The British Museum holds the world’s broadest collection of Ming ceramics, now published for the first time in its entirety. Nearly a thousand items are here illustrated, identified, dated and discussed, incorporating the most up-to-date archaeological discoveries and new scientific research previously available only in Chinese or specialist journals. Five introductory essays provide an accessible framework. Each of the catalogue’s twenty chapters is then introduced with a brief summary of its defining characteristics. A wealth of additional information, much of it never before gathered together, is clearly interpreted and presented in a series of appendices, tables and maps for ease of reference and research by collectors, students and scholars.