Reinterpreting Jingdezhen Porcelain Aesthetics in Contemporary Design: Findings from a Qualitative Multi-Source Study.

Abstract

 Jingdezhen porcelain constitutes a major system of Chinese material culture in which vessel form, decorative symbolism, colour, glaze, craftsmanship, and philosophical meaning are closely integrated. Contemporary design has expanded the visibility of this heritage, but it has also encouraged superficial copying that preserves recognizable imagery while weakening cultural meaning. This article reports the principal findings of a qualitative case study examining how traditional Jingdezhen porcelain aesthetics are interpreted and transformed across contemporary design. The final analytical corpus comprised 65 archival sources, 15 traditional porcelain works, 15 contemporary cases, 30 completed visual-analysis protocols, and semi-structured interviews with 13 designers, ceramic artists, and cultural experts. Visual, semiotic, thematic, comparative, and cross-source analyses were combined. Five interconnected dimensions defined the traditional aesthetic system: formal harmony, symbolic motifs, colour traditions, material refinement, and cultural meaning. Six recurring reinterpretation strategies were identified: abstraction, simplification, recontextualisation, hybridisation, material and technical adaptation, and the deliberate balancing of tradition with innovation. Across product design, contemporary ceramic art, interior and decorative design, and experimental digital practice, abstraction and simplification were the most pervasive strategies, while recontextualisation and hybridisation extended porcelain aesthetics into new functions, media, and spatial settings. The findings show that successful fusion depends less on reproducing external historical forms than on translating their internal aesthetic logic and symbolic function. An integrated framework is proposed in which design semiotics mediates between heritage sources, transformation strategies, contemporary applications, and evaluation through aesthetic integration, cultural continuity, and contemporary relevance.