Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) China began to engage in world trade. This included exporting porcelain to Portugal and Spain in exchange for silver. As the dynasty neared its end, imperial patronage of porcelain production ceased and new markets had to be found. Japan and The Netherlands were the biggest overseas markets, but after 1700 England became the greatest importer.

Detail of a map, probably 1620s, showing Ming trade routes.

From 1400 until around 1750 the technologies for clay body, glazes and decoration became increasingly refined.

Blue-and-white kraak style bowl with banana leaf and flowers (EA1991.24) Blue-and-white kendi with crayfish (EA1978.1936) Cup with scholars in a landscape (EA1978.1112)

Blue-and-white dish with the Portuguese arms of Pinto (EA1962.100) Blue-and-white vase depicting a scholar watching two women (EA1978.2036) Blue-and-white vase in double-gourd form (EA1978.938)

Blue-and-white dish with a figure in a landscape (EA1973.5) Zhangzhou ware dish with pagodas and mountains (EA1978.1074) Blue-and-white tile with a landscape on one side and flowers on the other (EA1978.1174)

Dish with three lion dogs playing with a ball (EAX.3509) Dish with a bird on a branch (EAX.1524) Vase with chickens and flowers (EAX.1411)

Dish with figures from the novel The Water Margin (EAX.3531) Lantern with figures in a garden (EAX.1503) Beaker vase with a seated official receiving a messenger (EA1980.281)

Wucai ware vase with fish amid waves (EAX.1191) Blue-and-white box with figures in a garden (EAX.1414) Square dish with flowers (EAX.1418)

Spittoon with dragons (EAX.1188) Dish with a kylin, or horned creature (EA1978.980) Tall vase with copper-red glaze (EAX.1940)

Tall-necked vase with green glaze (EAX.1509) Bowl and lid with yellow glaze (EAX.1514) Vase with 'mirror-black' glaze (EAX.1906)

Silver ingots

Spanish silver from the New World stimulated trade in silk, tea, porcelain and other commodities from China. Silver dollars circulating in China were often reshaped or countermarked, and Chinese characters are visible on some of these.

No image available. No image available. No image available. No image available.

Jingdezhen egg-shaped kiln

This kiln design was developed at Jingdezhen in the late Ming period (1368-1644). The temperature range within the kiln could vary from 1000-1300 degrees celsius so that different glazes and porcelain bodies could be included in a single firing.

No image available.

Porcelain saucer for the English market

By the mid-1700s most well-to-do British families had their own Chinese armorial porcelain dinner service.

This plate was commissioned in about 1760 and shows the arms of Vaughn of Brecknockshire impaling Bond.

Saucer with the arms of Vaughn of Brecknockshire impaling Bond (EA1962.57)