China's Porcelain Capital: The Rise, Fall and Reinvention of Ceramics in Jingdezhen

Description

Maris Boyd Gillette's groundbreaking study tells the story of Jingdezhen, China's porcelain capital, from its origins in 1004 in Song dynasty China to the present day. Gillette explores how Jingdezhen has been affected by state involvement in porcelain production, particularly during the long 20th century. She considers how the Chinese government has consumed, invested in, taxed and managed the local ceramics industry, and the effects of this state intervention on ceramists' lives, their local environment and the nature of the goods they produce. Gillette traces how Jingdezhen experienced the transition from imperial rule to state ownership under communism, the changing fortunes of the ceramics industry in the early 21st century, the decay and decline that accompanied privatisation, and a revival brought about by an entrepreneurial culture focusing on the manufacture of highly-prized 'art porcelain'.

Maris Boyd Gillette is E. Desmond Lee Professor of Museum Studies and Community History, University of Missouri, St Louis, USA. She is the author of Between Mecca and Beijing: Modernization and Consumption Among Urban Chinese Muslims (2000).

[China's Porcelain Capital] is filled with intriguing facts. Those with an interest in porcelain and anyone thinking about working in China, or having artwork made in China, should consider reading this book. * Crafts magazine * Maris Boyd Gillette's book is a welcome addition to the literature on Jingdezhen. It is well sourced and benefits greatly from research in the town and familiarity at first hand with the practical aspects of the industry. * Michael Dillon, The China Quarterly * A comprehensive examination of the ways in which the government of China has controlled, invested in, taxied, managed and consumed the products of the Chinese porcelain industry, especially in the twentieth century. * Ringgold, USA * Historians like to boast of getting their hands dirty in the archives. In this fascinating book, Maris Gillette got her feet muddy to tell the 1000-year story of how the Chinese state, global markets and the potters of Jingdezhen have interacted to produce the most extraordinary porcelains in the world. * Dr Steven Conn, W E Smith Professor of History at Miami University, USA * Positioning ethnographic writing at the center of art historical and anthropological perspectives, Gillette makes an enormous contribution to our understanding of cultural production in China. This astute and intimate portrait uses first-rate scholarship and a unique apprenticeship in the community to reveal the complexities of contemporary ceramic production in Jingdezhen. * Dr Morgan Perkins, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Art at the State University of New York, USA * What a story, the town of Jingdezhen! It began making ceramics over a thousand years ago, produced porcelain for emperors of four dynasties while it made blue-and-white ware famous throughout the world, declined sadly under the Nationalist Republic, revived under Mao's state socialism, and was abruptly shut down in China's economic reforms of the 1990s, only to emerge for the third time as a destination for tourists and artists in the 21s century. Maris Gillette tells this story in a clear, fast-moving narrative, completely free of academic jargon, that will appeal to scholarly and popular readers alike. * Dr Stevan Harrell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington, USA * A fascinating read providing an historic and contemporary context of a city in China, whose economic survival and worldwide fame has been uniquely due to a single product, porcelain. For me, involved in education and as an artist potter making work on a regular basis in 'Jingdezhen' it was both intriguing in its narrative and hugely informative. * Felicity Aylieff, Head of Programme for Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art, UK *