Doucai (contrast colors) ware is one of the most beautiful type of Chinese porcelain to celebrate technical and aesthetic brilliance. Production entered its most mature phase in the 15th century.
Artisans first used cobalt blue and white, or qinghua, pigments to create outlines and patterns on the ground base, and fired the wares at high temperatures. Then they added other colors and fired at lower temperatures.
Doucai wares were mostly bowls and cups of smaller sizes.
A doucai bowl made in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, was shown at the Spring Festival Gala by China Central Television in January, celebrating the festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of the traditional new year, and being added to UNESCO's the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December.
The bowl was recently donated by the Jingdezhen city government to the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum in Beijing. The patterns show folk activities of Spring Festival including dragon dancing, setting off of firecrackers and watching opera shows at fairs.
