The history of Chinese ceramics is a long one. Over ten thousand years ago, ancient Chinese began shaping and firing clay at low temperatures (approximately 600–800°C) to produce a large variety of pottery. Following successive advances, firing at high temperatures (approximately 1250–1350°C) became possible, giving rise to the production of hard, durable and impermeable porcelains.

 

In an endeavour to present the development and culture of Chinese ceramics in their entirety, a fine selection of ceramics from the Art Museum collection dating from various periods is on display at the present exhibition. Thanks to generous support and donations from the community over the years, the Museum has been able to build up a comprehensive collection of ceramics, which has been one of our major fields of interests since the Museum’s foundation in 1971. Specifically, the Qing imperial wares are primarily gifts from the B. Y. Lam Foundation, the early pottery and Ming and Qing hallmarked porcelains come from the Zande Lou Collection, the late Qing imperial wares were donated by Dr Simon Kwan and Mr Anthony Cheung, the zisha and the Shiwan wares are from the Bei Shan Tang Collection’ Taoshi Zhai provided Tang-Dynasty Changsha wares and our export porcelains are acquisitions with funds from the Friends of the Art Museum, CUHK, Prof. and Mrs. Cheng Te-k'un, and Bei Shan Tang. It is our hope that the present exhibition will further facilitate teaching through actual objects and will provide our visitors with an understanding of the development of Chinese culture and history through ceramics.