[1] Qingbai ware is white with a blue-greenish tint, and is also referred to as Yingqing ("shadow green", although this name appears only to date from the 18th century).
[2] It was made in Jiangxi province in south-eastern China, in several locations including Jingdezhen, and is arguably the first type of porcelain to be produced on a very large scale.
[4] Qingbai ware was made with a white porcelain body, fired with a glaze that produced a slight blue-green tint.
The vase was then mounted with a silver handle and base, transforming it into a ewer and transferred as a gift to his Angevin kinsman Charles III of Naples in 1381.
A record auction price was paid for a statue of a seated Guanyin, which raised HKD 25,300,000 (USD 3,267,338) at Christie's in Hong Kong in 2011.
Makers of Qingbai ware achieved this translucency by using a fine-grained porcelain stone that naturally contained kaolin, and that supported thin-walled vessels.
Kaolin, one of the most common clay minerals, gives the porcelain the true white color and allows for minimal shrinking of the vessel, but seems not to have been added, at least at Jingdezhen in the earlier wares.
[14] In addition to the advances in chemistry that allowed the creation of thin-walled vessels, Qingbai is distinguished by its smooth, glassy glaze, achieved by using a small amount of iron in a reduction fired kiln.