Principal Component Analysis of Chinese Porcelains from the Five Dynasties to the Qing Dynasty

This is a study of the possibility of identifying antique Chinese porcelains according to the period or dynasty, using major and minor chemical components (SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , K 2 O, Na 2 O 3 , CaO and MgO) from the body of the porcelain. Principal component analysis is applied to published data on 66 pieces of Chinese procelains made in Jingdezhen during the Five Dynasties and the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is shown that porcelains made during the Five Dynasties and the Yuan (or Ming) and Qing Dynasties can be segregated completely without any overlap