An 18th-century teapot. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Determining the age of ceramic specimens has been a pivotal issue for archaeologists and researchers at museums, as well as antiquities brokers. Not only does it require extensive knowledge of relevant fields but also, it needs the help of scientific methods, such as the commonly used radiocarbon dating and rehydroxylation (RHX) dating.

The Institute of High Energy Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences recently signed a cooperation agreement with Hong Kong's Royal Heritage Ceramics Authentication Ltd. The company will provide financial support so that the institute could further the dating research on its collection of some 10,000 ceramic samples and improve the RHX dating method. And the research progress will be shared with the company for providing charged authentication services.

The RHX dating method is developed based on the fact that a ceramic specimen gains weight during the RHX process.