Topic summary
Blue and white porcelain
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Blue and white pottery.
14th-century development
Chinese blue and white porcelain was once-fired: after the porcelain body was dried, it was decorated with refined cobalt-blue pigment mixed with water and applied using a brush. It was then coated with a clear glaze and fired at a high temperature. From the 16th century, local sources of cobalt blue started to be developed, although Persian cobalt remained the most expensive. Production of blue and white wares has continued at Jingdezhen to this day. Blue and white porcelain made at Jingdezhen probably reached the height of its technical excellence during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty (r. 1661–1722).