Ceramics artists in the UK are looking back to China's 'golden age' of pottery and finding plenty of inspiration for a range of new, experimental works

An operator of a ceramic art gallery from Jingdezhen shows visitors Chinese designs used for making ceramics at an exhibition during the International Ceramics Festival in July at Aberystwyth on the coast of West Wales. Christine Payne for China Daily

A thick layer of clay dust coats Jessie Lee's work tables and shelves. Her studio abounds with vases and pots, but pride of place goes to a ceramic candlestick decorated with lotus flowers and a Chinese dragon coiled around the neck.

"I've kept it for 40 years. It was my first piece of work," says the 67-year-old Malaysian-born British ceramics artist, speaking at her studio in High Wycombe on the outskirts of London.

"My teacher told me to make something, so I made the dragon candlestick. The Chinese influence was strong when I started to learn about pottery in the 1970s," she says, contemplating the dragon with its piercing claws, surrounded by trailing clouds.

Made from a material that was virtually unknown in Europe until the 1500s, Chinese porcelain caused a sensation in 16th-century Europe, and collecting fine works become popular among the wealthy. By the 18th century the fever had spread to others.

Chinese porcelain, especially the famous blue and white ware, changed people's ideas of beauty, and the enormous demand encouraged European potters to try to replicate art works from the East. The influence of Chinese ceramics continues to inspire artists to this day.

"Chinese porcelain is extremely famous in the West, especially the wares made in Jingdezhen. Almost the entire collection of Chinese porcelain in the British Museum was made in Jingdezhen," Lee says, referring to China's ceramics capital in Jiangxi province. "For British potters, Jingdezhen is the place."

When she visited the ancient city in 2011, Lee was impressed to discover that the ancient pottery-making skills hadn't died out. She saw a man coil a pot simply by walking around the vessel.

"The pot was nearly a meter tall and too big for the wheel, so the man held a lump of clay and moved around at a certain pace so that it looked like he was dancing around the pot," she says. "It was an old way of making pots and was very beautiful. I was inspired and made a smaller coiled pot when I came back."

Last year, Lee returned to Jingdezhen for more inspiration. This time, she cut clay with a stretched coil spring to produce shapes such as waves and ripples.

"The local landscape inspired me. I could hear and see the streams the whole day and the whole night," she says. "Traditional Chinese artists also observe nature and then return to their studios to work."

Left: British ceramics artist Jessie Lee and her first work of pottery, a candlestick she made 40 years ago. Right: Mia Sarosi, a ceramics artist based in Oxfordshire, and her blue and white porcelain works at an exhibition at Art in Action at Waterperry Gardens. Photos by Peng Yining / China Daily