This autumn, the Ashmolean celebrates the millennial anniversary of the most successful and renowned kiln centre in China. The exhibition presents highlights of the Museum's collection to illustrate the development of Chinese porcelain from Jingdezhen, throughout the past 1000 years.

The eleventh century, during the Song dynasty (960-1279), saw the flourishing of China's ceramics industry. As opposed to the innovative styles of the north, provinces such as Jiangxi produced high quality consumer goods. The province's local raw material was pure porcelain stone originating from ancient volcanic ash deposits across East Asia, southern China and Southeast Asia. This, combined with available wood fuel in the surrounding hills of Jingdezhen, and access to river systems used for ransporting goods, helped to establish the town's porcelain industry.

In the mid-fourteenth century, some years before their conquest of China, the Mongols established the porcelain bureau. During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) it became the site of the imperial kilns, which remained at that location until the end of the empire in the early twentieth century. To this day the Jingdezhen Ceramic Research Institute is the foremost centre of innovation in porcelain.

Design changes permeated through the centuries. Qingbai wares, which have cool-coloured glazes with a blue tinge, were made for everyday use and although highly regarded and collectable today, were not cherished at their time of production. During the 14th century, designs incised under the blue glazes were instead painted on to the unfired body in cobalt blue and then covered with a translucent or pale blue glaze. Decades later, these pieces were further decorated with enamel colours. From that point on, improvements in the quality of Chinese porcelain were a matter of refinement rather than innovation, with the exception of glaze experimentation in the eighteenth century. On display are exquisite imperial wares of the Ming and Qing dynasty and blue-and-white and enamelled porcelain that informed the image of China in the West from the 16th century onwards.