HOME  | ASK  | FORUM  | FORUM ACCESS  | MARKS  | SEARCH  | GLOSSARY  | CHRONOLOGY  | SHIP  | BOOKS  | FOR SALE Gotheborg.com Antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Collector's Help and Info Page This is a Collectors Help and Info Page for other Collectors of antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain. It offers an extensive archive of translated and dated Japanese and Chinese porcelain marks, a Glossary on Pottery, Porcelain and Ceramic Art terms, Chinese porcelain history articles and documents, Chinese travelogues, tons of pictures and Question & Answer pages, and a very large and very active porcelain collector's Discussion Board and research archive, see below. Towards a small donation you can also ask for personal help. To just search and read this site is for free while there is a small fee for becoming a full member of the Discussion Board. For some authenticated antique porcelain for sale, you are also welcome to our Collection section. To find your way around on this large site, use any of the available search boxes, the navigation panel to the left or, the drop down box menue below. Or, you can just scroll down this page and start reading. Quick jump to main sections: *** choose section *** Ask a Question Discussion Board Items For Sale 100 Best Books Marks Identifications Advanced Search Glossary of Terms Site Sponsors Discussion Board Membership =============== Swedish Gotheborg III Ship =============== Or, if you need personal help on some porcelain related question, you can contact me directly for a quick e-mail consultation. Most welcome to Gotheborg.com Jan-Erik Nilsson		FOR SALE Jade pendant ... [ Read More ] [ Log-in ] Jade Bi pendant disc ... [ Read More ] [ Log-in ] Jade Bi pendant ... [ Read More ] [ Log-in ] Song dynasty Qingbai bowl ... [ Read More ] [ Log-in ] Jade Bi pendant disc ... [ Read More ] [ Log-in ] Armorial plate with the initials of Sven and Ulrica Wimnell, c. 1765 ... [ Read More ] [ Log-in ] Jade Bi pendant disc ... [ Read More ] [ Log-in ]
Quick Chinese and Japanese Porcelain e-mail consultation If you need a quick personal consultation on any Chinese porcelain related question you might have, you are welcome to e-mail me personally at chineseporcelaininfo.com as an alternative to signing up for the Discussion Board. Click here to Ask A Question.	Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Marks Marks section, with more than 1400 translated and dated Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Marks. Illustrated, dated and translated. Click here to go directly to Chinese Marks, and here for Japanese marks.
The Gotheborg Discussion Board The Gotheborg Discussion Board, a friendly collector's community with a large research database approaching 200,000 pictures and messages organized into more than 70 different topics. Here collectors meet to combine their various expertice to create the widest possible knowledge resource in this difficult field of collecting. Here you can ask anyone for help, provided that you are prepared to help others, when you can. You will gain knowledge about your own porcelain which makes collecting more fun and your collection more valuable. You will meet people with the same interest that you have and eventually make friends for life. The board is non-commercial and no advertising is allowed which is why we need a small membership fee to keep it going. To become a full member; go to the Membership page, 1. create an account and 2. activate your account by paying the fee. The number of pictures and privious messages in archive is approaching 200,000, so you will find that a lot of information is already available by a few searches. Towards a $25 membership fee you can participate and ask any number of questions you like for a whole year. Visit Discussion Board Excerpts from our ten most recent posts: Today 12:11am Could this be Chinese? The dragon has 5 claws. Thanks, Sally ... Today 12:11am Dear All, many of you were right, Victor was the first one to mention Def ... Today 12:10am Hello, I got this dish from my mother. It looks Japanese. The glaze is th ... Today 11:36pm Michaela, If it's new to you, I think it will remain a mystery. Thanks ... Today 11:26pm Hi David, Welcome to the group, I hope you find it fun and helpful. Your b ... Today 11:21pm Michael, Yes, we have been aware of this for sometime now but your informat ... Today 11:18pm Dear Clare, I agree with Wayte, your nice plate is Kutani and I date it fr ... Today 11:10pm Thanks Giovanni, Thank you. The color is an ivory white tone, unless I am c ... Today 11:08pm Dear Tinker, Just a bit of update. According to my sources (runners an ... Today 10:54pm Dear Dave, sorry if the discussion is going far from your horse, but what T ...
Glossary of Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Terms Glossary of Chinese Pottery and Porcelain Terms, Decorations and Symbols. More than 520 terms explained and illustrated. The glossary is constantly updated. Click here to go directly to the Glossary.	Q&A Porcelain Info Section Large Q&A Porcelain Info Section with pictures of Chinese and Japanese porcelains, popular styles, shapes and decorations. Please see Ask a Question on how to summit your own questions. For collectors with a wide interest in learning and discussing Chinese and Japanese ceramics, please also consider a full membership of the Discussion Board.
The history of the Swedish East India Company Trade, ships, wrecks, ceramics and Marine Archaeology. On-going and past.	100 Best Books An ever growing list of recommended books on Japanese and Chinese Pottery and Porcelain. There are definitely more good books around, my point is just to tell that in my view; these books deserves a place in any collector's library.

Letters of Père d'Entrecolles 1712 and 1722

The Letters of Père d'Entrecolles (1664-1741) here for the first time translated, commented and available in full on-line.

Being a French Jesuit missionary while spending some time in Jingdezhen Father d'Entrecolles got to know the porcelain industry of the early 18th century well. His reports was sent to and published in Europe in 1712 and 1722.

These two Letters of Pere d'Entrecolle are the most important accounts we have on the Chinese porcelain manufacturing of the late Kangxi period during the two first decades of the 18th century.

Frank B. Lentz visit to Jingdezhen November 1920

In the early 20th century, in November 1920, immediately after that the Chinese Empire had fallen and the Imperial Porcelain Factory had been turned into a modern factory, Frank B. Lenz visited Jingdezhen. The report was published together with photographs by the author in the November issue of The National Geographic Magazine.

This entire article is available here.

Twenty Illustrations of the Manufacture of Porcelain by Tang Ying, 1745

This is the full text from the document called "Twenty Illustrations of the Manufacture of Porcelain" , written on Imperial command in 1743. The author is Tang Ying, the celebrated superintendent of the Imperial Porcelain factory in the Jiangxi province during the years 1736-1753.

The translation was made by S.W. Bushell in 1899. Since the original pictures from 1743 has been lost the text is accompanied by pictures where applicable, taken by me in 1991 and 1992 when I had the privilege of spending a few weeks in Jingdezhen together with Professor Bo Gyllensvärd.

A keen understanding of the ancient methods of porcelain potting is essential for the recognition of fakes and modern replicas which is why I publish this section on how the antique Chinese porcelain actually was made.
Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson 1991, 1992

Visit to the Shiwan [Shekwan] kilns and Fushan city, near Canton (Guangzhou) 2006

During 2006 I have the pleasure that together with the Gotheborg III Ship project friends and co-founders Anders and Berit Wästfelt visit Guangzhou and taking the opportunity to travel to the little known but very important city of Fushan and the Nanfeng kilns in Shiwan.

Welcome to visit Shiwan with me.

China and Sweden - Porcelain Exhibition in Beijing, 2005

During September to December 2005 an exhibition of Chinese pottery and porcelain was held at the Wumen Exhibition Hall, Palace Museum (Gugong) in Beijing.

The exhibition focused on 18th century Chinese porcelain exported to the West but highlighted Neolithic pottery and some Imperial wares, from a rare example of ruyao, to Qianlong in Export porcelain in Swedish collections.

Welcome to browse the on-line version of the catalog, here courtesy of Gotheborg.com.

The ship Gotheborg, arriving to Guangzhou 17th July 2006

The 17th of July 2006 the rebuilt replica of the first 'East Indiaman Gotheborg' arrived from Sweden to Boca Tigris in the Pearl River delta outside Canton, to later pass the old anchorage at 'Whampoa' to come to rest opposite the White Swan Hotel in the center of todays Guangzhou (Canton).

During the last part of the trip HRH the King and Queen of Sweden joined the crew on-board.

The entire project of recreating an 18th century Swedish East Indiaman and sending her to China again and back was all started as a private project by a small group of enthusiastic professionals, based on the excavation of the original East Indiaman Gotheborg.

Since I was one of them, here is my story on how the whole project started and some of what the research has yielded so far ...
[ PROJECT ] [ ARRIVAL IN GUANGZHOU ]
Jan-Erik Nilsson

Visit to the City of Canton, 2006

In July 2006 the rebuilt Swedish East Indiaman 'Gotheborg' finally arrived in Canton. Since I had the pleasure to be very much involved in the starting of the project, as one of my personal musts when it arrived I really wanted to explore the City of Canton and see if I could navigate it, by using this rare export porcelain dish as a map...

The dish in itself is from the latter part of the 18th century, possibly around the 1780s and but I feel portrays a city where the European factories were not yet there.

The source for this painting is not known, but in the collection of the China Castle in Stockholm, Sweden, dating to the 1740s there is an album leaf which shows a high degree of similarities. [ more ]

Visits to Jingdezhen 1991 and 1992

Only a few yards from this spot at the river banks of the Chang River, flowing through the city of Jingdezhen, the Chinese Imperial kiln was built during the Yuan dynasty.

The production grew and continued here during the entire Ming and Qing dynasty. At this very spot the porcelain was loaded onto the same type of small boats as you can see on the picture, to be sent out all over the world, from the 13th century and onwards almost up until today.

For the last 1000 years all kinds of Chinese porcelain shards and kiln debris has been dumped here as the city grew. So much in fact that the city of Jingdezhen are now resting on a thick layer of it, 30 feet deep or more in places. Click here to visit my report from Visits to Jingdezhen 1991 and 1992
Text & Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson.

Visit to Singapore and Hong Kong, March 2001

During March 3-12, 2001 I had the pleasure of visiting Singapore and Hong Kong. The purpose of the visit was to deepen my understanding of the Straits Chinese Porcelain and the related culture.

I also wanted to study 19th and 20th century Chinese porcelain, products of less known "provincial" trade porcelain kilns in Southern China, and to get a first hand impression on the trade in antique Chinese porcelain fakes, to visit several important scholars and collectors in the area, to learn and to take part of their specific knowledge.

Here is a short travel report to summarize some of my thoughts. Click here to read the report from my Visit to Singapore and Hong Kong, March 2001
Text & Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson.

Visit to Sten Sjöstrand off Tioman Island, Malaysia, Sept. 2001

In September 2001 I got an invitation to visit the base camp of Sten Sjöstrand's marine archaeological and salvage expedition in Malaysia. I did and I am back. After a much needed shower and some rest I put together the following report.

I got to see piles of Si-Satchanalai (Sawankhalok district, Sukhothai) pieces, still in storage from the excavation of the Royal Nanhai 16th century cargo of Celadon ceramics - plus the very reason of my visit - a surface sample collection from the recently discovered 19th century and possibly "Straits Chinese" cargo. Now that can't be said to have been the case, but it was interesting anyway.

Click here to read my letter to the gotheborgList after my Visit to Sten Sjöstrand off Tioman Island, Malaysia, Sept. 2001
Text & Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson.

Visit to the ancient city of Malacca, Malaysia, May 2002

In May 2002 I mentioned to some friends in Singapore, that I was planning to visit Southeast Asia again to among other things visit the very important historic trade city of Malacca on the west coast of Malaysia,

The pace of life in Singapore is fast and one hour later I got a call back. Everything was arranged. They would take the day off and if I could sleep for four hours after arrival in Singapore we would leave for Malacca by car at 4 am in the morning, so we would lose the morning traffic and have better driving temperature and that it would only take some three hours of driving anyway ...

So, I arrived after some 20 hours of air flight from Sweden via Amsterdam. A few hours later I was whisked off to Malaysia - still fast asleep - to wake up to breakfast and Kopi-O (black coffee without milk) just a few hundred meters from where a beautiful Ming princess and her tourage was set ashore to marry the Sultan of Malacca some 500 years earlier. Which was one of the reasons why I wanted to see this place ...
Click here to follow me to Malacca, Malaysia, in May 2002.
Text & Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson.

Antique Chinese Porcelain Questions and Answers

Q&A Porcelain Info Section with pictures of Chinese and Japanese porcelains, popular styles, shapes and decorations. This is a sample selection of JE Nilsson's replies to email'ed in questions. These plus Glossary and Marks section are all searchable via the Search box. Please see Ask a Question on how to submit your own questions. For collectors with a wide interest in learning and discussing Chinese and Japanese ceramics, please also consider a full membership of the Discussion Board.

---

Antique Japanese Porcelain Questions and Answers

The Ms. Sam Armijo Legacy; on: Occupied Japan

Collector's Letters to the Editor