Chinese Ceramics - & collecting in Britain

Unsurpassed by numerous imitators, the ceramic traditions of China – and of porcelain in particular – occupy the high ground of world ceramics. China was the first nation to develop a translucent white ceramic material in Europe, dubbed porcelain. After its long gestation it emerged during the Tang Dynasty (705-907 AD) and in the centuries that followed it became one of the first globally traded, man-made luxury commodities, its forms and surface decoration influencing the ceramic traditions of countless states throughout Asia and Europe.  Not until 1710 was the European equivalent of hard-paste Chinese porcelain achieved at Meissen.

The collecting history of Chinese ceramics in Britain stretches back to the time of Elizabeth I, the tempo increasing by the accession in 1689 of William and Mary, reaching a climax in the 18th century. Then followed the hiatus of the Napoleonic Wars, the decline of the East India Company, the Opium Wars and the simultaneous demise of Imperial China.  For a while the supply of and taste for China’s luxuries faltered. But from the middle of the 1800s, with the rising prosperity of the British middle classes - and the new supply of trophies following the sacking of the Summer Palace - the fever for Asian art resumed, further boosted by the opening up of trade with Japan. Rather than pursuing contemporary wares (as in the previous centuries), collectors were now on the hunt for antique ceramics.

The extraordinary legacy of those 19th and 20th century collectors can today be seen in both of London’s great museums. To place ceramics into their historical context, the morning begins at the V&A with a general introduction to Chinese art in the Tsui Gallery. The Qing Dynasty rooms further exemplify European interest in Chinese material culture during the latter half of the Victorian era and into the 20th century.   

The fruits and legacy of a new connoisseurship emerging in the early 20th century are explored at the British Museum. The jewel in the crown of the museum’s many treasures is the Percival David Collection, internationally regarded as the most important private collection of its kind outside China’s own imperial holdings in Beijing and Taiwan’s National Palace Museum.