Trade Taste and Transformation: Jingdezhen Porcelain for Japan, 1620 – 1645

In the final decades of the Ming dynasty, the potters of Jingdezhen produced blue-and-white porcelain, kosometsuke, and an underglaze-blue and polychrome porcelain ware, ko’akae, for the Japanese market, particularly for use in the popular tea ceremony. Chinese decorative themes and manufacturing standards were transformed to accommodate traditional Japanese forms and aesthetics. This is the first study in the English language devoted to this export ware. It surveys the designs and shapes of kosometsuke and ko’akae, explicates the rebuses and symbolic references in the decoration, and describes its use in the tea ceremony.