China's researchers adopted artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the gene bank to accelerate the restoration of ancient ceramics from more than 15,000 fragments in Jingdezhen City of east China's Jiangxi Province.
Jingdezhen, known as China's "porcelain capital," has produced ceramics for more than 1,700 years. Beneath the city's famed masterpieces lie layers of broken fragments several meters thick, consisting of flawed imperial ceramics and damaged folk products. A restored Ming Dynasty dragon-decorated vat, standing about 75 centimeters tall, was pieced together from more than 100 broken porcelain fragments. Based on the number of unearthed fragments, at least 40 such vats existed at the site, though experts note the actual total may be higher due to lost fragments over time.
AI has enhanced the efficiency in the most challenging part of ancient ceramic restoration -- the selection of fragments. Compared with the traditional manual method, AI avoids causing secondary damage to the fragile porcelain pieces.
"Ceramic restoration is a long process involving many steps, including assembly, cleaning, and complementary restoration. What AI is currently doing is helping us with the assembly, which is the most challenging part. I believe its accuracy rate has already reached a very high level. Next, we plan to further improve its performance metrics, and at the same time expand the 3D spatial coverage of the dragon-decorated vat," said Weng Yanjun, head of the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Institute.
In the final step, Weng said the fragments will be shaped into several complete dragon-decorated vats.
Inside the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Institute, rows upon rows of grey metal cabinets house thousands of transparent drawers filled with ancient ceramic shards. Together, they form the world's first ancient ceramic gene bank -- a database that stores broken pottery like DNA.
The researchers selected tens of thousands of specimens across multiple sets from the 20 million shards unearthed at the site, and assigned them unique "digital ID cards".
An international platform for ceramic culture exchange is rapidly taking shape in Jingdezhen, bringing together scholars and institutions from more than 20 countries and regions.
AI, gene bank accelerate restoration of ancient ceramics from over 15,000 fragments
For more than 1,000 years, Jingdezhen, the "porcelain capital" in east China's Jiangxi Province, has shaped how the world understands porcelain, with even discarded shards preserving a living tradition.
Weng Yanjun, president of the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Institute, reflected on the scale and challenge behind Jingdezhen's historic creations.
"When I look at this gigantic dragon jar, I couldn't help going back to 600 years ago, when the emperor had this order to create something bigger than ever before. The failure rate of the dragon jar is so high. It could be nine out of 10. Even making failure products like this takes courage, takes techniques and takes commitment," said Weng.
Those failed attempts, once discarded, now preserve the evidence of how Jingdezhen pursued perfection.
For more than 1,000 years, Jingdezhen's porcelain industry has endured through the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties (960-1911). What has survived is not only its porcelain, but also a living heritage of raw materials, workshops, kilns and specialized craftsmanship.
Those firings produced masterpieces as well as failures, with the discarded pieces forming another kind of archive.
At the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Institute, Weng told archaeology students that fragmented specimens sometimes provide more information than complete artifacts.
Weng leads the development of the world's first Ancient Ceramics Gene Bank, which extracts and catalogs the defining characteristics of each ceramic shard.
"For our institute alone, we have excavated more than 20 million pieces of shards for the past over 1,200 years. Among those shards, we do sorting, we do restoration, and we do scientific tests. And then we find, wow, a small shard can tell us much more information than even a whole piece," said Weng.
Using a standardized sample library and unified data framework, the project records each piece's shape, decoration, body material, glaze, color, firing marks and inscriptions, creating a valuable resource for authentication and research around the world.
"The whole city is a wonderful lab and space range makes Jingdezhen uniquely a wonderful example of how the handicraft ancient industry with porcelain as the focus survived even to today," Weng added.
Jingdezhen once helped establish benchmarks for how porcelain was made. Now, the gene bank is turning fragments into a language that can be read beyond the city. For French artist and researcher Yann Colleu, learning to read that language has also changed the way he creates.
"Since my childhood, my parents had these teapots, tea sets, plates and cups. I was very curious about the pattern, like the meaning, what was behind it? Actually when I discovered in Jingdezhen that it was a bat, because of 'fu' and 'fu' is fortune, but also you have the 'wufu,' like the five blessings. I was like a child with stars in the eyes, discovering the world for the first time," said Colleu, PhD candidate at Jingdezhen Ceramic University.
What once seemed abstract became part of Yann's own visual language. In his work, traditional Jingdezhen motifs and production scenes are reimagined through a contemporary, cross-cultural lens.
"Jingdezhen is a timeless city. The past, the present and even the future are tied together. This is one of illustration of 72 traditional steps developing during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The difference is, instead of using Chinese characters, I use foreigners. I want to use the past to talk about the present and even the future with Jingdezhen," said Colleu.
The Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on Saturday. The inscription recognizes not just a single kiln or masterpiece, but an entire production system, from its archaeological remains and traditional craftsmanship to its industrial knowledge and global influence.
Porcelain shards preserve Jingdezhen’s timeless legacy
