Bilingual Ceramic Glossary of Damage and Condition Terms
Chinese-English glossary with English explanations
| This bilingual ceramic glossary is intended to help collectors reading Chinese with the comparison of English and Chinese terms related to ceramic items. |
| Chinese | English | Description / Cause |
| 磕,磕傷 | chip | piece chipped off |
| 沖 | hairline | fine crack running from rim (glaze and body), caused by knocking |
| 紋 | hairline, crack | crack of either glaze or both glaze and body |
| 開片 | crackles | caused by different expansion/contraction rates of clay and glaze |
| 黏沙 | adhering sand | impurities from ash or sand in the kiln adhering to glaze, mostly at the base |
| 斑點 | spots, dots | spots appearing in the glaze from mineral or other chemical elements |
| 漏釉 | missing glaze | glaze material did not cover all parts before firing |
| 磨釉, 傷釉 | scratched, damaged glaze | |
| 惊釉 | small crackles | small-sized crackling caused by external conditions, etc. |
| 釉泡 | glaze bubbles | develop during firing, open up under external force |
| 剝釉 | glaze peeling off | glaze peeling off as it is not adhering firmly to body |
| 縮釉 | glaze contraction | glaze contraction |
| 炸釉 | temperature cracks | cracks caused by different expansion rates of clay body and glaze |
| 爆釉 | shallow spot of missing glaze | shallow spot on surface (incl. decoration) missing glaze |
| 磨口 | ground mouth | grinding of vessel mouth |
| 脫釉 | loss of glaze | |
| 磨底 | ground bottom | level grinding of bottom |
| 截口 | sawn mouth | mouth of damaged vessel sawn off |
| 蟑 螂咬 | flea bites, rim fritting | very small chipping |
| 毛邊,毛口 | mouth, rim missing glaze | mouth with all glaze fallen off due to glaze damage |
| 重皮 | glaze unstable | latent instability caused by knocking; although item still looks complete body and glaze are already separated; any touch can cause the glaze to fall off |
| 棕眼 | minute bubble holes | minute holes from bubbles that burst in the kiln |
| 傷彩 | worn decoration | wear or damage to color decoration |
| 后加彩 | newly painted decoration | new decoration painted on old porcelain body |
| 鑿傷 | chiseled surface | caused by excavation tools |
| 失亮 | dull glaze | dull glaze due to item's long-term use |
| 崩釉 | natural crackles | crackles developing naturally over long periods of time |
| 軟道 | miniscule scratching | miniscule scratches from long time polishing |
| 脫彩 | loss of decoration | ldecoration is gone due to long-term use or long interrement |
| 窯傷 | kiln damage | |
| 炸底 | cracked bottom | cracks in bottom glaze or going through the ceramic body, caused by knocking |
| 水鏽 | rust spots | rust spots caused by water exposure in the soil (gray, yellow, iron red or verdigris colored chemicals adhere to surface) |
| 磨款 | mark ground off | mark removal by grinding |
| 土蝕 | soil degradation | |
| 窯封,窯裂 | glaze separation | separation of glaze from the ceramic body in the kiln |
| 窯粘 | adhering material | adhering of material because of two items touching in the kiln |
| 窯縫 | body split | splitting of ceramic body in kiln |
| 缺碴 | missing fragment(s) | |
| 粘傷 | glue repair | repaired using glue |
| 复燒,复窯 | second firing | |
| 煙熏 | smoking | age faking method |
| 配腿 | repairing legs | repairing or adding missing legs |
| 翹棱 | warping | warping of ceramic body leads to a non-round mouth or uneven bottom |
| 炸紋 | cracks (incl. spider cracks) | cracks on body caused by knocking |
| 凸心 | convex bottom | bottom curved upwards |
| 凹底 | concave bottom | a soft bottom curving down in the kiln; as a result the foot rim is higher than the bottom |
| 串煙 | smoking, oxidation in kiln | smoking or oxidation caused by kiln fire leads to a transformation of part or all of the glaze: black, gray, yellow color |
| 補釉 | chip glazing and firing | adding glaze to a chip and firing it |
| 蕎麥地 | miniscule black dots in glaze | black dots in the glaze created from flying dust or ash in the kiln; impurities in the glaze covering a part or all |
| 黃溢 | impurities showing through glaze | impurities in the clay showing through the thin glaze |
| 假出土 | fake excavation | feigning an ancient item by first burying it and excavating it under the visitor's eyes |
| 鑲嘴流 | replaced spout | |
| 火石紅 | red firing color | reddish firing color of unglazed bottom |
| 后作陽文款 | later engraved mark w/glaze | later engraved mark with glaze |
| 后刻陰款 | later engraved mark | later engraved mark |
| 糊米底 | scorched bottom | |
| 火燒 | altered appearance | alterations caused by firing at a later time |
| 鋦傷 | staple repair | old repair
type using staples along
the break line instead of glue |
| 鋦,補釘 | staple(s) | |
| 污水浸泡 | unremovable staining | black stained ceramic body caused by contact with dirty water |
Translation © Chinese-Antique-Porcelain.com