China painting(Chinese painting) is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. The earliest paintings were not representational but ornamental; they consisted of patterns or designs rather than pictures. Stone Age pottery was painted with spirals, zigzags, dots, or animals. It was only during the Warring States Period (403-221 B.C.) that artists began to represent the world around them.

History of China Painting

I will be adding to the content of this page monthly. Consider it a serial murder mystery,  for the history of china painting is filled with intrigue, murder and mystery. I have used artisitic license for the short story presented here.

The art of china painting, referenced in many works as porcelain art or china decoration, has its roots in the history of early China. It is documented that cave dwellers in Turkey as early as 7000 BC began making bowls, jugs, and utensils out of clay. Egyptians built ovens to harden their clay pieces in 5000 BC. However, over glazing was not discovered until around 3000 BC and decoration of the clayware came much later. It wasn’t until the T’ang Dynasty in 618 AD that the Chinese began making what is known today as hard porcelain. They discovered that combinations of kaoline clay and felspar resulted in the most beautiful ceramics. This porcelain ware is distinguished from other ceramics by possessing excellent qualities of hardness, translucency, and whiteness of body or paste. Any ceramic piece that possesses all of these qualities may be classified as porcelain, and, from a practical point of view, the more it excels under these characteristics, the better the specimen of porcelain it is. The Chinese, being supreme secret keepers, remained the masters and sole producers of hard-bodied porcelain until the middle of the 1700s.

Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as Guohua, meaning 'national' or 'native painting', as opposed to Western styles of art which became popular in China in the 20th century. Traditional painting involves essentially the same techniques as calligraphy and is done with a brush dipped in black or colored ink; oils are not used. As with calligraphy, the most popular materials on which paintings are made of are paper and silk. The finished work is then mounted on scrolls, which can be hung or rolled up. Traditional painting also is done in albums and on walls, lacquerwork, and other media.

While the Chinese were excellent at keeping a secret, Marco Polo was a wonderful story teller and his “Adventures of Marco Polo” suggest that he was the first one to bring back an example of the Chinese hard paste porcelain in the shape of a small white vase on his return to Italy in 1295. But it wasn’t until trade with the Far East had really been established at the beginning of the 15th century that the white translucent ceramic was considered a valuable and luxurious material by the nobility and wealthy patrons from France, Italy, Venice and Portugal. Of course the secret of its manufacture made the porcelain even more desirable.
 
While variations of porcelain were produced in the late 1500’s it wasn’t until 1710 that a porcelain comparable to the Chinese hard bodied paste was developed. Augustus II, King of Poland literally locked his alchemist Johann Bottger away and under threat of death he did come up with the formula for the ceramic. The King founded the Meissen Factory in 1710 and for almost ten years the formula for this porcelain remained a closely guarded secret. However, the appetite and desire for this porcelain by the wealthy and royalty fanned the flames of multiple kilns in other countries and eventually, France and Germany also discovered the formula.