This important new reference book on Chinese export porcelains reveals for the first time comprehensive details of what is probably the world's best private collection of pieces intended primarily for the European market. "The RA collection of Chinese ceramics. A collector's vision" by Maria Antónia Pinto de Matos, a museum director and distinguished specialist, also contains much new research into the entire subject of Chinese export porcelain. Published by Jorge Welsh Books, this limited edition three-volume boxed set is a work of art in its own right. The RA Collection has been assembled over the past 30 years by a sharpeyed connoisseur who has combined a passion for Chinese export porcelain with a rigorous insistence on quality, beauty, rarity and historical relevance. Exhibition: London Gallery, Lisbon Gallery.

This book explores the relationship between collecting Chinese ceramics, interior design and display in Britain through the eyes of collectors, designers and tastemakers during the years leading to, during and following the Second World War. The Ionides Collection of European style Chinese export porcelain forms the nucleus of this study – defined by its design hybridity – offering insights into the agency of Chinese porcelain in diverse contexts, from seventeenth-century Batavia to twentieth-century Britain, raising questions about notions of Chineseness, Britishness, and identity politics across time and space. Through the biographies of the collectors, this book highlights the role of collecting Chinese art objects, particularly porcelain, in the construction of individual and group identities. Social networks linking the Ionides to agents and dealers, auctioneers, and museum specialists bring into focus the dynamics of collecting during this period, the taste of the Ionides and their self-fashioning as collectors. The book will be of interest to scholars working in the fields of art history, history of collections, interior design, Chinese studies, and material culture studies.

Among the most revered and beloved artworks in China are ceramics—sculptures and vessels that have been utilized to embellish tombs, homes, and studies, to drink tea and wine, and to convey social and cultural meanings such as good wishes and religious beliefs. Since the eighth century, Chinese ceramics, particularly porcelain, have played an influential role around the world as trade introduced their beauty and surpassing craft to countless artists in Europe, America, and elsewhere. Spanning five millennia, the Metropolitan Museum’s collection of Chinese ceramics represents a great diversity of materials, shapes, and subjects. The remarkable selections presented in this volume, which include both familiar examples and unusual ones, will acquaint readers with the prodigious accomplishments of Chinese ceramicists from Neolithic times to the modern era. As with previous books in the How to Read series, How to Read Chinese Ceramics elucidates the works to encourage deeper understanding and appreciation of the meaning of individual pieces and the culture in which they were created. From exquisite jars, bowls, bottles, and dishes to the elegantly sculpted Chan Patriarch Bodhidharma and the gorgeous Vase with Flowers of the Four Seasons, How to Read Chinese Ceramics is a captivating introduction to one of the greatest artistic traditions in Asian culture.

The book and exhibition catalogue, Famille Verte, is about a very special kind of Chinese porcelain. As the 19th-century French name implies, the decorations are predominantly painted\nin diff erent shades of bright green enamels, combined with blue, yellow, red, black and sometimes some gold. This type of porcelain was made in the period c. 1680-1725, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi\n(1662-1722), when production in the porcelain kilns in Jingdezhen was at its height. As a new, modern type of ware, famille verte enjoyed a widespread appeal and was produced for the domestic Chinese market as well as for export to Europe. Simply put, famille verte wares are extraordinarily fine and beautiful objects. The colourful decorations of flowers, butterflies, mythical animals or Chinese figural scenes are rendered in painstaking detail.

Song Blue and White Porcelain on the Silk Road disproves received opinion that pre-Ming blue and white dates to the Yuan (1279-1368 A.D.) and establishes the proper foundation for 21st century study of ancient Chinese porcelain.