Light Glaze of History

Every piece of art tells a story about the culture that produced it and a recent exhibition at the Capital Museum is a case in point.

Opening on April 27th, "light glaze of history –Liling under-glazed porcelain exhibition” is being hosted by the Hunan Provincial Cultural Affairs Bureau and Zhuzhou Municipal Government.

The exhibition is one of a host of cultural activities being held to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It was also the largest such exhibition in recent years.

"White as jade, bright as mirror, thin as paper, sound as chime " is the reputation Liling's porcelain has been given. Its fresh and elegant look, as well as its environmentally-friendly quality has enhanced its popularity in recent years. Unlike some other varieties of porcelain, it contains no harmful traces of lead or cadmium.

Liling, a small town in eastern Hunan province, has abundant reserves of ceramic materials and the history can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. The first porcelain was to follow here during the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

In Guangxu times the Qing government officials of Liling, Xiong Xiling and Wen-Jun-duo, ran the ceramic company.

Traditional ceramic techniques, based on the absorption of new achievements in science and technology and referenced by the foreign ceramic technologies, used self-made pigment as an underglaze which created a five colored porcelain, highly prized at that time.

Different from the traditional Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, Liling under-glazed porcelain is famed for polychrome, with the same refined elegance. In 2008, Liling porcelain was officially recognized as part of the national cultural heritage.

After the founding of new China, because of the high quality and superb production skills of Liling porcelain, it was selected to produce for former leaders such as Chairman Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

Liling porcelain is also used in the government headquarters at Zhongnanhai and is often presented as gifts to foreign leaders, hence the nicknames national porcelain, and red official porcelain. Liling under-glazed porcelain represents the peak of Chinese ceramic arts, has a very high historical and cultural value and is certainly prized in any collection.