Blue & White Porcelain: legacy of the Islam

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As the Yuan Empire was founded as a unified country of the Eurasian Continent, China underwent fundamental changes in its porcelain culture. Following the Mongolian custom of favoring white-colored cloths, white china was accepted as the imperial household’s tableware.
Islamic people who were assimilated into the great empire brought cobalt blue pigment to China, ushering in an era when potters could paint pictures on the surface of white china with brushes. “Qinghua Baici,” the blue and white porcelain, is estimated to be the best invention in the history of china. It was made in China in the 14th century, but it has strong traces of the influence of Islamic civilization.
The Islamic people who brought cobalt blue pigment to China gave full play to their genius by drawing a variety of figures and patterns on the surface of the chinaware as they liked. It was a cultural amalgamation created on the chinaware. Join us to see what brought about the inevitable fate.

Vanished Palace and Its Guards

The Citadel of Aleppo still rises high in the ancient Syrian city of Aleppo. The KBS team found it completely ruined. This is the Hill of Crosses in Muhi, a small Hungarian village, where 60,000 soldiers were buried. The atrocities were committed by the Mongolian troops who came from the Central Asian steppe seven centuries ago. The Mongols built the greatest empire in history. What kind of people were they? They still teach martial arts to five-year-old kids to nurture them into brave people. Join us to meet Genghis Khan of 1,000 years ago through a traditional event called Nadam Festival.

Jingdezhen, Ancient Porcelain City

Jingdezhen is an ancient Chinese porcelain city. More than 30 percent of its population of 500,000 is engaged in pottery. Since it was designated by the Yuan Dynasty as a state-run pottery town, several of China’s top-class potteries are still in business. How was Jingdezhen, an ordinary pottery of the Song Dynasty, given the honor of a state-run pottery town? Join us to see the process of digging up clay and refining it at a mine near Jingdezhen, and learn how present-day pottery masters carry on the old technology of producing china in kilns.

Iberian Peninsula Conquered by Islam

The Alhambra is an ancient palace in the southern Spanish city of Granada. It is a legacy left by an Islamic kingdom that reigned in this region for 700 years. At the entrance to the palace, there is a picture of a palm describing Koran teachings. And inside the palace, there is a large jar that symbolizes Islamic culture. As King Boabdil left the Iberian Peninsula, all the pagans went back across the Mediterranean Sea. But the technology of producing china was spread by the Islamic culture up to Northern Europe via Italy. Islam thrived as an intermediate civilization in the medieval times. What did it leave behind?

Blue and White (Qinghua) Porcelain: Joint Production of Islam and China

“Cheolhwa-Yongmun” white-porcelain jar of the Joseon Dynasty has been auctioned off at the highest-ever bidding price at Christie’s. The porcelain may have been highly priced for its rarity given that iron pigment is a unique material that can hardly survive a high temperature of 1,300 degrees Celsius. As such, Chinese and Joseon potters knew about the china-producing technology, but failed to paint patterns on chinaware because they did not know how to produce pigments. Right at that time, West Asian cobalt blue pigment was introduced to China. How and why did China import cobalt blue pigment? Join us to learn about the close cooperation between China and the Islamic world, which led to the birth of blue and white (Qinghua) porcelain, and its significance.

Origin of Floral Arabesque Design

Since the Yuan Dynasty, floral Arabesque design has been mostly used on the blue and white porcelain. It is a pattern of an endless repetition of leaves and stems of plants in a circular shape. What was its origin and when was it first painted on porcelain? The KBS production team explored an Egyptian tomb of the thirteenth century B.C., the Greek Temple of Erechtheum, the Church of Moses in Jordan, and the Dunhuang Caves to find the origin of the floral Arabesque design. We have found out how this Islamic design contributed to the decoration of the Umayad Mosque in Damascus, Syria and the Blue Mosque in Isfahan, Iran.

Expeditionary Fleet Voyages Led by Muslim during Ming Dynasty

The Yuan Empire came to an end in just 100 years. The Ming Dynasty organized an expeditionary fleet of some 100 ships in order to announce to the world the beginning of a new dynasty. Zheng He, the Chief Eunuch of the Palace and a muslim, led the fleet. How was he assigned to such an important mission by the new empire? Where did his expeditionary fleet sail to? Join us to retrace the voyages of the Zheng He Fleet based on the fragments of unearthed Qinghua porcelain and historical records.