Chinese Porcelain Vases

Porcelain vases were originally created for their rigid and translucent quality. Throughout thousands of years of their making in China, shapes and uses for porcelain vases have evolved. During the Song Dynasty, for example, the "plum" vase was popular, named as so because it was used to hold plum branches.

Double-gourd vases were also made during this period. Later, porcelain vases made in the Yuan Dynasty included the beaker-shaped vase and the garlic-head-shaped vase. Globular vases were popular in the Ming Dynasty, and conjoined vases in the Qianlong period.

Qing-hua blue and white painting is the most well-known variety of porcelain vase decorating. Cinnabar porcelain vases are reddish-brown owing to the presence of mercury in the glaze. During the Qing dynasty, porcelain vases were also glazed in pink, purple, yellow, green, and black.

Quick Facts

• At first, during the Song and Yuan dynasties, blue was the only color that was able to survive the high heat required to fire a porcelain vase
• The cong style vase, with it’s rectangular shape, originated in Neolithic China. First crafted from jade, this was traditionally a ritual vessel
• Cinnabar porcelain vases are created not from a glaze but rather from a ground red mercury sulphide mixed with lacquer, a natural form of resin