eLibrary: Chinese Ceramics

This exhibition spans nearly a thousand years of Chinese ceramics. An introductory gallery sets the foundations, followed by four rooms dedicated to the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Early Ming dynasties. Together, 380 works — many seldom exhibited side by side — trace the evolution of materials, colour, patronage, and global exchange.

This is the latest version of an electronic library of resources supporting the exhibition. It offers free and immediate access to online resources for anyone wanting to explore further the context of the museum’s artifacts.  As the museum develops, more resources, in more languages, will be added.

NOTE: Some of these links come from Academia.edu and Researchgate.net. These require a free one-time registration. To research further yourselves, you may consider registering with Jstore.org which gives limited but free monthly access to its collections

Articles

Bin, S. (e.a.) 2025. Innovating Tradition: Integrating Song Dynasty Ru Ware Aesthetics into Contemporary Ceramic Design. ICCCM Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 4(4), pp.9-16.

Chang, D., Ma, R., Zhang, L., Cui, J. and Liu, F., 2020. Characterizing the chemical composition of Tang Sancai wares from five Tang dynasty kiln sites. Ceramics International, 46(4), pp.4778-4785.

Chen, H., 2016. The Origin and Artistic Style of Ceramic Art in the Song Dynasty, 2nd International Conference on Education, Language, Art and Intercultural Communication (ICELAIC-15)

Gerritsen, A., 2012. Porcelain and the Material Culture of the Mongol-Yuan Court. Journal of Early Modern History, 16(3), pp.241-273.

Jiang, Q.  2009. Tang sancai.  PhD Thesis, Oxford

Krahl, R., 2010. Chinese ceramics in the late Tang Dynasty. Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds, pp.45-74.

Lee, H., 2003. Institutions and vessels in East Asia: Exploring a new approach for the study of medieval and early modern wares, applied to the origin of early Ming imperial underglaze blue ceramics and their introduction into Korea. PhD Thesis, London SOAS

Liang, D., 2022. The Influence Of The Grassland Silk Road On The Porcelain Styles Of The Yuan Dynasty During The Mongol-Yuan Period. Burganov House. The Space Of Culture Учредители: Ooo Наука И Искуство, 18(3), pp.47-51.

 Li, P. 2020. The ceramic trade between China and Southeast Asia during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). PhD Thesis, Oxford

Li, W. (e.a.)  2017. A landmark in the history of Chinese ceramics: the invention of blue-and-white porcelain in the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). STAR: Science & Technology of Archaeological Research, 3(2), pp.358-365.

Li, W. (e.a.)  2005. Study on Ru ware glaze of the Northern Song dynasty: one of the earliest crystalline-phase separated glazes in ancient China. Ceramics international, 31(3), pp.487-494.

Li, Z.(e.a.) , 2025. Unveiling the secrets of the Song Dynasty Qingbai porcelain: Coloring mechanism and non-destructive Terahertz testing. Journal of Advanced Dielectrics, 15(05), p.2550009.

Lin, S., 2023. Archaeological Excavations of Ceramics and their Decorative Characteristics in the Tang and Song Dynasties Inspiring Modern Art Design. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 23(3), pp.197-207.

Liu, Y., Chen, R. and Zheng, J., 2023. Study on the ceramic wares from the Leizhou kiln of the Tang and Song dynasties. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 51, p.104220.

Ma, D (e.a.)., 2021. Study on Cizhou‐Style Inlaid Porcelain, the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1,127 AD), China. Archaeometry, 63(6), pp.1178-1191.

Ma, H. (e.a.) 2019. New insights into the calcium flux used in ancient Longquan and Yue kilns based on strontium isotopic compositions. Archaeometry, 61(2), pp.342-357.

Rastelli, S. 2002.The Yaozhou kilns A re-evaluation. PhD Thesis, SOAS, London

Rastelli, S., 2016. The concept of the five famous wares of the song dynasty—a modern invention. In Songdai Wuda Mingyao kexue jishu guoji xueshu taolunhui lunwenji Proceedings of International Symposium on Science and Technology of Five Great Wares of the Song Dynasty (pp. 460-466).

Rastelli, S., 2015. Song (960-1279) ceramics: aesthetics, theories, and archaeological discoveries. Asiatica Ambrosiana: saggi e ricerche di cultura religioni e società dell'Asia: 7, 2015, pp.3-15.

Song, X., Zhang, R. and Kennet, D., 2023. The organization of Chinese ceramic production from the Tang to the Ming periods: archaeological evidence from ceramic workshops. World Archaeology, 55(1), pp.76-91.

Shi, P. (e.a.) 2020. Study on the coloring mechanism of the Ru celadon glaze in the Northern Song Dynasty. Ceramics International, 46(15), pp.23662-23668.

Shi, K., Yong, M. and Dong, L., 2025. Composition and microstructure of Yuan Dynasty Jun glazed stoneware from Yanjialiang site, Inner Mongolia, China. npj Heritage Science, 13(1), p.157.

Tao, S., (e.a) 2023. Morphology and structure characteristics of the rare black-glazed porcelains excavated from the Jian Kiln site of song dynasty. Crystals, 13(4), p.632.

Tite, M.S., Freestone, I.C. and Bimson, M., 1984. A technological study of Chinese porcelain of the Yuan dynasty. Archaeometry, 26(2), pp.139-154.

Tong, V., 2025. Radiant grandeur: Gold and silver decoration on ceramics in the Song and Yuan dynasties. Journal of International Ceramic Studies, p.100023.

Tong, Y. and Wang, C., 2019. Study on firing temperature of the Song Dynasty (960–1279AD) greenish-white porcelain in Guangxi, China by thermal expansion method. Heritage Science, 7(1), p.70.

Wang, T. (e.a.) 2020. Micro-structural study of Yaozhou celadons (Tang to Yuan Dynasty): probing crystalline and glassy phases. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 40(13), pp.4676-4683.

Wood, N. and Tite, M., 2009. Blue and white–the early years: Tang China and Abbasid Iraq compared. Transfer: The Influence of China on World Ceramics. Colloquies on Art & Archeology in Asia, (24), pp.21-45.

Wu, J. (e.a.) 2020. Early development of Jingdezhen ceramic glazes. Archaeometry, 62(3), pp.550-562.

Wu, L. (e.a.) 2024. Chemical Compositions and Chromatic Mechanism of High-Temperature Iron-Series Glazed Wares from the Guangyuan Kiln in Sichuan Province, Southwest China During the Song Dynasty. Materials, 17(24), p.6221.

Xu, Z., 2024. The Beauty of Han and Tang Dynasty Terracotta Figurines Sculptures, the Promotion of Plastic Arts and the Innovative Culture of Contemporary Ceramics. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 24(3), pp.191-205.

Yang, L., 2011. Tang dynasty Changsha ceramics. Shipwrecked (Singapore: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, pp.145-59.

Yang, M., Srisuksa, A. and Srisuksa, K., 2024. Tang Tri-Color Glazed Ceramics: Wisdom and Inheritance of Luoyang city, China, Technium Social Sciences Journal 56:323-337

Zhang, R., (e.a.) 2022. Longquan celadon: a quantitative archaeological analysis of a pan-Indian Ocean industry of the 12th to 15th centuries. World Archaeology, 54(5), pp.700-722.

Zhang, Y. and Pollard, A.M., 2022. The archaeological and scientific analysis of blue‐decorated ceramics in the Tang and Song dynasties. Archaeometry, 64(6), pp.1394-1410.

Zhang, Y. and Sirisuk, M., 2024. The Influence of Tang Sancai on Persian and Japanese Ceramics. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies, 19(2), p.55.

Zhao, L., 2016. Elegant Style—Study on the Aesthetic Characteristics of Ceramics Art in the Song Dynasty. In 2nd Asia-Pacific Management and Engineering Conference (pp. 737-742).