In Cologne, a new exhibition chronologically traces the artistic and technical development of blue and white porcelain and its trading history from the early phase in the Ming dynasty to its decline in the 17th century. In addition to the production for the court, the exhibition highlights export wares for various regional markets and the attempts by Persian, Ottoman, and European faience manufacturers to imitate the Chinese models. The ceramics are complemented by other objects such as paintings, miniatures, woodblock prints, and photographs. On display are pieces from the museum’s own collection, permanent loans from the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation, as well as loans from Cologne’s municipal museums, the Netherlands, and important German private collectors.
The curator of the exhibition, Dr Daniel Suebsman, points out, ‘Vessels and plates decorated with mythical creatures, literary scenes, poems and auspicious flowers and symbols provide an insight into the intellectual world of the cultivated upper class of the Ming dynasty, which was strongly influenced by the three religions, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism’.
An important work in the exhibition, which has a special connection to the Rhineland, is a bowl decorated in blue and white with enamel colours, which Count Eberhard von Manderscheidt (1552-1608) brought back from Turkey in 1583. The object, on loan from a private collection, is considered to be the earliest documented blue and white Ming porcelain in Germany.
The Cologne Cathedral Canon Count Eberhard von Manderscheidt-Blankenheim made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1583 where he was admitted to the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. Shortly before, he had been appointed ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Rudolf II (1552–1612), and had paid a visit to the Sublime Porte (central government) in Istanbul and was received by Sultan Murad III (1546–1595).
From Turkey, Eberhard brought two Chinese porcelain bowls (and a robe), which he had mounted in silver-gilt in the Rhineland as goblets. Identical bowls can be found in the collection of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, which hints that these bowls might have been gifts from the Sultan. After the male Manderscheidt line ended in the 18th century and the French invasion of Blankenheim, the cups presumably reached Bohemia via the female line and were eventually sold at auction in London in 1970. The cup in this exhibition went into private ownership, the other is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Although there is evidence of a limited use of cobalt blue during the Tang dynasty (618-907), its use was seen as a striking innovation during the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). Later, during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), blue and white porcelain using cobalt blue pigment became more widespread. This blue pigment was originally imported from Persia. During the Ming period, the hue and depth of colour was intensified, perhaps brought about by the discovery of a local cobalt which could be mixed with the ‘Persian Blue’.
After its introduction of blue and white porcelains to the world through increased global trade, these ceramics became hugely popular, especially in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Europe. This growing demand meant that the original style was imitated and embellished by local potters around the globe. From the mid-15th century, blue and white ceramics had become an important, global product that managed to not only contain its Chinese characteristics but also to evolve in style to accommodate diverse cultural traits and to meet local tastes.
When the new Ming rulers overthrew the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the output of the potteries of Jingdezhen changed. During the reign of Emperor Hongwu (1368-98), the character of the porcelain was notably different, it became more sinicised, moving away from the richly decorated pieces from the Yuan dynasty to cater for a more Chinese taste. Floral designs such as peonies and chrysanthemums are common, as are stylised waves along with lotus and cloud-collar patterns, and depictions of the ‘Three Friends of Winter’ – pine, bamboo, and prunus.
Throughout the Ming, blue and white ceramics adapted to the changes in the kingdom. Many existing ceramics from the Yongle period (1403-24) comprise wares made for the serving and consumption of food and beverages, for ritualistic purposes, and daily life. This category includes stem cups, flasks, bottles, ewers, jars, and bowls along with a variety of flat and serving dishes and other shaped tableware. Other rare survivors include diplomatic gifts and luxurious export items.
Although the Xuande Emperor’s (1426-35) reign was short, many ceramics, particularly blue and white wares, were produced. During this period, several mythical animals and birds started to be used in the designs, such as dragons, sea creatures, cranes, and phoenixes, as well as the popular Three Friends of Winter designs. The technique for firing underglaze cobalt blue wares was also refined using locally mined ‘potangqing’ cobalt, so potters were no longer reliant on imported Persian Blue. Later in the Ming dynasty, during Emperor Zhengde’s rule (1506-21), blue and white ware became more diverse in form and design.
Jessica Harrison Hall, in her book Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, writes, ‘Blue and white imperial wares of the Zhengde era may be divided into three main types: those with Arabic and Persian inscriptions, those with dragon designs on a dense lotus ground or lotus designs, and those archaistic items which copy 15th-century porcelains. Porcelains decorated with motifs specifically for the European market can be traced to the last years of the Zhengde Emperor’s reign’.
The last quarter of the 16th century saw the dynasty’s longest reigning monarch on the throne – Wanli (1573-1620). During his reign, the Jingdezhen kilns were unsurpassed in the quality and quantity of their output. They also began to manufacture ‘Swatow’ wares, often made for daily use that encompassed dishes, jars, bowls, and bottles, they were coarser in character than the fine court porcelains but were exported in great numbers to Southeast Asia, Japan, and the Middle East, and on a smaller scale, to Europe. Other export wares include ‘kraak’ from the Dutch term for the type of boat used to transport them to Europe. Kraak ware comprises mainly bowls, dishes, and cups, and is identified by a finely crafted body, press-moulded form, and underglaze blue decoration using mainly flora and fauna motifs.
A section in the exhibition’s catalogue explains, ‘Kraak porcelain was produced by numerous private kilns along the banks of the Chang River in the old town of the porcelain metropolis of Jingdezhen (Jiangxi Province) and encompasses a wide variety of shapes and decorations. A stylistic commonality among many pieces is a central motif framed by eight panels. Popular motifs included auspicious symbols from Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, as well as literary and landscape scenes and animal depictions. The blue tones in underglaze-blue decoration were bright and nuanced during the Wanli period, later becoming greyer because the better imported cobalt became scarcer, and cobalt from the local mines had to be used. As Kraak ware was imported into Europe in ever-increasing quantities, it became affordable even for wealthy citizens and peasants and not just the nobility.
A final development of blue and white ceramics during the Ming period includes porcelains from the Transitional period. John Carswell, in Blue & White, Porcelain from Around the World, notes, ‘In the mid-17th century, during the ‘Transitional’ period, finely graded washes of cobalt blue were used to great effect and melting shades of blue became characteristic by which porcelain of this period can easily be identified. In the reign of Kangxi (1662-1722) the blue has a controlled dark intensity of glacial perfection. Fastidiously applied, it no longer exhibits the spontaneity of the brushwork found in the Ming period’.
During this time, many of the artisans of Jingdezhen found work at private kilns in the surrounding area, greatly improving the quality of the wares they produced. Since imperial commissions were waning, these private kilns rushed to find alternative markets in Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia. For both the remaining domestic and emerging overseas markets, it was the popular blue and white wares that continued to dominate.
By the 17th century/beginning of the 18th century, blue and white ceramics had become one of the most desired forms of Chinese ceramics overseas. However, several new designs also began to appear at this time as potters broke away from the orthodoxy of court-approved forms and designs. The exhibition catalogue explains that from the Tianqi era (1620-27), the imperial court was so financially weakened due to political unrest, environmental disasters, and epidemics that it no longer ordered porcelain from Jingdezhen. The medium-sized porcelain manufacturers in Jingdezhen, in particular, were forced to acquire new customers and increasingly turned to the Japanese market. For about four decades, they produced porcelain specifically adapted to Japanese aesthetics and the needs of the tea ceremony – known in Japan as ko-sometsuke (Old Blue-White).
For the tea consumed at the end of the tea ceremony, the Japanese used old Korean bowls, local raku stoneware, or black Chinese tenmoku bowls from the Song period. Japanese tea masters valued Chinese ko-sometsuke porcelain because it fitted into the aesthetic concept of wabi-sabi with the focus on the appreciation and acceptance of simplicity and imperfection. The plates were intentionally made heavier and slightly deformed, and glaze chips were even created on the edges, known as ‘moth bites’, mushikui. The decorations are very individual, unpretentious, sometimes even whimsical and asymmetrical, and convey an image of the spirituality of scholarly life and the longing for rural tranquillity. There is a Zen quality to their spontaneous roughness that makes them unique in the range of blue and white wares being created during this period.
Meanwhile, in the porcelains being made for the domestic market, there is a new characteristic freedom in the painting style that continues to develop throughout the period. The improvement and advancement of landscape decoration on porcelain at the time is also important – at first used to separate or bracket different scenes, rocky landscapes eventually stretch themselves out and become continuous across the body of entire vessels. Scenes from literature, myths, and legends also became popular subject matter, especially for designs on meiping vases. Popular themes included dragons and carp jumping from the sea, scenes from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the West Chamber, Water Margin, and The Ode of Red Cliff. Other designs included Daoist ideals, scholars’ gardens, and the beauty of natural landscapes.
Other highlights from the exhibition include imperial porcelains from the early Ming with their characteristic refined decorations and intense shades of blue made from imported cobalt, which are juxtaposed with the more freely painted ‘folk wares’ for the domestic market during the Ming dynasty. There is also an extensive collection of shards excavated by archaeologists on the Iranian island of Hormuz in 1977, which covers a production period of 300 years and illustrates the status of blue and white Chinese porcelain from Jingdezhen as the first global brand and proves the enduring popularity of blue and white ceramics from China.
Until 9 November 2025, East Asian Art Museum, Cologne, museum-fuer-ostasiatische-kunst.de
