Thousands of porcelain fragments buried for centuries beneath the\nformer Chinese imperial kiln complex are beginning to find their\nmatches. Researchers in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, are using\nartificial intelligence (AI) to speed up the restoration of dragon\nvases, one of the most difficult types of large porcelain to produce and\nrestore.<\/p>\n
The technology helps researchers sift through more than 15,000\nfragments found in a Ming Dynasty stratum at the Jingdezhen imperial\nkiln site. Work that previously relied heavily on human observation and\nmemory is now reinforced by algorithm-based matching and a database of\neach fragment\u2019s characteristics.<\/p>\n
Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday (29\/7\/2026) that the\nJingdezhen Imperial Kiln Institute team spent nearly 40 years manually\nmatching and restoring three dragon vases. After adopting AI, the team\nis said to have restored the equivalent of one and a half vases in less\nthan two months.<\/p>\n
The comparison shows a dramatic acceleration at the matching stage.\nHowever, the report does not specify whether the scope of work, level of\ncompletion, and conservation stages were entirely identical between the\nmanual and AI-assisted restorations. AI is mainly used to identify\npossible connections between fragments, not to take over the entire\nrestoration process.<\/p>\n
The breakthrough came only days after the Jingdezhan Craft Porcelain\nIndustrial Site was officially inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage\nList on Saturday (25\/7\/2026), during the 48th session of the World\nHeritage Committee in Busan, South Korea. UNESCO recorded the site as a\nserial heritage property comprising five components, reflecting the\ndevelopment of porcelain production from the 10th to the 19th\ncentury.<\/p>\n
Only Five in 100 Made the Cut<\/p>\n
Dragon vases are large porcelain vessels made specifically for the\nimperial court during the Ming Dynasty (1368\u20131644) and the Qing Dynasty\n(1644\u20131911). Their name derives from the dragon motifs depicted moving\namong clouds on their walls.<\/p>\n
Their large size made the shaping process intricate. The porcelain\nclay had to be precisely formed, dried without cracking, painted,\nglazed, and then fired at high temperatures with a considerable risk of\ndeformation.<\/p>\n
According to the Xinhua report citing Jingdezhen researchers, only\nabout five out of every 100 finished vases passed imperial quality\ninspection. Vases that were cracked, deformed, off-colour, or judged\nbelow standard had to be destroyed and buried near the production site.\nRejected items were forbidden from circulating among the public.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ai-restores-dragon-jars-in-two-months-a-task-that-took-40-years-1785390806", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }