Ming Dynasty Emperors

Early Ming Dynasty

1368–1424: Hongwu, Jianwen and Yongle. Zhu Yuanzhang, a rebel leader of peasant origin, drove out the Mongol Yuan and founded the Ming in 1368. He ruled from Nanjing as the Hongwu Emperor until 1398. His grandson and successor, Jianwen, was overthrown in 1402 by his uncle, who reigned as the Yongle Emperor and moved the capital to Beijing.

Hongwu porcelain is best known for underglaze copper red, used more widely in this reign than in any other Ming reign. Under the Yongle Emperor the imperial kilns made thin, pure white wares called tianbai, or "sweet white". They also made blue and white painted in imported cobalt, with characteristic dark, concentrated spots. Yongle reign marks are rare.

After a century of Mongol rule, the court revived the arts on Chinese models. Painters in imperial service favoured large landscapes and narrative scenes that celebrated the new dynasty. The period is described more fully in our article on the early Ming dynasty.

Middle Ming Dynasty

1425–1505: Hongxi to Hongzhi. The Hongxi Emperor reigned for less than a year. His son, the Xuande Emperor, presided over a decade of stability, and the blue and white of his reign is among the most admired of the dynasty. It was also the first reign in which marks were used consistently on imperial porcelain.

In 1449 Xuande's son, the Zhengtong Emperor, was captured by the Oirat Mongols at Tumu. He was restored in 1457 and is known by his temple name, Emperor Yingzong. Porcelain of his two reigns and of his brother Jingtai's is almost never marked, and collectors call the years from 1436 to 1464 the "Interregnum".

The Chenghua Emperor (r. 1464–1487) is famous for small, delicately potted doucai wares, which fill underglaze blue outlines with overglaze enamels. The Hongzhi Emperor (r. 1487–1505) is remembered for a conscientious reign and for fine yellow-glazed wares. Our article on the middle Ming dynasty covers these reigns.

1505–1590: Zhengde to the early Wanli years. Porcelain of the Zhengde reign sometimes bears inscriptions in Arabic or Persian. The long Jiajing reign (1521–1567) brought very large imperial orders, a strong violet-toned blue and many Daoist motifs, reflecting the emperor's devotion to Daoism. The Longqing Emperor lifted the ban on private overseas trade in 1567, and his marks use the character zao in place of the usual zhi. These decades are described in our article on the later-middle Ming.

Late Ming Dynasty

1590–1644: Wanli to Chongzhen. The Wanli Emperor reigned for 48 years, the longest reign of the dynasty. In the 1590s Ming armies helped Korea drive back the Japanese invasions, but in his later years Wanli withdrew from government. War and a weakening administration left the treasury strained. In the north-east, Nurhaci united the Jurchens and in 1616 founded the state that became the Qing.

Harvest failures in the colder climate of the Little Ice Age brought famine, and unpaid soldiers joined the rebel armies. The Taichang Emperor died within a month of his accession in 1620, and the reign of his son Tianqi was dominated by the eunuch Wei Zhongxian. In 1644 the rebel Li Zicheng took Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor took his own life. The Manchus occupied the capital within weeks.

Ming princes kept up their claims in the south until 1662, when the last of them, the Yongli Emperor, was executed in Kunming. Their story is told on our Southern Ming dynasty page.

For collectors the late Ming is the age of export porcelain. Kraak ware, thinly potted blue and white named after the Portuguese carracks that carried it, reached Europe in great quantities. After Wanli the imperial orders dwindled, and the private kilns of Jingdezhen made the freely painted Transitional wares of the Tianqi and Chongzhen reigns. The period is described in our article on the late Ming dynasty. Ming pieces from several periods can be seen in our Ming dynasty porcelain collection.