Blue and white porcelain features white clay bodies decorated with cobalt oxide under a transparent glaze, fired at temperatures exceeding 1300°C. This technique produces a striking contrast between vivid blue imagery and pristine white ground, with designs ranging from floral…

Doucai (literally “contrasting colors”) combines underglaze cobalt blue outlines with overglaze enamel fills, creating a harmonious interplay between “bone” and “flesh” of the design. This two-step process requires precise registration between the initial blue underglaze firing and subsequent enamel application.…

Overglaze decoration involves applying colored enamels to already glazed and fired ceramics, followed by a second low-temperature firing (600–900°C). This technique enables a wider color palette than underglaze methods, with pigments suspended in a glassy medium that fuses to the…

Underglaze decoration is a technique where painted designs are applied to the ceramic surface before glazing and firing, creating durable, vibrant patterns protected by a transparent glaze layer. This method uses mineral oxide pigments that fuse with the glaze during…