Where does the history of Jingdezhen’s porcelain start? Perhaps surprisingly, this is not generally considered to be a vexed question; most narratives begin with the bestowal of the name of the Northern Song reign period (Jingde, 1004–1007) on the town (zhen). Choosing that date as starting point for the history of Jingdezhen’s porcelain is, however, also misleading. It creates the teleological impression that from that point on, Jingdezhen travelled on a path that inevitably led to becoming the world’s preeminent site of ceramics production, and it suggests exceptionality where there is none. In its account of the period between 1000 and 1200, this chapter shows that the goods produced in Raozhou prefecture (where Jingdezhen was located) were not unique but competed with goods from numerous other sites. Moreover, the history of Jingdezhen’s porcelains is not the history of a single town, but the history of a web of connections that linked geographical spaces, natural resources, and human skills. The history of Jingdezhen’s porcelains should begin with the emergence of that web of connections: a network that made the production of Jingdezhen’s ceramics possible.

This chapter explores the emergence of blue-and-white porcelain in Jingdezhen. This has often been told as a global story that included cobalt from Central Asia, arriving in China by means of Islamic merchants who circulated throughout Eurasia, as did consumer demands from Central Asia. The emergence of cobalt blue decorations on the large dishes that were popular in the eating practices of the steppe and in Central Asian societies is often seen as a story of regional adaptation to global tastes, but this chapter adds a local dimension. It argues that the production of blue-and-white ceramics benefited the circulation of local technologies, especially the application of metal-based pigments onto the unglazed surfaces of ceramics to create line-drawings and brush-painted decorations. That process started in the northern kilns, especially in the wide region in which Cizhou and Cizhou-type ceramics were manufactured. Over time, the kilns in the south also started to apply painted decorations with brushes under the application of the glaze, as objects, ideas and people moved southwards. Jizhou played a key role in the transmission and circulation of materials and technologies.