A Chinese ceramics term, yuhuchunping denotes a distinctive bottle or pear form porcelain vase.

Yingqing, which may be translated as “shadowy blue”, is the modern name given to a utilitarian ceramic introduced into China by the Mongols during the Song dynasty (960 to 1279). Historically called Qingbai (bluish white) ware, it was very thin translucent porcelain made by combining kaolin clay with finely ground porcelain stone. The kaolin provided a true white color for the ware and minimized shrinkage. Although the imperial court was the major consumer of ceramics in the Song dynasty, Yingqing ware was made for the use of the people.

The production of yingqing porcelain was centered in Jingdezhen, a town in the province of Jiangxi in southeast China and a region known for its kaolin deposits. These craftsmen produced great quantities of Yingqing porcelain during the 10th through 13th centuries. Common as it was in its time, its every day utilitarian usage has resulted in only rare examples surviving to the present day.

Yingqing porcelain was made into the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1655) period, but beginning in the 14th century the potters of Jiangxi began to add more kaolin to their clays producing a stronger ceramic called luanbai (eggshell white) ware because of its opaque glaze. This production did not last long, but it did introduce a period of great experimentation with differing clays and glazes to create the exceptional ceramics for which the Ming Dynasty is known.

Reference note by p4A editorial staff. December 2011.

Founded at Verbilki, near Moscow, by the Englishman Francis Gardner in 1766, and known for its hard paste porcelains, the Gardner factory served as important competition for the Imperial Porcelain Factory, spurring artists at both institutions to produce more complicated wares in terms of both form and decoration. One of two porcelain works in Russia during the 18th century, The factory was situated in the Gjelsk region where local clay, which proved suitable for porcelain, could be used. Gardner started with a German manager called Gattenberg, who later joined the Imperial Factory, and he employed a well-known German painter, Kestner. But these and other foreigners taught many Russian craftsmen, principally serfs, who gradually replaced them, as soon as they had mastered the various techniques; so that the number of foreigners employed in key positions steadily diminished in course of time. The factory was operated by the family for three generations until 1891, when it was taken over by Kusnetzoff.

The Gardner Factory made lesser quality wares for export and higher quality pieces for the capital trade. In 1777 the Empress Catherine teh Great commissioned the Gardner Factory to produce four dessert services for the receptions held in the Winter Palace. Each service included plates, round and long leaf-shaped dishes, baskets of various sizes for fruit, and a variety of ice cups. Among its other notable works were colored figurines of Russian subjects in unglazed biscuit porcelain.

Gardner porcelain had a wide variety of marks in the 140 years of its existence. Different shapes of the Latin letter G, painted underglaze in blue or black, were most frequent in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Occasionally the mark is similar to the Meissen crossed swords with a star. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century the full name of the factory, impressed either in Cyrillic or Latin characters, becomes more frequent. In the second half of the nineteenth century the mark is usually the Moscow St George and Dragon crest, surrounded by a circle, bearing the full name of the factory, at first impressed, and later painted in green or red. In the last decades of the factory’s existence the double-headed eagle was added to the design, and this elaborate mark continued after the Gardner firm had been absorbed by Kuznetsov.

Made in eastern Germany during the late 19th century, these porcelain steins – many of character form – were marked “Musterschutz” – a German term literally translated as “copyrighted” or “patent-protected”. These steins were originally made by the firm of Shierholz & Sohn in the city of Plaue. In 1989 the German firm Rastal began to reproduced these steins from original factory molds. Their work was of high quality and faithful to the earlier pieces. As they bear the same marks as the originals, the newer steins can be difficult to distinguish from their antecedents. Among the Musterschutz steins reproduced in this manner are “The Gooseman of Nurnberg”, “Caroline”, “Uncle Sam”, “Stag with Monocle” and “Kaiser Wilhelm I”.