Jingdezhen Ceramics on Display

The Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design in Halifax is hosting a preview showing of ceramics from the city of Jingdezhen, China, from June 20 to July 22.

The ceramics are similar to those that will be on display at the international ceramics festival being held at the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, Cape Breton, from July 8 to 23.

For more than 1,000 years the potters of Jingdezhen, in southern China, have produced porcelain. The location is ideal, near the necessary clays - kaolin and petuntse - and on a major waterway. Since the 14th century, the Chinese have shipped blue and white porcelain to world markets. Its thin, translucent quality and exotic motifs made it highly prized throughout Europe and the colonies.

The connection between Chinese porcelain and the Fortress of Louisbourg goes back two and a half centuries to the height of the China trade. The Louisbourg Archaeological Collection holds 69,000 fragments of Jingdezhen porcelain. The small exhibit in the Centre for Craft and Design will include selected archaeological artefacts and reproductions.

The international festival will bring to Canada four renowned ceramic artists from Jingdezhen. The artists will demonstrate the traditional art of porcelain production at the Fortress of Louisbourg daily, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For further information on the festival call 902-733-2280.

The Centre for Craft and Design is located at 1683 Barrington Street, Halifax, and is open Mondays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., from Tuesday to Friday, between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is by donation. For further information call 902-424-4062.