Chinese Porcelain Decoration Styles

On-glaze decoration  (釉上彩)

• On-glaze decoration is hardly affectedchemically by the glaze
• The color remains the same
• The decoration is relatively easily wornor scratched
•  After applying the decoration the item islow-fired at 700º-900ºC.
  

Underglaze decoration  (釉下彩)

• Decoration is painted on the raw body,then the glaze is applied and all is fired at once
•  The colors are retained over a very longtime.
• Mainly used for:underglaze blue, underglaze red, underglaze sancai / wucai

Enamel decoration  (琺琅彩)

This is an on-glaze decoration first fired in the late Kangxi reign.
The craftsmen at Jingdezhen kiln used enamels originally applied on acopper or brass base, only that this now was applied on a porcelainbase. A new porcelain decoration style was created.

The white body wasfired at Jingdezhen, then it was transported to the palace, where it was painted and fired twice.

(Only a limited number of items was actually produced.)

Fencai  (粉彩)

This is an on-glaze decoration first fired in the late Kangxi reign.

It is also called 'soft colors' (軟彩) in Chinese
Fencai allows better control of color intensity (darker/lighter), enabling the creation of different color depths.
After its appearance Fencai replace Wucai and other polychrome decorations quickly.

• The decoration was painted on the whitefired body.
•  Glass powder was added to the pigments.
•  The decoration was fired twice at 720º-750ºC.

Yangcai   (洋彩)

Yangcai is a type of on-glaze decoration used in the Qianlong reign.

Contemporary court records classify Yangcai a type of enamelled porcelain.
A polychrome decoration waspainted on white porcelain using western painting techniques.

http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh97/porcelains/en_overview.html

Gilt decoration   (金彩 )

A type of on-glaze decoration.

The decoration is added to an already fired body,then firing is done at 700º-850ºC.

Wucai   (五彩)

Other Chinese names: 古彩,硬彩

Its mineral pigments are made from metals

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