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Fitzwilliam Museum presents exhibition of contemporary porcelain from Jingdezhen

Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge presents an exhibition of contemporary porcelain from Jingdezhen on view through 1 April 2013.

Caroline Cheng, Prosperity (White) © Caroline Cheng

To mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, The Fitzwilliam Museum is showcasing the first major exhibition in this country of more than 80 works created in Jingdezhen by over 50 contemporary ceramicists. Comprising technically brilliant works ranging from the traditional to the avant- garde, the exhibition explores Jingdezhen’s legacy, and looks at what it means for artists working there today.

The city of Jingdezhen in Southeast China has been producing porcelain for almost 2,000 years. From the eleventh century until 1912 when imperial rule in China came to an end, it produced porcelain to order for emperors, their households and officials in successive dynasties. Porcelain from Jingdezhen– known to be ‘white as jade, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, clear as a bell’ – was in such demand by Europe’s elite that it became known as ‘white gold’.

This special exhibition reveals a tale of incredible craftsmanship, industrial espionage of trade secrets and conspicuous consumption on a grand scale. Featuring some of the world’s foremost porcelain ceramicists and works never before seen in the UK, including a number of specially commissioned pieces, it really is a ‘must see’. – v