※ Huzhou business card no. 4 • the source of Chinese porcelain
This is an incredible thing: China's oldest primitive celadon is actually in Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, which has never produced porcelain for eight hundred years.
It's incredible, but it's true. The "source of porcelain" in Huzhou has been confirmed by the most authoritative experts in the Field of Chinese Ceramics, which can be called a major discovery in the archaeological research of the history of Chinese ceramics.
Deqing County, Huzhou
In the summer of 2012, the China Ancient Ceramics Society held a review meeting for the new compilation of the History of Chinese Ceramics in Huzhou City. Geng Baochang, honorary president of the China Ancient Ceramics Society, Wang Liying, president of the China Ancient Ceramics Society, Chen Kelun, Sun Xinmin, Li Jianmao, Li Jian'an, Shen Yueming and other experts attended. This is the first time in 30 years that experts in the field of ceramics have revised the "History of Chinese Ceramics", and one of the highlights of this revision is that the Huzhou Deqing kiln has been written into the history of Chinese ceramics as the "source of porcelain".
Wang Liying, president of the China Ancient Ceramics Society, said that without primitive porcelain, there would be no celadon porcelain, and there would be no later colored porcelain, and primitive porcelain is the cradle of Chinese porcelain. China's "source of porcelain" is also the "source of porcelain" in the world.
Original porcelain
From March to November 2010, archaeologists discovered and excavated China's earliest original porcelain kiln site more than 3,500 years ago at Rat Mountain, about 20 kilometers north of Wukang Town, Deqing County. A large number of original porcelain specimens have been unearthed, as well as some artifacts that may have been used as kiln tools. The original porcelain specimens are mainly beans, and there are a certain number of gui, zun, pots, plates, bowls and other utensils, most of the utensils tire quality is more delicate and firm, but the porcelain tire still contains a certain number of impurities, glaze traces are obvious, the glaze layer is extremely thin, and the color is uneven.
Excavation data show that the Nanshan kiln site was a kiln site for almost pure burning of primitive porcelain in the Shang Dynasty, which can be found as early as the early Shang Dynasty.
Ancient celadon ware objects
The kiln site is rich in strata accumulation, the kiln is well preserved, the product porcelain clay is used as a tire, the traces of artificial glazing are obvious, and the evolution sequence of utensils is clear, which is the earliest original porcelain kiln site excavated so far.
On January 11, 2011, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the most authoritative archaeological institution in China, announced the six new archaeological discoveries in China in 2010, ranking the original porcelain kiln site group of the Shang Dynasty in the middle reaches of Dongweixi in Zhejiang Province.
[Link: The source of porcelain, starting from Huzhou Deqing.]
In the history of Chinese civilization, porcelain is a great pride. Hundreds of years ago, the world knew through porcelain that there was a mysterious country in the far East, and called her "china". However, where is the source of Chinese porcelain? Where were those original Shang Zhou porcelain excavated from the north and south of the great river produced? What was the early celadon like? This has always been a vague problem in the ancient ceramics industry, and it is also a goal that cultural relics archaeologists are struggling to pursue.
From 2003 to 2005, archaeologists discovered a large group of aristocratic tombs in the strongest period of the Yue Kingdom in Hongshan, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, and excavated more than 500 pieces of imitation bronze primitive celadon ceremonial vessels and more than 140 primitive celadon musical instruments. These original celadons are hard in texture, the tire color is white, the glaze is green and glassy, the thickness is uniform, and the tire glaze is well combined. Excavators believe that these high-grade primitive porcelains can be comparable to the highest grades of celadon ware in the Six Dynasties period, and have reached the level of mature celadon porcelain.
Where did these exquisite original celadons come from?
In 2007, the "Hongshan Yue Tomb Excavation Report" was published, which gave a preliminary answer: "The celadon excavated from the Hongshan Yue Tomb is similar to the raw materials used in the Deqing kiln in Zhejiang. "The celadon excavated from the tomb of the nobles of the Yueguo State in Hongshan May have been fired in the Deqing area of Zhejiang." This result gives archaeologists a direction to find answers. They invariably set their sights on Deqing.
Ruins of the Deqing kiln
From 2007 to 2008, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with the Palace Museum and the Deqing County Museum, jointly carried out excavations of the kiln sites of Huoyao Mountain and Tingziqiao. Located in the Dugbuling Reservoir of Longshan Village, Wukang Town, Deqing County, the original celadon kiln site of Huoyao Mountain is a primitive celadon kiln site from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the late Spring and Autumn Period. The main harvest of this excavation was the discovery of three dragon kiln kiln sites firing original porcelain from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the late Spring and Autumn Period, which is an important basis for exploring the origin and development of dragon kilns in mainland China.
Excavations have unearthed a large number of original porcelain specimens, mainly bowls, plates, pots, cups, bowls, pots, etc., and also unearthed some imitation bronze ceremonial vessels such as 卣, Ding and other original porcelain products, exquisitely made, firing temperature is also very high. There are also a variety of ornaments, including cloud thunder patterns, hook patterns, water ripples, S-shaped patterns, noose-like patterns, etc. similar to the bronzes of the same period. Decorative techniques include engraving, stencifiering, stacking, etc. The glaze is full of color, with blue, yellow, and turquoise, and a small amount of sauce brown glaze and black glaze have also been found. At the same time, the earliest spacer was also found, the round bead. The excavated artifacts provide physical data for determining the more detailed staging of primitive porcelain from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the late Spring and Autumn Period.
Deqing kiln ancient celadon porcelain
The burning mountain kiln site fills the gap in the history of domestic porcelain development about the detailed chronological sequence of history from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the late Spring and Autumn Period, proving that the Dongyuanxi River Basin, where Deqing is located, reached a peak in the production of primitive porcelain as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period.
Experts believe that the Huoyaoshan kiln site is the only original porcelain kiln site known and preserved from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the late Spring and Autumn Period, and it is also the earliest pure burning original porcelain kiln site that has been discovered so far, and the original porcelain unearthed from it is of great significance for exploring the firing technology of early Chinese celadon porcelain.
The results of the excavations of the Burning Mountain and the Pavilion Bridge and the artifacts unearthed shocked the ceramic and archaeological communities. From April 24 to 25, 2008, the Palace Museum, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Zhejiang Province, the Chinese Ancient Ceramics Research Society and the Deqing County People's Government jointly held the "Source of Porcelain - Primitive Porcelain and Deqing Kiln Academic Seminar" in Deqing County, which was attended by more than 80 scholars from all over the country, South Korea and Japan.
Ruins of Deqing Pavilion Bridge
The discussion of mature celadon and primitive celadon is one of the important contents of this conference, and one of the focuses of this seminar is whether the original celadon excavated from the Pavilion Bridge and the Hongshan Yueguo Tomb is already "mature celadon".
Scholars attending the meeting generally believed that most of the original celadon ware excavated from the Tingziqiao kiln site appeared to have a high firing temperature, delicate and firm tire quality, uniform and bright glaze, blue or green glaze color, and good combination of tire glaze. Some high-quality products have reached the standard of mature celadon porcelain. According to this, the celadon excavated from Tingziqiao is already "mature celadon", and the age of mature celadon on the mainland can be advanced by five or six hundred years from the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
The expert group still reached a unanimous conclusion, they believe that mature celadon is developed from the original celadon porcelain, the Deqing Fire Kiln site experienced the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods, and the Dongxi River Basin where it is located has a special and important position in the study of the origin of Chinese porcelain.
Ancient celadon ware
On the basis of excavating the kiln sites of Huoyao Mountain and Tingziqiao, experts investigated more than 60 kiln sites in Deqing. It not only confirms the status of Deqing as the "source of porcelain", but also pushes the firing time of original porcelain from the Western Zhou Warring States period to the Shang Dynasty, forming a more complete chronological sequence.
The original porcelain production in the Shang and Zhou dynasties in deqing was unique at that time, whether it was production time, production scale, product type, product quality, etc. Experts said there are good reasons to believe that the Deqing region was the center of porcelain making in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the birthplace of Chinese porcelain.
[Chen Shaofei's works/"Huzhou Business Card" series no. 4, to be continued. 】