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A gem of Chinese ceramics, eggshell china is remarkable first of all for its extraordinary thinness. Yet it is appreciated also because it is spotlessly white, translucent, and sonorous when tapped. It is made mainly into bowls, vases, cups, lampshades and articles for use in the study. Whatever form it assumes, one may appreciate through its paper-thin wall the colored painting on the other side. Like watching the moon through flimsy clouds, or green hills through a thin mist with the beauty enhanced by a veiled effect. The “eggshell” has as its forerunner yingqingci (shadowy celadon), which was produced as early as in the Northern Song Dynasty (906-1127). Present-day production excels the past in both quantity and quality. Recent successes at Jingdezhen include a 75-cm-tall vase and a large bowl 25.7 cm across, sizes though impossible to mould in eggshell china in the past.

To make such “insubstantial” utensils, an exacting craftsmanship is needed. It requires the best and carefully selected kaolin, mixing of ingredients according to strict prescriptions and repeated tempering of the clay, before the potter moulds the paste into bodies. Then a master craftsman will wield various cutting tools to shape them finely into eggshell thinness and have them fired in the kiln at a high temperature of over 1,300℃.

Of these processes, the most difficult part is fine molding, which finalizes the form of the utensil. A veteran master, relying solely on his sense of hearing and touch, decides on the thickness of the wall, holding his breath when he applies his knife, as slight slip would result in a ruined body.

Eggshell porcelain is not for use by t for interior decoration and it is deluxe ornament, too, for a small bowls of the Yongzheng Period (1723-1735) o the Qing Dynasty, now displayed in the palace Museum (forbidden city), are literally priceless. No wonder all eggshell china, whether in museum or in private collection, is as a rule exhibited under a glass cover.