The Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami presents a historic survey of the development of Chinese ceramics from the Neolithic Period (ca. 7000 BCE to 1700 BCE) to the 21st century drawn entirely from its permanent collection. The exhibition will be on view through September 2nd, 2007 at the Lowe Art Museum.Including more than 190 objects, the exhibition is divided into three distinct sections: pottery, stoneware, and porcelain. Within this framework, the exhibition will trace the growth of the ceramic art form in China. It will address the development of the clay body, and the application and use of surface decoration, including paint, incising, carving, appliqué and glaze. From earliest times, the Chinese have been blessed with an abundance of raw materials, quite literally at their feet that produced a wide range of splendid pottery from the Neolithic Period through much of their historic period. They also discovered, in the late Neolithic Period, just below their feet, a true clay that could withstand high firing temperatures and when decorated, glazed, and fired at a temperature over 1200° C, was impervious to liquid. The Chinese have, over time, become so linked with ceramics that we call this product, no matter where it seems to be produced, “China.” Among the many examples in the exhibition are glazed towers from the Han Dynasty (220 BCE-220 CE), guardian figures and a horse from the Tang Dynasty (618-906), large burial urns from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), a full zodiac grouping from the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), as well as a range of splendidly decorated porcelain from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).Many of the decorative techniques we have come to appreciate, like the application of underglaze cobalt blue or overglaze enameling, first developed by the Chinese, will be featured. The Chinese discovered as early as the late first millennium BCE that by applying low levels of iron oxide from 1-3% they could produce a green glaze, called “celadon” in the West—a light green glazed stoneware that was highly prized throughout Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. In fact, it was in Europe that the term “celadon” was first coined. The exhibition also includes a fifteen minute video documenting the current porcelain manufacturing process at the famous kilns of Jingdezhen in South China. It will also include didactic panels and 19th century illustrations of the ceramic manufacturing process from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. A 150 page fully illustrated color catalogue accompanies the exhibition and will be for sale in the Museum Store.