Late Qing court porcelain

Author: Liu Wei (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-01-01
Features: Late Qing court porcelain generally refers to official porcelain from the reigns of Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi, Guangxu, and Xuantong periods. In the history of Chinese ceramics, this period's porcelain is rarely mentioned, as it cannot compare to the prosperity of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong porcelain in terms of shape, color, decoration, variety, quantity, and craftsmanship—it was a period of decline. However, this era holds significant historical content. On one hand, it allows people to deeply understand how China's porcelain industry, since the Opium War in 1840, gradually fell into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial state, losing its former dominance as the "leading force in the world" under the encroachment of imperialist powers and becoming a market for large-scale importation of foreign porcelain. On the other hand, it provides very detailed material evidence of the lives of the last imperial dynasty's emperors and empresses. This article will discuss the following four aspects:
1. Porcelain with the "Shande Tang" mark and the Daoguang Emperor;
2. Porcelain with the "Daya Zhai" mark and Empress Dowager Cixi;
3. Tongzhi wedding porcelain and the grand wedding of the Tongzhi Emperor;
4. Xuantong porcelain and the abdicated Emperor Puyi.