Science and Civilisation in China, Part 12, Ceramic Technology

A history of Chinese ceramic technology from the Stone Age to the present day.

Rose Kerr (Author), Nigel Wood (Author)

9780521838337, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 October 2004

968 pages, 75 b/w illus. 85 colour illus. 55 tables
25.5 x 19.9 x 6.4 cm, 2.845 kg

'… this work on Chinese ceramics offers a wealth of information to those readers worldwide who are interested in ceramics, ceramic technology, and the economics and artistic importance of ceramics. … Cambridge University Press should be thanked by scholars interested in ceramics for allowing the authors of this book the scope of 918 pages, 172 illustrations many of them in color, 11 charts, and 147 tables all of this devoted to the wealth of detail which makes Ceramic Technology truly comprehensive in so many related areas. … Most scholars will use it as a reference work and it is superbly set up for that with extensive notation, clear and subject specific titles and subtitles listed in the table of contents, an index that has been designed to be user friendly even for non-sinologists, and useful tables at the end. … The authors are to be congratulated for their clear and lucid prose.' History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

How were Chinese pots made, glazed and fired? Why did China discover porcelain more than one thousand years before the West? What are the effects of China's influence on world ceramics? These questions (and many more) are answered in this lavishly-illustrated history of Chinese ceramic technology. The scene is set through the use of historical texts, archaeological excavation, and the principles of ceramic science. Chapters follow on the formation of clays and their relation to the underlying geologies of China, on firing, on manufacturing methods and sequences, on glazes, pigments and gilding, and on the impact of Chinese ceramic technology around the world, from the seventh to the twenty-first centuries. This is a volume unique in its coverage, which brings together research materials in several languages for the first time. With additional contributions by Ts'ai Mei-fen (National Palace Museum, Taipei) and Zhang Fukang (Shanghai Institute of Ceramics).

Preface
1. Setting the scene
2. Clays
3. Kilns
4. Manufacturing methods and sequences
5. Glazes
6. Pigments, enamels and gilding
7. Transfer
List of illustrations
List of tables
Chronology.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Ceramics: artworks [AFPC]