Liulizhi 琉璃志

Liulizhi 琉璃志 is a short book on glass, enamel and cloisonné written during the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Sun Tingquan 孫廷銓 (1613-c. 1664), courtesy name Bodu 伯度, from Yidu 益都, Shandong. He hailed from a family of glassmakers and was thus very familiar with the production process.

The text was published in 1665. It is included in the Sun's book Yanshan zaji 顏山雜記 (with the chapter title Liuli 琉璃), and in the series Zhaodai congshu 昭代叢書 and Meishu congshu 美術叢書.

The book comprehensively and systematically documents the glass enamel techniques in the township of Yanshen 顏神鎮, the centre of northern China's glass and enamel production at that time. The book is divided into seventeen sections, covering topics such as raw materials, colouring, firing temperatures, colour matching, products, craftsmanship, tools, blowing techniques for glasswork, and historical references.

The book also explains a unique decoration technique of the time, namely enamel coating. This involves the application of coloured glass fluid to the base of a vessel according to a pattern. The artist then uses jade-carving techniques to carve various patterns into the coloured coating and thus creates vessels decorated with two or more colors. During the Qianlong reign-period 乾隆 (1736-1796), this type of liuli decoration spread abroad, where it was known as "Qianlong Enamel" (Qianlong liuli 乾隆琉璃). The book provides a detailed and thorough description of this technique. Many specialized terms and techniques used in the text still have great practical value today.