'The products of the Imperial and other kilns have created one of the gentlest and most beautiful of the arts. The technical inventiveness of Chinese potters - they had discovered methods of glazing pottery by the third century BC - made possible the manufacture of wonderfully delicate materials and colours. Their versatility as artists enabled them to design new shapes, and decorate them with incised or applied motifs which have been imitated throughout the world. Anthony du Boulay traces the development of Chinese porcelain from its beginnings to the early 20th century. His scholarly survey of this wonderful artistic tradition' --from inside cover.