Liebermann Pottery has discovered and fallen deeply in love with contemporary Chinese Porcelain. We collect hand-decorated examples of blue and white Ming dynasty style porcelain decor in great quantities and variety, which are displayed in our Johannesburg and Cape Town galleries.
We are gradually finding some very interesting antiques, such as old famille rose bowls that have languished in the back of some rural pottery for years, much as some of our own creations do in our warehouse, covered in dust and forgotten until somebody finally notices them.
The bulk of our porcelain collection is made up of hand painted cobalt blue Ming dynasty style wares, somewhat thicker than the traditional Chinese wares. They are produced specifically for the Japanese market (where thicker wares are more in demand, because of the long-standing indigenous stoneware tradition).
We stock porcelain temple jars, vases, bowls, tea bowls, teacups, plates, tea pots and many other interesting examples of porcelaneous Asian decor.
The history of Chinese ceramics in general dates from the Neolithic Age to the present day, and over the centuries, innumerable kinds of ware have been created.
Porcelain's earliest predecessors appeared during the Tang Dynasty, when porcelaneous wares derived from Northern Celadon at the end of the Six Dynasties Period were created. We stock modern, blatantly reproductive copies of some of the most famous examples of original Tang dynasty Wares, such as hand-carved vases, Bactrian camels, horses, musicians, court ladies and others.
In addition we have one of the largest collections of contemporary hand-carved celadon porcelain in South Africa. These works are extremely finely crafted and display dragons, peonies, phoenixes and other motifs in delicate celadon hues on traditional v-shaped bowls and plates.
Another major part of our porcelain collection in both Johannesburg and Cape town is the modern Republic ware, which is characterized by a lack of decoration, very fine walled wares, immaculate pure whites, maroons, royal blues, mustard yellows and celadon greens.
For a comprehensive overview of the history of Chinese porcelain, please go to the New World Encyclopedia .
And if you are interested in the difference between a real antique and a fake, you may want to look at this interesting webpage comparing two vases: http://www.realrareantiques.com/yuan-dynasty-antique-chinese-porcelain-vase/