The British Museum holds the worlds broadest collection of Ming ceramics. Nearly a thousand items are here illustrated, identified, dated and discussed, incorporating the most up-to-date archaeological discoveries and scientific research previously available only in Chinese or specialist journals. Five introductory essays provide an accessible framework. Each of the catalogues twenty chapters is then introduced with a brief summary of its defining characteristics. A wealth of additional information is clearly interpreted and presented in a series of appendices, tables and maps for ease of reference and research by collectors, students and scholars.