Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Ceramics of Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties with Novel Style

The celadon of the Tang Dynasty, Yue kiln celadon has the largest production scale and the highest quality, ranking first among the major kiln series.The central kiln of Yue Kiln is located in the Shanglin Lake area of ​​Zhejiang Province (formerly under the jurisdiction of Yuyao County, now under the jurisdiction of Cixi County).According to archaeological surveys, more than 100 kiln sites were found.Dongqian Lake in Ningbo is also a huge kiln group that produces Yue kiln celadon.Yue kiln production is mainly concentrated in Yuyao, Cixi, Shangyu, Ningbo, Yinxian, Shaoxing, Linhai, Huangyan, Xiangshan and other places.These areas belonged to Yuezhou in ancient times, so they are called Yue Kiln Celadon.The Yuezhou region has a long history of porcelain production and may be the birthplace of my country's celadon.As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the production of primitive celadon began. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, celadon production developed rapidly and reached a certain scale. From the Han Dynasty to the Southern Dynasties, it entered the early celadon stage, and the porcelain handicraft industry was very developed.By the Tang Dynasty, the craftsmanship had matured.

The celadon products of Yue kiln are very rich, including bowls, plates, plates, pots, bottles, cans, water bowls, spittoons, bowls, spoons, lamps, printing boxes, powder boxes, epitaphs, etc.Its carcass is relatively delicate, the glaze color is greenish green, or yellowish in green, crystal clear and moist.Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty listed Yue Kiln as the top kiln in the Tang Dynasty in the "Tea Classic".Yue Kiln produced a large amount of celadon and was very popular in Tang Dynasty society.Due to the exquisite workmanship, many famous poets such as Pi Rixiu, Lu Guimeng, Gu Kuang, Meng Jiao, Lu Tong, Zheng Gu, Xu Yin, Han Yu, etc. wrote poems and recited them.Lu Guimeng described its color as "thousands of emerald greens" in the poem "Secret Color Yue Qi"; The poem "Yu Mi Color Tea Cup" describes its shape as "knocking out the bright moon", "lightly swirling thin ice", and describes its glaze color as "ancient mirror with broken moss", "tender lotus with dew" (both quoted from "Complete Tang poetry").These verses highly summarize the achievements of Yueci.

Yue kiln celadon became a treasure cherished by the royal family due to its excellent craftsmanship and beautiful texture in the late Tang Dynasty, and it was called "secret color porcelain". In 1987, Shaanxi archaeologists discovered thousands of pieces of gold, silver, jewelry and silk under the pagoda of Famen Temple, a famous temple in Tang Dynasty in Fufeng, Shaanxi.These porcelains are called "secret color" porcelain in the inscriptions. This discovery revealed the true appearance of the secret color porcelain that has been famous for thousands of years.This batch of works is exquisite in texture, light green in glaze color, and crystal clear in luster, which can be called a masterpiece.

During the Five Dynasties, the Qian Liu family of King Wuyue, who ruled Zhejiang and Jiangsu separately, designated some high-tech workshops in Yue kilns as "tribute kilns", specializing in the production of daily utensils needed by the upper class of the ruling group.At the same time, these famous porcelains were used for political transactions, and they paid tribute to other powerful separatist forces around them, including the Zhao Kuangyin regime in the Song Dynasty, in exchange for peace for a while.The tribute included secret color porcelain. Yue kiln celadon is not only of good quality and elegant glaze color, but also has beautiful decorations. For example, in the early Northern Song Dynasty, small flowers, flowing clouds, lotus, chrysanthemums, flying butterflies, birds, clouds in fairy mountains and seven sages in bamboo forest were carved with skillful line carving skills. Ji, Ruan, Gaoshi and other characters.Some works are also decorated with gold color, or wrapped with gold flakes on the mouth, so-called "gold button porcelain", "gold and silver decorated pottery", "gold edge secret color porcelain" and so on (Fig. 5 [1-5]).

Wu [wu Wu] state kiln.The Jinhua area in central Zhejiang is another important porcelain-producing area.Kiln sites from the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties were found here.The Tang and Five Dynasties were the most prosperous times for the porcelain industry in this area.In addition to Jinhua, the regions producing the same kind of porcelain include Quzhou City, Lanxi, Yiwu, Dongyang, Yongkang, Wuyi and other places.This area belonged to Wuzhou in Tang Dynasty, so it was called Wuzhou Kiln.Lu Yu ranked Wuzhou celadon third in "The Classic of Tea".During the Tang and Five Dynasties, Wuzhou celadon had many similarities with Yue kiln celadon. The difference was that Wuzhou celadon was generally thicker in texture, darker in color, dark gray or purple brown in color, thicker in glaze, and strong in glass quality. In addition, there are dots of milky white and cow hair-like patterns in the glaze layer.This is the difference between it and other celadon in Zhejiang.After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the phenomenon of milky white star spots and cow hair patterns disappeared in the lobes.

Ou kiln.Wenzhou, Yongjia, Ruian and other places in the southeast of Zhejiang Province were also important porcelain-producing areas, and belonged to Ou Kiln in the Tang Dynasty.Ou Kiln was also influenced by Yue Kiln to produce celadon.These celadons also have many similarities with Yue kilns, but they are different from Yue kilns in that: the carcass is thinner, the wall is thinner, and the glaze layer is also thinner. The glaze color is light green, warm and moist like jade.The Ou kilns in the late Tang and Five Dynasties produced many fine works.On the whole, the level of Ou kiln is higher than that of Wuzhou kiln.