Illustration of Ceramic Production

Under orders of the Qianlong Emperor, the court artists Sun Hu, Zhou Kun, and Ding Guanpeng worked together to paint the album “”Producing Ceramics,”” which was completed in 1743. The paintings are arranged in the order by which ceramics is made according to the Supervisor of Ceramics. Not only does this album reveal the process by which official wares of the Qianlong reign were made, it also quite closely matches the procedures followed in the art of ceramics from the modern perspective. The album shows the clear system of labor division practiced at the Qianlong official kilns, and it demonstrates how much the Qianlong Emperor cared about the firing of official wares.