圣杯是耶稣受难前在最后的晚餐上使用过的一个葡萄酒杯子。如果能找到这个圣杯而喝下其盛过的水就能返老还童、死而复生并且获得永生。在耶稣死后,这件宝物不知所终,许多人为此孜孜以求。16至18世纪,欧洲传教士在他们的书信、著述和游记中留下了大量有关中国瓷器的书写。尽管这些记述有打探中国陶瓷秘密之嫌,但不可忽视的是,传教士们还借助瓷器泥造火烧、胎体洁白等物性,凸显了这一尘世之物的宗教维度,正如美国学者罗伯特·芬雷所洞悉的:“然而若论背景动机,主要却在宗 The Holy Grail is a wine cup used on the Last Supper before Jesus suffered. If you can find this Holy Grail and drank the water it has been able to rejuvenate, resurrection and life. After the death of Jesus, this treasure did not know the end, many people sought for it. From the 16th to the 18th centuries European missionaries left a great deal of writing about Chinese porcelain in their letters, writings and travel notes. Although these accounts contain the suspicion of inquiring into the secrets of Chinese ceramics, it should not be overlooked that the missionaries also highlighted the religious dimension of this earthly object by means of the properties such as porcelain clay burning and carcass whitening. Just as the American scholar Robert Fen Ray of insight: ”However, if the background motives, mainly in the case