Guyuexuan was an industrial art originated during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In the Qing Dynasty, vases of many shapes, sizes, and decorative styles were made for daily use in palaces, as well as, in less exalted surroundings andGuyuexuanis one of the most popular ones.

Guyuexuanis decorated in over-glazed enamels in theFalangcaistyle and denotes porcelains with very finely painted enamel decoration and calligraphic inscriptions. It is made by painting on glass roughcast with enamel color and treated with high temperature. Due to high degree of technology difficulty, only small articles such as snuff bottle, cigarette dish were made in the imperial kiln. The main difficulty to makeGuyuexuanlies in that the temperature of enamel is almost the same as the melting point of roughcast. So, the artisan must be able to strictly master the kiln temperature and the thickness of roughcast. To make a piece ofGuyuexuanneeds dozens of coloring and bluing. With even a little neglect, all the former efforts would be spoiled.

Guyuexuanarticles are known for their high quality and rich colors. They are a painted glass requiring numerous firing techniques. Nearly all have artist signatures on the bottom with calligraphy.Guyuexuanarticles are decorated with a design of rocks, bamboo, and roses in a landscape. The rocks have been painted using a variety of colors, while the roses have been painted with only one shade of translucent pink enamel. The style of painting used on the roses was only possible because of major technological developments in enamel-making, which enabled the production of the pink, which is based on colloidal gold, and the production of enamels that did not flow when fired. These stable enamels permitted the ceramic decorator to achieve various densities of the same shade by applying the enamel in different thickness. The decorator was also able to reserve the outlines of the flower petals rather than painting them in a contrasting enamel color.

In the past, there were three explanations for the name ofGuyuanxuan. The first one was that in the reign of Emperor Qianlong (r.1736-1796), there was a small room namedGuyuanxuan;the second one was thatGuyuexuanwas a kind of refined glassware made by an artisan with the surname of Hu; the third one said there was noGuyuexuanin the history at all, and the name was just fabricated by merchants of antiques for commercial purpose. In recent years, another saying emerged, according to whichGuyuexuanwas actually enamels painted on porcelains. All these sayings are lacking in reliable theory and real object proofs and do not hold much water.Guyuexuanis still an enigma that museums and the community of industrial arts cannot explain.