China painting, or porcelain painting, is the decoration of glazed porcelain objects such as plates, bowls, vases or statues. The body of the object may be hard-paste porcelain, developed in China in the 7th or 8th century, or soft-paste porcelain, developed in 18th-century Europe. The broader term ceramic painting includes painted decoration on lead-glazed earthenware such as creamware or tin-glazed pottery such as maiolica or faience.
Wucai plate, Chinese export porcelain, Kangxi period c. 1680
Painters' workshop at the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in Vienna c. 1830
Porcelain painting in Weimar, Germany in 1989
Vintage Royal Worcester bone china
Underglaze is a method of decorating pottery in which painted decoration is applied to the surface before it is covered with a transparent ceramic glaze and fired in a kiln. Because the glaze subsequently covers it, such decoration is completely durable, and it also allows the production of pottery with a surface that has a uniform sheen. Underglaze decoration uses pigments derived from oxides which fuse with the glaze when the piece is fired in a kiln. It is also a cheaper method, as only a single firing is needed, whereas overglaze decoration requires a second firing at a lower temperature.
Japanese porcelain Hirado ware paperweight with chrysanthemums and plum blossoms, underglaze blue and brown, 19th-century
Dish with cypress, Turkey, Iznik, c. 1575, underglaze-painted stonepaste – Royal Ontario Museum – DSC04735
Chinese porcelain dish with the typical Ming underglaze blue on white porcelain, Xuande Reign 1426–1435, Ming
Transfer printed plate using two transfers, puce and green, c. 1830, Staffordshire pottery, Enoch Wood & Co.
