Journal

Look closely. Stay with the place.

Stories from Jingdezhen, the studio and the objects that carry their traces.

New in the Journal.

Front view of the blue and white water-chestnut porcelain vase

Journal · 19 September 2026

Choosing a Blue-and-White Vase for Your Space: A Buyer’s Guide

Choose a blue-and-white vase by planning its place, comparing its form and pattern, and checking the details for the individual piece.

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Journal · 19 September 2026

Buying Antique Chinese Porcelain: Evidence to Gather Before You Decide

Separate seller claims from records, photographs and specialist opinions before deciding whether to buy antique Chinese porcelain.

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A blue and white cup with part of its wall missing, exposing its white interior, decorated exterior and broken edge

Journal · 16 September 2026

The Pattern Remains

A remark about a cup's rim draws attention to its outline. Broken walls reveal the curves behind the blue decoration.

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A man seated beside the worktable holds a porcelain plate painted with a grey landscape

Journal · 16 September 2026

The Feeling of an Old Painting, on Porcelain

Holding the plate, he talks about the idea behind it—and the time spent on its pavilions.

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After the hand withdraws, a short dark column remains between the leaves, above a figure, animals and sloping ground

Journal · 16 September 2026

A Line Within the Landscape

Beneath a branch, the brush finds a place to begin. A short column of writing gives the eye another path through the landscape.

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A cup of the same design rests on a round wooden surface, with blurred green foliage and vertical lines behind it.

Journal · 16 September 2026

The Colours Around a Cup

A blue floral cup, seen against a pale background and beside wood and greenery, offers two ways into the same design.

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Three blue-and-white cups and saucers share a black tabletop, with the tall cup between two lower forms.

Journal · 16 September 2026

Three Cups, Rearranged

The same group of blue-and-white cups, first on one level, then at different heights. The first cup you notice may change.

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Lotus Display Plate, with blue floral scrolls spreading across the centre and rim.

Journal · 15 September 2026

A Gift for Someone Who Has Everything

For a new home, an anniversary, or a heartfelt thank-you. Three pieces of porcelain, chosen with someone in mind.

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The painter supports an open book with both hands and looks towards its pages.

Journal · 15 September 2026

The Book Beside the Easel

An image on a printed page, pale lines on a panel, and a moment beside an easel. Looking beyond the brush tip.

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Two curling handles project from the shoulders of the blue-and-white vessel.

Journal · 15 September 2026

The Shape Beside the Vase

Follow the shoulder outwards. There is more to see beside the body.

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Pink and white flowers spread above the mouth; painted flowers cover the body below.

Journal · 15 September 2026

Flowers Above, Flowers Below

A full bouquet meets a vase covered in flowers. What holds the two together?

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A dark patterned box with two closures at the front.

Journal · 13 September 2026

What We See When a Box Opens

From Qing court storage cases to a gift box today: how porcelain is given a place, a history and a moment of arrival.

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The censer stands on a wooden surface beside a woven container, with green beyond.

Journal · 13 September 2026

Before the First Wisp

Porcelain and incense, from a Han mountain-shaped lid to the body, cover, foot and tray of a censer.

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A light-ground floral panel within a reddish-brown frame and broad pale border.

Journal · 13 September 2026

When Porcelain Takes to the Wall

From Qing screens and wall vases to painted porcelain plaques: how porcelain became an image within a room.

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Flowers and leaves cover the dark cup, set with its saucer on a dark round surface.

Journal · 11 September 2026

The Cup You Keep Reaching For

When you open the cupboard, which cup catches your eye first? A small choice can say quite a lot about what you like.

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The drink pours into the cup; the spoon rests beside the saucer.

Journal · 11 September 2026

Time for a Few Pages

A drink, a spoon and an open book. A few small arrangements make room for reading.

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Chinese teabowl for the British market, c. 1730. Black-and-white archive photograph.

Journal · 11 September 2026

When Chinese Tea Bowls Reached European Tables

Two eighteenth-century tea bowls and saucers offer a close view of an exchange across the sea.

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Black Glazed Teabowl, Jian ware, Southern Song dynasty, 12th–13th century, Fujian, China.

Journal · 11 September 2026

White Froth, a Dark Tea Bowl

A Southern Song tea bowl brings the colour of tea into the way we look at a vessel.

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A worker seen through rows of cups and dishes.

Journal · 10 September 2026

At the Worktable

A look at the tables, tools and working spaces around a piece of porcelain.

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Held in two hands, the pavilion, trees and rocks come into close view.

Journal · 10 September 2026

Look Inside, and Another Landscape Appears

From the pavilion on the outside to the distant mountains within Chenxiang Pavilion Cup.

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Journal · 10 September 2026

Flowers Gathered in Colour

Flowers, leaves and open white space on Autumn Chrysanthemum.

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A decorated porcelain cup and saucer against a dark background

Journal · 08 September 2026

A Hard Body, A Delicate Skin

The parts of porcelain that catch the light can be the parts that ask for the gentlest handling.

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Gloved hands holding a blue-and-white vase

Journal · 08 September 2026

Some Colours Must Return to the Fire

Overglaze colours take a second journey through heat. After the kiln opens, the maker looks again at the whole piece.

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Flames illuminating shelves and porcelain forms inside a kiln

Journal · 08 September 2026

What the Fire Changes

A firing changes the body, glaze and colour together. Where a piece sits and how it cools matter as much as the temperature.

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A person beside a loaded kiln car at the kiln entrance

Journal · 08 September 2026

Giving Every Piece a Place in the Kiln

Shelves, supports and the space around a vessel all help determine how it meets the fire.

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A spray tool directed towards a small inverted vessel on a rotating support

Journal · 08 September 2026

How a Layer of Glaze Meets the Body

Before the gloss comes a liquid coating. Its thickness and the way it meets an edge help shape the fired surface.

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A fine brush following pale guide lines around a curved vessel

Journal · 08 September 2026

Blue Appears in the Fire

A brush follows the curve of a vessel. In blue-and-white porcelain, glaze and fire bring the painted mark to its familiar colour.

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A tool trimming a small inverted pale vessel, with ribbons of clay beside it

Journal · 08 September 2026

A Form Is Not Pulled in One Move

Throwing gives a vessel its first outline. Resting and trimming refine the wall, foot and curve.

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Hands pressing and folding pale clay on a work surface

Journal · 08 September 2026

Where Porcelain Begins: Stone, Water and Workable Clay

Before the first vessel takes shape, stone, water and repeated preparation become a body that can yield to the hand.

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Ways of Looking

Move closer, then look again.

Three short routes into line, distance and motif.

A fine brush following the rim of a curved porcelain form

Ways of Looking · 26 August 2026

The Painted Line Around a Curve

Four short workshop views stay with the point where a brush, a hand and a turning surface meet.

Watch the close views

Floating Citadel Vase in a visualised room setting

Ways of Looking · 26 August 2026

Three Distances for Seeing a Piece

Floating Citadel Vase changes as the room falls away and the painted landscape comes forward.

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Close view of blue butterfly decoration on porcelain

Motif Notes · 26 August 2026

Butterfly, Deer and Lily

Three motifs on the works in front of us, seen beside separately attributed museum objects.

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Place & Archive

Read the city behind the object.

Printed Jingdezhen Taolu spread showing clay preparation

From the Archive · 25 August 2026

Clay and Kiln in Two Printed Leaves

A closer look at clay preparation and kiln loading in Jingdezhen Taolu, set beside separate photographs from a present-day Jingdezhen workshop.

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Porcelain vessels stacked inside a kiln in Jingdezhen

Place & Craft · 24 August 2026

Why Jingdezhen Still Matters

The World Heritage inscription asks us to look past the finished object and see the porcelain city behind it: raw materials, kilns, workshops, merchants and generations of specialised hands.

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