Maximization of the blue-white contrast of ancient porcelain decorations from Jingdezhen imperial kiln by Co-spinel formation

Abstract

By analyzing the chromaticity values of the ancient blue-and-white porcelain combined with the imitated experiment, the color information is quantified and ‘color dispersion’ mechanism is clarified. Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), the advanced focused ion beam transmission electron microscopy (FIB-TEM) technique, etc, were used to study the characteristics and the ‘color dispersion’ mechanism of the blue-and-white porcelain in Jingdezhen imperial kiln. The ‘color dispersion’ of the blue-and-white porcelain is mainly caused by Co-element structure stability, which is verified by the archaeological experiment results. Blue-and-white decoration lines diffusion length (named as ‘color dispersion’) are long (i.e. fuzzy) which has few or no spinel crystals in the body-glaze interaction layer of the blue-and-white porcelain. However, the blue and white porcelain with the clear lines has a large number of spinel crystals. The experimental results enrich the literature on the history of ceramic manufacturing techniques in Jingdezhen.