Imperial models: technology and design in state-controlled porcelain manufacture in early modern China

ABSTRACT This paper explores the formation of networked ceramic factories before the mid-eighteenth century in early modern China. Enquiring into the role of the state and private entrepreneurs in production innovation and design, it explores the notion of a ‘factory’. In the context of large scale traditional production in East Asia, I periodize the evolving organizational structure of China’s model of ceramic production and discuss two aspects of the state’s negotiation with regional commercial kilns: 1) the impact on kiln structures and the exploitation of raw materials such as porcelain stones and colour pigment, and 2) an early modern design system which simultaneously regulated aesthetic forms, technological experiments, and fiscal planning.