The color blue is used in almost all Ming porcelain. The doucai method, made with a blue underglaze, was popular during the Chenghua period. The method involved using a mixture of contrasting colors, all fired over the blue underglaze. The polychromatic enamels used over the blue were yellow, green, aubergine-purple and red, though blue remained the predominant color. The addition of the other colors created a fresh, jewel-like effect. Small, well-made wares often were painted in doucai and included painted figures, plants and animals, sometimes against smatterings of landscape.
Wucai was used in different presentations during the Jiajing, Xuande and Hongshi periods. The colors of wucai were similar to doucai - primarily red, yellow, green, blue and purple. Black or red overglaze sometimes replaced the still-used blue underglaze. Dragons, flowers and fish were popular subjects for wucai. The color yellow had imperial meaning and was used in bold designs of fruits and flowers with a blue underglaze between the Xuande and the Jiajing reigns.
The quality of the color blue improved during the Jiajing period. Ware makers created “muhammadan” blue, a rich, saturated purplish cobalt that was used in the Jiajing and many later reigns. A strong bluish cast would run through a thick, smooth, glassy glaze on the imperial pieces of these periods. In later periods, Ming porcelain makers would oxidize pieces during firing, creating a thin, reddish veneer. Copper would oxidize into various shades of green.
Chinese porcelain exports expanded during the Wanli period. Large numbers of blue and white porcelain were produced for export. This porcelain gained the name kraak ware when the Dutch captured two ships carrying such porcelain. The word kraak comes from the Dutch interpretation of the Portuguese word for a merchant ship, carrack, like the Chinese ships they seized. All wares of the late 16th century came to be known as kraak ware. The blue in kraak ware often was applied as a wash and tended to be watery and thin.