Using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) to determine the provenance of the cobalt pigment of Qinghua porcelain from Jingdezhen in Yuan Dynasty of China (1271–1368AD)

The provenance of cobalt mineral of the blue decoration in Yuan Qinghua porcelain would reveal the technological and cultural interaction between ancient China and the Islamic world. However, the limitation of conventional methods in the determining trace elements of the blue decoration hampered the deep research on provenance of the cobalt mineral. In the paper, we employed the good advantage of Laser-ablation-inductively-coupled-plasma-mass-spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) to determine the major element and trace elements of blue decoration of the different type of Qinghua successfully. The blue decoration of all different types of samples shared the same characteristics of higher FeO and lower Mn, which suggested the potter adopted the non-native cobalt material of China to paint the Yuan Qinghua in Jingdezheng, and the difference on the outside appearance of blue decoration of different samples were supposed to be related to the tenor of ore, the different treatment process of cobalt material and the firing process in the kiln. In addition, the significant differences on the element concentrations of Cu, Ni, Pb, Zr and Sb in the blue decoration between Yuan Qinghua and the Islamic blue and white wares of 13–14th century provided a new evidence to discuss the provenance of the cobalt of Yuan Qinghua porcelain.