Kangxi Reign Porcelain

Kangxi Porcelain and Its Era

Kangxi porcelain shows a variety of decoration styles, clay thickness, blue hues, all of which were due to the circumstances of the time, as well as innovations and changes in the later Kangxi period.

In view to Kangxi porcelain the Kangxi reign (1662-1722) is separated into three periods of approximately twenty years.

During this time various differences and changes can be observed. These include changing thickness of plates and chargers, different blue color hues, new decoration types appearing, etc..

During the first third of his reign, the early Kangxi era, the situation in China was not stable. The newly established government and the Kangxi emperor were still busy fighting the remnants of the Ming supporters.
Exports were mostly impossible during this time because of the sea prohibition proclaimed by the Qing government. The latter had the purpose of keeping the armed fleet of Ming supporters away. At its beginning the new Qing government had no ships to do battle at sea. Coastal inhabitants were forced to move inland to prevent collusion with the Ming and avoid that the latter could obtain supplies at settlements near the sea. The ban was lifted only in 1684 or 86 making full scale export activities possible.

Only in 1680 had the Qing government re-established the official kiln at Jingdezhen. The Kangxi emperor had been busy fighting the Ming remnants and probably had little interest in cultural pursuits as the Qing government position in some regions was still unstable.
In the later part of the Kangxi reign his government seemed to take a renewed interest in the porcelain industry. Changes and innovations were effected.

The use of reign marks by private kilns was disallowed. That means reign marks were now allowed only for use by the official kiln. Pictorial marks, etc. were not reign marks and thus may have been widely used by private kilns, resulting in a number of variations.

Without delay the Dutch V.O.C. started ordering porcelain in China again. During the sea ban they had been ordering in Japan.
Some innovations that fall into this period are the appearance of fencai and falangcai enamels. The former displaced blue and white porcelain in the following Yongzheng reign as mainstream product. Falangcai was made exclusively within the palace workshops and was inaccessible to commoners.

A Japanese porcelain style exported by the Dutch Eastindia Company (VOC) from Japan to Europe, named after the Japanese port of Imari, was copied by the Chinese in order to regain the lost market. At first the Chinese Imari copies were reflecting Japanese decorations closely, but soon they developed their own character. These Chinese Imari decorations are usually dated to the Kangxi period as the most popular period of production.

Another decoration usually related to the Kangxi reign was the Susancai (plain tricolor) decoration, which also appears to have been most popular during this period.

Kangxi decoration features that can be used for dating include the blue color, which often was applied in different densities to achieve different tones or depth.

Noteworthy is that some underglaze blue items made in the Kangxi reign were made with a blue pigment that was different from the other types of blue used. Little is apparently known about its origin, or why it disappeared again before long.

(more to be added)