Yuan Blue-and-White Porcelain

Timeline

1. c. 1271–1320Jingdezhen kiln district · JingdezhenThe Yuan government integrated Jingdezhen's private kilns under the supervision of the Fuliang Porcelain Bureau, introduced imported cobalt (sumali blue), and fired white-bodied blue-and-white wares using a kaolin-and-porcelain-stone dual recipe, with motifs blending Han traditions and Islamic vessel-shape demands.
2. c. 1320–1340Quanzhou port and Persian Gulf trade nodes · FujianYuan blue-and-white was exported through the Maritime Trade Supervisorate and the land and sea Silk Roads; Islamic markets commissioned large interlocking-lotus and geometric-pattern jars, and blue-and-white wares of the same period have been excavated from shipwreck sites in Southeast Asia and East Africa, indicating international demand from the 13th to early 14th centuries.
3. 1341–1350Jingdezhen and the Dadu court · JiangxiDuring the Zhizheng era blue-and-white vessel forms grew grand, commonly featuring narrative figures, dragons and phoenixes, and interlocking peony motifs; large meiping, yuhuchunping, and dishes and bowls were mass-fired. Zhizheng-type blue-and-white among 1340s remains and overseas collections represents the pinnacle of Yuan craftsmanship, including famous subject types such as 'Guiguzi Coming Down the Mountain.'
4. c. 1351–1368Jingdezhen · JiangxiLate Yuan warfare at times disrupted kiln production, but the blue-and-white technique and cobalt formula were inherited by Ming official kilns; the Hongwu and Yongle reigns developed a more refined court blue-and-white system on the Yuan foundation, and Yuan blue-and-white porcelain is recorded in Chinese ceramic history as an independent historical stage.