Qingbai / Yingqing Glaze

Names

Qingbai (青白, “blue-white”) and Yingqing (影青, “shadow blue”) are two names for the same glaze. Where the glaze pools in carved or moulded lines it deepens to a pale blue-green, so that decoration appears and recedes as the light changes.

Hutian and the Song dynasty

Qingbai was a characteristic glaze of the Hutian kilns at Jingdezhen during the Song dynasty. Its luminous, jade-like presence lends itself naturally to restrained forms such as lotus petals.

Later relations

According to the maker, rice-yellow glaze originated in an unintended colour change during Qingbai firings.