Blue and White

High-Fired Porcelain Earrings with Underglaze Blue and Liquid Gold Detailing

A circle of white porcelain. A brush loaded with cobalt touches the center, and the pigment blooms outward — not controlled, not contained — finding its own way through the glaze like ink through water.

Blue and White is the name and the tradition. For over seven hundred years, the word "qīnghuā" has meant one thing across the world: the blue that lives beneath the glaze on Chinese porcelain. Cobalt pigment, hand-painted onto white porcelain before glazing, sealed under transparent glaze, and fired at 1260°C — where the color sinks into the glaze and the glaze fuses with the body, and the blue becomes permanent, untouchable, eternal.

Here, the tradition is distilled to its essence. A single rounded disc of white porcelain, its edges carrying the gentle irregularity of something made by hand. A hand-painted cobalt bloom radiates from the center — the pigment allowed to bleed and diffuse naturally under the heat of the kiln, producing a halo that no mechanical process could replicate. A fine line of liquid gold traces the edge, framing the white and the blue with warmth. The contrast is ancient and immediate: the cool depth of underglaze blue against the warm gleam of gold, both rooted in the same Jingdezhen ground.

Key Features

• Underglaze blue — Cobalt pigment hand-painted on white porcelain, sealed under transparent glaze, fired at 1260°C; permanent and fade-proof
• Natural cobalt diffusion — The pigment is allowed to bleed and spread naturally during firing, producing soft halos and graduated edges unique to each piece
• High-fired white porcelain — Porcelain body with transparent glaze, vitrified at 1260°C into a smooth, luminous, glass-like surface
• Liquid gold edge detailing — Hand-traced liquid gold along the rim, low-temperature baked (700–850°C)
• Seven centuries of heritage — Blue and White is the most recognized Chinese ceramic tradition in the world, continuously practiced in Jingdezhen since the Yuan Dynasty 

Materials & Specifications

Technique Heritage

• Underglaze Blue — Qinghua — The most iconic decorative technique in Chinese ceramics, and perhaps the most recognized ceramic tradition in the world. Cobalt pigment is ground from cobalt ore, mixed with water, and hand-painted onto the unglazed porcelain body. A transparent glaze is then applied over the painted surface, and the piece is fired at 1260°C. The result: blue sealed beneath a glass-like glaze layer — vivid, permanent, and impossible to scratch away.
• Qinghua first emerged in Jingdezhen during the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), when potters discovered that cobalt ore from domestic and later imported sources produced an extraordinarily stable, brilliant blue under high-fire conditions. The technique reached its artistic zenith during the Yongle and Xuande periods of the Ming Dynasty (early 15th century), when imperial kilns produced pieces that remain among the most valuable ceramics in existence. From Jingdezhen, Blue and White porcelain traveled west along the Silk Road and east across the seas — to Persia, to the Ottoman court, to Europe, where it inspired Delftware, Majolica, and an entire aesthetic revolution. The word "china" became synonymous with porcelain because of qinghua.
• Natural Cobalt Diffusion  — When cobalt pigment is painted onto porcelain and subjected to the intense heat of the kiln, it does not stay precisely where the brush left it. The pigment diffuses slightly into the surrounding glaze — a phenomenon known in Chinese ceramics as yùnsǎn, meaning "halo diffusion." Far from being a flaw, this natural bleeding is one of the most prized qualities of hand-painted qinghua: it produces soft edges, graduated tones, and a sense of depth that mechanical decoration cannot replicate. Each firing yields a different pattern of diffusion, making every piece unique.
• Liquid Gold Detailing — Liquid gold is hand-painted onto the already-fired glaze surface and baked at 700–850°C. During baking, the organic resin in the gold liquid burns away, leaving a thin metallic film bonded to the glaze — the same finishing technique found on Meissen, Hermès tableware, and Royal Copenhagen.

Care

• Avoid direct contact with perfume, lotion, or chemicals
• Store separately to prevent scratching
• Remove before swimming or bathing
• Clean gently with a soft dry cloth

Part of the TaoTianXia collection — entirely handcrafted in Jingdezhen, each piece one of a kind. Our ceramic artistry has been chosen for diplomatic gifting, trusted by over 70 Fortune Global 500 companies, and featured at New York's Grand Central Terminal.