Yangtze River Daily Wuhan client January 4 news (reporter Wan Jianhui correspondent Ding Yan) "Husi porcelain kiln site is large in scale, wide distribution, long duration, in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the ancient kiln site is rare, but also in Hubei region Song Dynasty porcelain scale of the largest kiln farm." ”
Regarding the status of Husi kiln in the kiln sites of the Song Dynasty, Fan Jiang Oumei, curator of this exhibition and deputy research librarian of wuhan museum who worked in Wuhan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology for many years, introduced that the Tang and Song dynasties were an unprecedented period of development and prosperity of China's porcelain handicraft industry. In the Tang Dynasty, the porcelain industry layout of "Southern Qing and Northern White" was basically formed. In the Song Dynasty, the milestone in the development of the porcelain industry appeared in the five famous kilns of "Guan, Ru, Jun, Ding, and Ge", which we are still familiar with today.
Five famous kilns of the Song Dynasty and jingdezhen kiln site map (network data map).
In the Song Dynasty, not only did five famous kilns appear, but the folk kilns in various places were also all over the land of Shenzhou, and the Husi kiln was the Song Dynasty folk kiln. However, the literature on porcelain making in Hubei is vague. Yuanren Jiang wrote in the book "Tao Ji" that "the rivers, lakes, rivers, and Cantonese are still green and white, and those who come out of the kilns of the town are also.". The Qing "Wuchang County Chronicle" says: "Wuchang has clay ... It can be a vessel", "the genus of the vessel has pottery". In the Jiangxia area of Wuhan City, there has always been a folk song of "Ninety-nine concaves (塆) and ninety-nine kilns in Liangzi Lake" (meaning that there are a large number of porcelain kilns).
The difference between historical records and folk songs has always brought a question to the ceramic community at that time: "Is there any ancient porcelain kiln in Hubei?" With such a question in mind, archaeologists have been trying to find it. It was not until 1974 that archaeologists first discovered the kiln site in the village of Sixia Temple in Jiangxia Lake in the process of cultural relics investigation, which ended the history of "no ancient porcelain kiln in Hubei".
The discovery of the Husi kiln site has filled the gap in the history of ancient porcelain kilns in Hubei Province, made up for the lack of cultural relics and archaeology in Hubei Province, and provided rich physical materials for the study of ancient ceramics.
Husi porcelain kiln site group zoning map. Courtesy of Wuhan Museum
After three cultural relics censuses in 1982, 1992 and 2008 and more than 20 years of cultural relics survey and archaeological work, the distribution of Husi porcelain kiln sites has been basically clarified. Husi porcelain kiln site is mainly distributed in the west bank of Liangzi Lake within the Jiangxia District of Wuhan City, around Axe Lake and the west bank of Luhu Lake, it spans 8 streets (Husi, Shu'an, Hillside, Wulongquan, Anshan, Fasi, Jinkou, Longquan), 50 natural villages, 180 kilns of various sizes. The distribution range is 40 kilometers long from north to south, 30 kilometers wide from east to west, and the total area of kiln piles is more than 500,000 square meters.
Through the excavation, cleaning and collation of some kiln sites, the cultural outlook of the Husi porcelain kiln site was basically understood. The Husi porcelain kiln site group was founded in the late Tang Dynasty and continued until the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, of which the Song Dynasty was the mainstay. The Husi porcelain kiln site is mainly a dragon kiln structure, but there are also a small number of steamed mantou kilns, which are distributed on the low hills on the lakeside. Its products are divided into two categories: white porcelain (shadow celadon) and celadon system. The products of Husi Kiln are mainly used by ordinary people's daily production and living utensils, and the products are rich in variety, including bowls, cups, plates, saucers, pots, cans, goblets, bottles, powder boxes, lamps, bowls, cups, smokes, pillows, etc.
The emergence of the Husi porcelain kiln site group is inseparable from its unique geographical environment. The central hill contains both rich porcelain clay and dense trees, providing sufficient raw materials and fuel for firing porcelain. At the same time, Liangzi Lake is the second largest lake in Hubei, with a vast water area and abundant water resources. This makes the production water for porcelain manufacturing and the domestic water for kiln workers have been fully guaranteed; and the water transportation network centered on the Yangtze River - Liangzi Lake is more accessible in all directions, convenient for shipping, and provides natural convenience for the export and sales of products.
The discovery of the Husi porcelain kiln site has opened a chapter in the history of porcelain firing in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in China more than a thousand years ago, filled the gap in the history of ancient porcelain in Hubei, and enriched the missing link in the history of Chinese porcelain, which has important historical value. It reflects the level of porcelain making in the Jianghan Plain of the Song Dynasty and even the entire Hubei region in China, and is an empirical evidence of the southward shift of the economic center of gravity of the Song Dynasty.
【Editor: Deng Laxiu】
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