Before diving into the content, I would like to note and appreciate the seamless transition from last week into this week. The understanding of historic objects and materials is rooted in the earnest learning of their production and their creators.
Chapter 9 of The City of Blue and White : Chinese Porcelain and the Early Modern World focuses on the ceramic workforce in early China, including the types of laborers and craftsmen; division of labor; their abilities; their pay rate; the relationship between this kind of work and tax, family, and government; and the management of these workers.
The imperial and private kilns managed to coexist and sometimes benefit or lose from each other. Skilled laborers were consistently in demand. The administrators of imperial kilns hired skilled workers from private kilns. Both the quality and quantity of the imperial kilns’ porcelain vessels were typically below those of private kilns due to access to able potters, as well as the mindset of the craftsmen, and number of objects occupying the kilns when firing.
Because there was a distinct difference in quality of the demanded ceramics between those made by imperial kilns and those by private kilns, the private kilns could have issued higher prices for their goods and beat the imperial kilns. However, they responded, instead, by making lower quality objects–cheaper materials and fewer invested hours, but I do not understand why private kilns decided to go this route.
Bibliographic References
Gerritsen, Anne. The City of Blue and White : Chinese Porcelain and the Early Modern World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Ho, Soleil. “The Rich, Complex History Hiding Within Chinese Plate Designs”. Thrillist, June 10, 2019. URL: https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/chinese-plate-design-history
