Contents

Part One   

The Art of Private-Kiln Porcelain Painting in China

This History of Porcelain Painting

Early Pottery Decoration-The Predecessor of Porcelain Painting

The Beginning of Porcelain Painting-Early Underglaze Colour Painting 

The Emergence of a New Tradition-The Tongguan Kiln Complex of the Tang Dynasty

The Blue and White Tradition-Jingdezhen Porcelain Painting

Main Artistic Characteristics of Private-Kiln Porcelain Painting

The Artistic Value of the Xieyi Style

Xieyi-Poetry in Painting

Creating Their Own Style

Role of Private-Kiln Porcelain Painting in Chinese Fine Arts

The Flower-and -Bird Paintings of the Tang Dynasty

The Earliest Artists to Apply Calligraphic Features to Painting

The Forerunner of Chinese Xieyi Painting

Who Created the Ultra-Xieyi Style?

Abstract Expressionism in Porcelain Painting

Factors Leading to the Development of Abstractionism in Porcelain Painting

The Development form Realism to Abstractionism in Painting and Patterned Designs

Role in the Popularization and Preservation of Traditional Chinese Painting 

Epilogue

Part Two

The Joy of the Hunt

Stories of a Collector of Folk Paintings on Porcelain

Porcelain Shards in a Layer of Cow Bones

A Lucky Find Among Elephant Bones

Were These Bowls Once Used by Jurens?

Back to the Lantern Market of the Ming Dynasty

Treasures in the Mud

The Neighbourhood of the Dafo Temple

A Cave Full of Porcelain Shards

An Unusual Ultra-Xieyi at Least Five Hundred Years Old

Relics from an Ancuent Rice Market

A Repentant Regret

A Synchronistic Encounter in Xian

Jingdezhen-Champion of a Neglected Cultural Heritage

The Historical Site of the Tongguan Kiln

Afterword

Appendixes

Chronology of Chinese Dynasties

Reigning Periods of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Sketch Map Showing Location of Building Sites in Bejing Where Porcelain Shards Were Found

Index