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18 October 2008 – 26 April 2009

Fire and Earth: Chinese Ceramics in the Museum of East Asian Art

In Chinese philosophy the elements of fire and earth are two of the five elements or five phases by which the entire cosmos and all life are defined and kept in a state of continuous development. The activity of the element of fire transforms earth into ceramics. This was one of the brilliant and fundamental discoveries of Stone Age man. Unlike in Europe, ceramics have been highly valued in China for thousands of years, not only as a useful object of everyday use, but also as an artistic product which is judged according to the aesthetic quality of its form, glaze and decoration. The first proto-porcelain appeared as early as the 12th century BC, and in the 9th century AD the fully developed translucent white porcelain experienced its first heyday. The admiration of the Europeans for the “white gold” from China knew no limits and in the early 17th century the first wave of Chinese exports began, which above all made the European trading companies rich. No wonder that the Chinese word for porcelain clay, “kaolin”, is one of the oldest words borrowed from Chinese to be adopted by European languages. Chinese ceramics have formed one of the most extensive parts of the permanent collection since the museum's inception. Huo Jiena, a graduate in archaeology and ceramics from Beijing University, has spent four years working on it. The result is a selection of slightly more than 200 pieces covering a period of roughly 5,000 years from the middle of the fourth millennium BC to roughly 1400 AD. The objects selected may be considered world class. Some of them will be exhibited for the first time.

Fire and Earth: Chinese Ceramics in the Museum of East Asian Art

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