Bai Ming is one of China's contemporary ceramists with a growing international reputation, and well placed to document the history of porcelain making in China's porce lain capital of Jingdezhen, where he himself worked for more than ; decade. With an explanatory text ii both Chinese and English and an extensive photographic record of the whole production process in all its variations, this book should be welcomed by art historians and potters alike. A brief description of the area surrounding Jingdezhen is followed by an illustrated account of the quarrying and processing of the porcelain clay. The greater proportion of local raw materials are refined industrially but to be able to throw with the raw material, which has been likened to throwing with feldspar, it needs to be refined in the traditional manner. I am pleased to see the potters of the Ancient Kiln Porcelain Factory recorded, where in the past I met three generations in a family of potters working side by side, but sadly now bereft of all but a few of its craftsmen since being turned into a museum.
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