When kilns were first divided into the categories of official and private, their functions were less discrete. In the early Ming Dynasty, an official kiln might supplement its output by providing a private kiln with its designs and contracting work out to them, which suggests that the work produced by private kilns was of a similar quality to that of official ones. Sometimes, the two delineated kilns vied for the market, and in the mid-Ming Dynasty, in order to protect the image of imperial products in competition with the more experienced private kilns, the government began to intervene, and private kilns were gradually relegated to an inferior status.

In 1447, the government decreed, "Private production of yellow, purple, red, green, blue and white-blue porcelain in Raozhou Prefecture of Jiangxi shall be banned... Violators will be sliced to death and their family properties confiscated, and male family members exiled to the frontier." The Qing Dynasty specified that the use of dragon and phoenix patterns was exclusively for the imperial family and that any violation would carry the ultimate penalty.

In such a harsh social environment, private kilns had to find their own way of keeping in business. A few financially and technically strong kilns produced wares suitable for the higher social classes by simulating official products or duplicating the works of noted kilns of previous dynasties, but the majority produced goods for the daily use of the masses. Their products were durable with thick bodies and simple designs. However, the real value of private kiln porcelain lay in its painting, which had a decisive influence on traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy.

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