Song Dynasty

Correlative History: Song's Achievement in Porcelain, Porcelain Exports in Song Dynasty, Jingdezhen
Famous Kilns: Longquanyao Kiln, Hutianyao Kiln, Five Famous Kilns
Shape and Technique: Qingbai Glaze, Yuhuchun Vase, Photochromic Glaze, Double-Gourd-Shaped Vase, Hoop-Handled Pot, Warming Bowl, Gall-Shape Vase, Plum Vase

  Song's Achievement in Porcelain (960-1279 AD)


The Song Dynasty was a golden period of the porcelain development in China, called as "the time for porcelains." There appeared six famous kilns in Ding, Ru, Guan, Ge, Jun and Jingdezhen in the Northern Song Dynasty. The porcelains made then reached a high artistic state all in modeling, glaze and pattern, with its aesthetic style characterized by serenity, elegance and simplicity. The sorts included celadon, white porcelain and black porcelain, and the qingbai porcelain made in Jingdezhen was also wonderful workmanship excelling nature. The official kiln, established in late Northern Song Dynasty, ushered in a new way of change in glaze colors and paneled decoration. The photochromic glaze in green and red was a great creation made by the kiln in Junyao. The Sounthern Song Dynasty was the period seeing mass export of porcelains to overseas, also the period for development from the porcelain in mono-colored glaze to colorful porcelain and fancy glazed porcelain. Many new products appeared including the porcelains in cherry-apple red and in rose purple made in the kiln in Junyao, the porcelain in plum green made in the kiln in Longquan, in addition to such the porcelains in crystal glaze and in opaque glaze as the oil-drop-shaped, the hare-fur-shaped, the francolin-spotted, the hawksbill-spotted and so on. Most of the porcelains made in the official kilns of the Southern Song Dynasty were modeled on ancient vessels in shape, emphasizing on the beauty of glaze color. In order to make the glaze color deep, the body of clay must be thin, thus, thick glaze and thin eggshell was a major unique feature for the products made in the official kiln in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Return

Porcelain Exports in Song Dynasty


China's porcelain exports increased rapidly during Song Dynasty, extending to East, South and West Asia as well as large part of Africa's eastern coast areas. According to Survey of Foreign countries (Zhufanzhi) written by Zhao Rushi in Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 AD), China's porcelains were directly exported to over 15 countries and regions, and they reached far more countries and regions through transit trade. To increase tax revenues, the government established the Maritime Trade Supervisorate in the ports of Guangzhou, Mingzhou, Hangzhou and Quanzhou along the southeastern cost. Historical documents indicate that during the late Shaoxing period (around 1160 AD), annual tax income of the Supervisorates in Guangzhou and Quanzhou amounted to over 2 million mins (each min is 1,000 coins) of cash through taking some percentage of the gain of porcelain export as the administration fee and taking part of income of porcelain export as the gain of co-operation, suggesting a large trade volume at that time. The Song porcelain exports included qingbai porcelain of Jingdezhen, celadon of Longquan, black porcelain of Cizhou, porcelains with scripted pattern of Yueyao, as well as celadon and qingbai porcelain made in Guangdong and Fujian Provinces.

Jingdezhen


Located in the northeastern part of Jiangxi Province south of Changjiang River, Jingdezhen, also named Xinping and Changnan, had its present name in Jingde River of Doung Dynasty (1124-1126 AD). Historical documents indicate that porcelain making began in Jingdezhen since Chen (557-589 AD) of the Southern Dynasties. Jingdezhrn became one of the country's most famous kilns in Song Dynasty for its unique qingbai porcelain which enjoyed wide reputation both at home and abroad. Since Yuan Dynasty, it was considered the China's porcelain capital, being both the largest porcelain production base and distributing center of the country. It also exported lager amount of porcelain overseas. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Fuliang Porcelain Adminstration and official kilns were established in Jingdezhen, pushing the local porcelain production to its peak. Its works in qinghua, colored porcelain and colored glazed ware were all well-know nationwide, rated as treasures of China's cultural legacy.

Longquanyao Kiln


One of the most famous kilns in the Dynasty of Song and Yuan, Longquanyao Kiln was named after its location in Longquan Town, Zhejiang Province. The kiln was specialized in celadon-making arising in early North Song Dynasty, with the products of Dayao and Jincun as its representatives. Its early works took after those of Yueyao and Ouyao Kilns. In the middle period of South Song, the prominent pale-blue-glazed porcelain was maturely made. By the end of Song and during early Yuan Dynasty Longquanyao Kiln reached its peak when the plum-green-glazed porcelain with thin white eggshell and thick glaze was made. Besides the household ware of plate, bowl, saucer, jar, and Zhadou, the kiln also produced water pot (Yu), brush holder, brush pot, and other study utensils and the ware imitating bronze or jade. Among them, Li-type burner (like a Ding), covered jar with design of embossed dragon and tiger, double-handled vase, burner with Eight Trigrams pattern are the typical products. The celadon products in late South Song were of two kinds: those of white eggshell and thick glaze, and the others of black eggshell and thick glaze. The white eggshell was of fine and consolidated texture. Its glaze color was while with grayish blue, among which the most famous were pale blue and plum green. The black eggshell was thin in grayish black, so it was called commonly as "iron bone". It was with green-blue glaze and the glazed surface was mostly with areola pattern. Some products of this kind featured mouth rim showing slightly the brownish purple eggshell. And the bottom of their ring foot was black as that of iron, giving them the vulgo of "Purple Mouth and Iron Foot". There were much in common between Longquanyao's black eggshell porcelain ware and the porcelain ware made by the Jiaotanxia official kiln. After Ming Dynasty, the Kiln gradually declined.

Hutianyao Kiln


A famous kiln in Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hutianyao Kiln is situated in the suburb of today's Jingdezhen City, Jiangxi Province. It is generally thought to be subordinate to the kiln system of Jingdezhen. It started to make celadon and white porcelain in Five Dynasties. In Song Dynasty, qinghua glazed porcelain became the main product, mostly with incising and scripting designs. Their modeling was of rich types including almost all household ware, with warming bowl, cup and saucer, and oil case as the representatives. Its greatest achievement was in the egg-white glazed porcelain and qinghua ware made in Yuan Dynasty. Most qinghua porcelain of Yuan Dynasty used Suqing pigment, taking the big plate with luxuriant and complex patterns as the dominant in the early period, and with stem wine cup, waisted bowl, and small wine cup all with simple, loose, and rough patterns as the dominant in the late period. Qinghua and white porcelains took the lead in Ming Dynasty, but the quality was inferior to that of the official kilns and other private kilns of Jingdezhen. In Jinajing and Wanli Reign of Ming Dynasty, the kiln started to decline.

Five Famous Kilns


The "five most famous kilns" in Song Dynasty are Guanyao Kiln, Geyao Kiln, Dingyao Kiln, Ruyao Kiln, and Junyao Kiln. This remark must have occurred not long ago, because it was not found in the historical documents of Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties. In the book of Sacrificial Ding &Yi in Xuande Reign (Ding and Yi both are sacrifical vessels with inscriptions commemorating worthy men's deeds) written in 1428 (the third year of Xuande Reign, Ming Dynasty), we can find a remark on the so-called "most famous porcelain", "the porcelain collected by the court include those produced in the kilns of Chai(yao), Ru(yao), Guan(yao), Ge(yao), Jun(yao), and Ding(yao)". People later advanced the saying of the five famous kilns probably only because the identity of Chai(yao) cannot be determined. Among these five kilns, Guanyao should include the official kiln of Bianjing (North Song's capital), the official kiln under the Palace Maintenance Office (Xiu Nei Si) and the Jiaotanxia official kiln of South Song. At present , only the Jiaotanxia porcelains can be authenticated. It is still under argument if Geyao V was the product of Song. Ruyao Kiln stands for Ru Official Kiln, not Linruyao Kiln which made civilian ware in Song Dynasty.

Qingbai Glaze


It was the kind of glaze originally created by the Jingdezhen kiln in the early of Northern Song Dynasty, with a low iron content generally around 1 percent. The color of the glaze appeared green hue in white and white hue in green, with the color between green and white, thus it was named. The glaze layer was so thin and sparkling that the veiled sculpted patterns on the inner wall and the outer wall of the work could be seen clearly if the work was made with thin eggshell. After Yuan Dynasty, the qingbai glaze had appeared only slightly green color, rather than as clear as crystal and bright in Song Dynasty.

Yuhuchun Vase

It was named after the verse "Jade pot always firstly feel the coming of the spring (yu hu xian chun), "with everted mouth, thin neck, round belly and ring foot. The body of vase was formed by a curved arc, making an aesthetic feeling of gentleness and symmetry. It was created in Song Dynasty and was followed with rough and short neck and fat lower belly in the late Yuan Dynasty. The modelings were roughly similar between those made in Ming and Qing Dynasties, with flared mouth, big belly, fat foot as well as being decorated with glazes of various colors.

Photochromic Glaze


It was the most changeable and the most colorful glaze in most complicated shapes. The photochromic glaze initially came out totally by chance. When the glaze materials were made according to a certain formula, painted on the body of a porcelain to put into the kiln for burning, there happened unexpected change in color, so it was called "photochromic". As early as in Song Dynasty, there had appeared photochromic glaze, for example, the "Jun red" was just the Qianlong Reigns of Qing Dynasty, the craftsmen had fundamentally grasped the rules of photochromic glaze, and thus they were capable of turning out the glazed products as they expected.

Double-Gourd-Shaped Vase


The vase body was composed by two gourds, small upper and big lower, named after its modeling in shape of double-gourd with contracted waist. It was created in the Longquan kiln in South Song Dynasty, and seen popular in the Jingdezhen kiln during Yuan and Ming Dynasties, with most of them as display ware. The reading of Chinese word "Gourd (hu lu)"approaches "Good luck (fu lu)" in Chinese pronunciation, those marked with two characters of great luck) were in meaning of seeking good luck and prosperity. The double-gourd-shape vase in underglaze blue made in Yuan Dynasty was in shape of octagonal-diamond, and in shapes of square, hexagon, octagon, round upper and square lower, multi-diamond and so on in Ming Dynasty. Most of patterns of works took the styles of Taoism.

Hoop-Handled Pot


With mall mouth, ball-like belly, the modeling was dignified, elegant, substantial and tasteful so named as the two ends of its shoulder linked by half-moon-shaped hoop-handles. It was created in Song Dynasty. In Longjing Reign of Ming Dynasty, the qinghua hoop-handled pot made in the Jingdezhen kiln was quite famous since it was perfectly round in shape, bright-colored and beautiful, with densely-knitted patterns. And the contrasting colored hoop-handled pot with cover embossed with a flat-peach-shaped knob made in Yongzheng Reign of Qing Dynasty was better because of its exquisite workmanship.

Warming Bowl (Ewer and Warming Bowl)


Once a drinking vessel, composed by a ewer (vessel containing wine) and a warming bowl (vessel used to warm wine). The warming bowl had wide mouth, straight and deep bowl wall, cylindrical shape. Some were presenting a lotus shape in the whole body, and the size of the body was determined by the ewer. It appeared in Song Dynasty and prevailed in Southern Song Dynasty. Putting the ewer into the warming bowl while using it , then pouring hot water into the bowl, and thus the wine could be warmed. The product in qingbai glaze made in the Jingdezhen kiln was exquisite in carving, dignified and elegant, the excellent product of such works.

Gall-Shape Vase


It was named after its hanging-gall-like modeling, with straight mouth, thin and long neck, sloping shoulder, gently enlarging downwards from shoulder, round lower belly. It was created in the Jun kiln in Song Dynasty Quite a large quantity of the porcelains was made in the Jingdezhen kiln in Qing Dynasty, with most of them produced during Qianlong Reign. Besides the works modeled on the Song (Dynasty) vase, the main assortments also included such new varieties as Langyao red glazed vase, sky blue glazed vase, peacock green glazed vase, coral red glazed vase, oven Jun glazed vase.

Plum Vase


Characterized by small mouth, short neck, round shoulder and the thin base. It was named so since its mouth was similar to the thin branches of plum blossom or its mouth was so small only to insert plum branches. The body of vase was slender with a pretty posture, used to contain wine. It was called "Jing (classical) vase" in Song Dynasty and "plum vase" in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The modelings were different slightly in different Dynasty. Its lower belly was thin and its shape tall and straight in Song Dynasty. There appeared an octagonal vase in fat during the Ming period. And its shoulder was straight and broad, the lower belly narrowed and the base slightly everted in Qing Dynasty. The qinghua plum vase made in Jingdezhen in Yuan Dynasty is the most splendid of all, which has a pedestal, and the pedestal and the body was not only an integral whole but removable.