Made in China
](https://micrio.thingsthattalk.net/oHdtR/0/0-0.jpg)
Fig. 1: 18th century Chinese Export Porcelain Plate Timothy Langston
No one would guess that this Topkapi bowl was made by Chinese potters. There are hardly any indications on this intricate bowl that scream Chinese. The Arabic calligraphy makes it hard to imagine that this was inscribed by a Chinese potter, and the decorations encircling the bowl are also not something that someone would immediately link to Chinese porcelain. Most people would think of the typical underglaze porcelain as can be seen in Fig. 1. Yet, someone who is somewhat knowledgeable about porcelain would know that a lot of porcelain that was made during the 18th century came from China or Japan.
China’s porcelain capital, Jingdezhen, started producing porcelain around the 10th century during the Tang dynasty (618-907). From the 11th century onward, porcelain production in Jingdezhen developed rapidly, attracting attention from all over China and also outside of China, as the central government decided to establish an office in the city for porcelain trade. During the Yuan dynasty (1260-1368), the porcelain international trade increased once again, as the government put an emphasis on the production of the iconic blue and white porcelain that would be sold to international buyers, especially from the Middle East. The office during that time, called Jingdezhen’s Porcelain Bureau, was often run by non-Chinese supervisors, especially people from the Middle East and also Muslims from Central Asia.
Despite the amount of non-Chinese and Muslim people active in the porcelain production and trade of Jingdezhen, it was only at the start of the 16th century that Chinese Islamic porcelain was to be found on the market. The first mention of these kinds of porcelain was made during the reign of the Zhengde emperor (1506-1521) during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Said porcelain was adorned with Islamic inscriptions. It is understood that these wares were made purely for Chinese Muslims, not necessarily for export trade, because most vessels were made in Chinese shapes; think of bowls, cups, and boxes. A few were, however, carried over to rulers of Islamic countries in the form of gifts. The calligraphy on these wares consisted of often legible, yet short incantations. Over time, the Islamic porcelain export production divided itself into two types; one using a butchered form of Persian inscriptions and the other using lengthy inscriptions from the Qur’an. As this trade started to flourish under the commercial potters for common people, the calligraphy sporting the porcelain started to regress, sometimes turning into zigzags and swirls. The calligraphy here solely took on the form of decoration. This last type of export wares reached its height in the 17th century, during the end of the Ming dynasty and start of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Much of the Islamic porcelain made for export was now adorned with quotations from the Qur’an.