The List of Dated Porcelains

Starting in 2020 during the Covid lockdown, Katharine Butler, assisted by three PhD students and Teresa Canepa, undertook an ambitious project to find and document every piece of Chinese porcelain in the world inscribed with a date between 1550 and 1722. For this they started with the list of 189 pieces that Sir Michael had compiled for the catalogue of the 1990–92 exhibition of the Butler Collection which travelled to twelve museums in the United States

Scouring auction catalogues and museum databases, getting tips from collectors and dealers and relying on more recent publications and dissertations, the research so far has found over 430 dated porcelains.

This database is an ongoing and collaborative project which we plan eventually to make accessible online. We encourage anyone who wishes to participate in the research or reap its rewards to register here to be involved.