Made in China: Export Porcelain from the Leo and Doris Hodroff Collection on View at Winterthur

WILMINGTON, DEL.

:With tongue in cheek, Winterthur has headlined its latest ceramics exhibition "Made in China" - a label all too familiar to modern consumers. From a modern age when Americans would be barefoot and unkempt without inexpensive Chinese shoes and hairdryers, visitors are brought back to the time when having Chinese Export porcelain on the table was a sign of wealth and status.

"In choosing the title 'Made in China' - which is stamped on so many cheap goods that come into the country now - I want people to understand that the Chinese have a long tradition of making things for the Western market," points out assistant curator of ceramics Ron Fuchs II, who put together the exhibition and wrote the accompanying catalog in collaboration with David S. Howard. "I want people to gain an appreciation of the beauty of Chinese Export porcelain and to recognize how skilled the potters were and how prized these pieces were because of their exotic origins in Asia."

The 150 examples on display through May 15 are all gifts or loans from the collection of Leo and Doris Hodroff. Through the couple's generosity, Mr Fuchs is the dedicated curator for the Hodroff holdings at Winterthur, and he notes, "It's one of the largest private collections of export porcelain in existence right now." The museums in Minneapolis, Minn., and Palm Beach, Fla. - cities where the collectors live - have also benefited from their gifts, but Winterthur has been singled out because of its focus on the decorative arts.