Then & Now | Green-glazed ceramic tiles and decorative items make a comeback, but their quality and colour can’t match Canton-glaze wares of old
- Deep green ‘Canton glaze’ ceramic tiles, pilasters and other decorative items, once commonplace in Southeast Asia, are back in demand for building restorations
- Kilns hundreds of years old in Foshan, southern China, used to export Canton-glaze wares widely, and still turn them out, but lost skills mean lower quality
Right across maritime Asia, including Hong Kong, pottery pilasters with a characteristic deep-green gloss, known as “Canton glaze”, were once a commonplace design feature.
Mostly used to support veranda railings or exterior staircases, or form decorative parapets along roof ledges and garden fences, and once almost too ordinary to notice, these are now regarded as heritage features.
Resurgent popularity in building restorations from Penang and Malacca to Macau and the Pearl River Delta have led to a corresponding increase in their availability.
Besides pilasters, rows of green-glazed, Canton-glaze flowerpots and plant stands, attractively arranged along veranda parapets, terrace edges and the top of garden walls were also ubiquitous. Private gardens across South China were once famed for the use of green-glazed materials.
Glazed pottery in other colours – mostly buff and deep cobalt blue – was also produced, but deep Canton green was the predominant variety; in time, this hue became most closely associated with homes and gardens in South China, Macau and Hong Kong.