jingdezhen, according to experts introduced in

Jingdezhen Guanyingge kiln site, Lotus Ridge kiln site, Xinhua porcelain factory kiln site, people, and so on, Clark porcelain unearthed.So where on earth is the origin of the clark porcelain?

Collection No.:4250

Collection Name: Wanli Qinghua Hippocampus Coat Bowl

Size: Diameter: 21.5cm

Appearance: Adhesive repair, flush repair

Source: old Shanghai collectors

Collection description: large volume, thin-embryo melon, making technology is difficult.Internal and external painting, three-layer decoration, flowers and birds, seahorses, varieties of lotus-shaped patterns, internal drawing of the sun flowers, water lines, inner landscape patterns, are typical Chinese style, the bottom Yutang beautiful, is also typical Wanli period commonly used auspicious words.But this full-blown work may be clark china.Because of the complexity of the craftsmanship, the porcelain was actually made at a very expensive and rare cost.