Chinese porcelain Sang de Boeuf with purple flame vase, 18th century Qianlong mark; The 6 character mark at the ...

Chinese porcelain Sang de Boeuf with purple flame vase, 18th century Qianlong mark; The 6 character mark at the bottom is not clear: it is either or Qianlong (1711-1799) or Jingdezhen kiln mark; Height: 6.4 inch = 16 cm; Weight: 11.5 oz. = 325 g; Condition: no defects, normal wear at the bottom. Provenance: private collection in USA Jingdezhen ware (Chinese: ?????) refers to ceramics, particularly Chinese porcelain, produced in the vicinity of Jingdezhen in southern China. Jingdezhen may have produced pottery as early as the sixth century CE, though it is named after the reign name of Emperor Zhenzong, in whose reign it became a major kiln site, around 1004. By the 14th century it had become the largest center of production of Chinese porcelain, which it has remained.[1] From the Ming period onwards, official kilns in Jingdezhen were controlled by the emperor, making imperial porcelain in large quantity for the court and the emperor to give as gifts. Although apparently an unpromising location for potteries, being a remote town in a hilly region, Jingdezhen is close to the best quality deposits of petuntse, or porcelain stone, in China, as well as being surrounded by forests, mostly of pine, providing wood for the kilns. It also has a river leading to river systems flowing north and south.[2] It has produced a great variety of pottery and porcelain, for the Chinese market and as Chinese export porcelain, but its best-known high quality porcelain wares have been successively Qingbai ware in the Song and Yuan dynasties, blue and white porcelain from the 1330s, and the "famille rose" and other "famille" colours under the Qing dynasty