Lushan County is located in the central and western part of Henan Province, at the eastern foot of Funiu Mountain, and is located in the upper reaches of the Shahe River in the Huai River system. Lushan County has a long history, and Luyang County is located in the Western Han Dynasty, which belongs to Nanyang County. In the eighteenth year of Taihe of the Yuan Wei Dynasty (494), it was changed to the Jingzhou Governor's Office, and then the Guangzhou Governor's Office. In the later period of the Western Wei Dynasty, Guangzhou was called Luzhou. In the early years of Sui Daye, Lu Prefecture was abolished as Lu County. In the first year of Tang Zhenguan (627), it was renamed Lushan County, which belonged to Ruzhou, and was caused by the Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. In 1949, it was subordinated to Xuchang Prefecture, and in 1983, it was changed to Pingdingshan City. The ruins of Duandian porcelain kiln are located in Duandian Village, Liangwa Town, 10 kilometers north of Lushan County, which is about 15 kilometers north of Qingliang Temple Ru kiln site in Baofeng County, and the local folk song has "Qingliang Temple to Duandian, one day into ten thousand", which seems to have described the prosperity of the porcelain industry in the past. The site of Duandian porcelain kiln covers an area of about 770,000 square meters, with a cultural layer of 2-5 meters thick, and the cultural relics are very rich. After many investigations by the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Henan Provincial Department of Cultural Relics, and a small area excavated by the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in 1990, it was proved that the kiln site was burned in the Tang Dynasty, passed through the Song and Jin dynasties, and continued to the Yuan Dynasty, and the firing of porcelain lasted for hundreds of years. Lushan Duandian kiln firing time is long, the level of porcelain is high, the relics are rich, the variety is complete, its products are treasured in the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Museum of the Nanyue King of the Western Han Dynasty in Guangzhou, the Henan Museum and the British Museum, etc., occupy an important position in the history of the development of ancient ceramics in the mainland. In 2000, the site of Duandian porcelain kiln was identified as the third batch of provincial cultural relics protection units in Henan Province, and in 2006, it was announced as the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
01
The Lushan Duandian kiln was first discovered by Chen Wanli of the Palace Museum in Beijing, and Li Huishan, Li Zhiyan, Feng Xianming, Ye Zhemin, Zhao Qingyun, Mei Guojian and Feng Zhigang have successively conducted field investigations. In 1950, Chen Wanli of the Palace Museum inspected Ru kiln and investigated 9 porcelain kiln sites in Linru, Baofeng and Lushan counties, including Lushan Duandian kiln site. The porcelain specimens he collected at the Duandian kiln site mainly include white glaze, white glaze scratched flowers, black flowers on white ground, black glaze and sauce glaze fragments. In 1977, the Palace Museum Li Huishan, Li Zhiyan and others again investigated the Lushan Duandian kiln site, and collected a total of black glaze, Jun glaze, green glaze, white glaze, sauce glaze porcelain and three-color glazed pottery and other fragments, including more than 30 pieces of black glaze spot fragments, the types of vessels are cylinders, cans, pots, bottles, drums, etc., which basically clarified the varieties and characteristics of the kiln production, and solved the mystery of Lushan drums and "flower porcelain". Feng Xianming, Ye Zhemin, Feng Xiaoqi and others of the Palace Museum also investigated the Duandian kiln site in 1977, 1984 and 2005, and the collected product specimens mainly include Tang Dynasty flower porcelain, Song and Yuan Dynasty white porcelain, white glaze green color, pearl ground scratch flower, white glaze dot color, white ground black flower, green glaze print, black glaze, Jun glaze porcelain and three-color pottery, etc., that "white glaze double-line flower decoration is relatively rare in other porcelain kilns, three-color pillow and relief lotus petal pattern furnace are rich in Lushan kiln characteristics".
In 1986, Zhao Qingyun and others from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology went to the Lushan Duandian kiln site to investigate, and collected many basically complete or recoverable artifacts, and had a further understanding of the firing varieties and product characteristics of the Duandian kiln. The relics collected this time include flower glaze, black glaze, green glaze, white glaze, sauce glaze, Jun glazed porcelain and three-color glazed pottery, among which the white glazed porcelain table is richly decorated, with pearl ground scratch flowers, carved flowers, red and green colors and white ground black flowers. A small amount of printed celadon and Jun porcelain with purple and red spots, its firing technology, glaze color, printing technique and kiln transformation process have reached a very high level, and they are the high-end products of Duandian kiln. It is inferred that the kiln site was created in the early Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song and Jin dynasties, and declined in the Yuan Dynasty, and is an important folk porcelain kiln.
Mei Guojian of Pingdingshan University has been committed to the research and re-firing of Lushan flower porcelain for many years, and the porcelain specimens he collected at the Duandian kiln site, especially the kiln furniture, molds and porcelain-related tools, are very rich, which provides rare material materials for the reproduction and restoration of the firing process of the Duandian kiln. In terms of glaze processing, there are stone mills, grinding wheels, stone pestles, stone mortars, grinding mortars and pestles. In terms of molding, there are porcelain hoops, pottery paddles, inner molds used to make patterns in bowls and plates, and outer models for embossed figures and animal decorations, as well as large models for making tiger-shaped pillows and small models for making chess pieces. There are more than 10 kinds of saggers for firing porcelain, from small to large, there are more than 20 kinds of supporting cushions under the sagger, and there are more than 20 kinds of supporting tools under the sagger from large to small; and the temperature measuring tools in the kiln room include temperature measuring columns, fire lighting and glaze testing vessels, and so on. In the ceramic craft exhibition room of Pingdingshan College prepared by him, there is a piece of Duandian kiln white glaze pearl ground scratched plum vase outside the outside, wrapped with a layer of thick and uniform grass mud, it can be seen that this kind of bottle is not fired with a sagger, but wrapped with grass mud into the kiln to fire, which is refreshing.
Feng Zhigang of Lushan County Duandian Kiln Culture Research Institute is a caring person, who has long been obsessed with the collection of Duandian kiln porcelain, and the Duandian kiln products he collected are both complete and refined, basically covering all the categories produced by the above-mentioned Duandian kiln. After several years of unremitting efforts, he and Ren Zhilu of the Shenzhen Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology cooperated in the publication of the "Tang Dynasty Part" porcelain of Lushan Duandian Kiln, which provided detailed information for understanding the production of Duandian kiln in the Tang Dynasty. Subsequently, porcelain from the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties will be published one after another, which is exciting. Several pieces of Song and Jin Dynasty ware in his collection are very important, including the "Yuanben Zhao Family" vase in the third year of Yuan Fu, and the "Yuan Ben Zhao Family" plum vase in the third year of Zhenghe, etc., which provide a ruler for the same type of white glaze painted porcelain. His collection of a batch of Song Jin Su firing, it is said that concentrated in an ash pit, the relatively complete shape of the vessel has a circle foot wash, flat chassis, three-legged furnace and jade pot spring bottle, etc., should be following the Baofeng Qingliang Temple Ru kiln porcelain, the use of secondary firing process to fire fine porcelain another witness.
02
From October to December 1990, Sun Xinmin, Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, led by Guo Musen, Chen Yantang, etc., carried out scientific archaeological excavations on the Lushan Duandian porcelain kiln site for the first time, although the excavation area was only 200 square meters, but also made some important gains.
First, we have a preliminary understanding of the distribution of the kiln site. The Duandian kiln site is mainly distributed on the west bank platform of the Dalang River, a tributary of the Shahe River, and Duandian Village is directly stacked on the kiln site. We excavated in the southern, central and northern parts of Duandian Village, and judged from the unearthed relics: the area south of the Duandian Village Committee is the accumulation of the Tang Dynasty, the area of the village north of the village committee is the accumulation of the Song and Jin dynasties, and the north of the village is mainly the Yuan Dynasty burning area.
The second is to reveal the cultural accumulation and firing age of the kiln site. Judging from the excavation, the cultural accumulation of the kiln site is more than 2 meters thick, which can be roughly divided into 5-6 layers, belonging to the Tang, Song, Jin and Yuan periods. The Tang Dynasty was the period of the kiln site, mainly black glaze and flower glaze porcelain. During the Song and Jin dynasties, the scale of production expanded, and the firing varieties were abundant, and the main products were green glaze, white glaze, black glaze and three-color products. Blue glazed porcelain was found to have a small number of glazed wares, the glaze is pure azure or blue-green, the glaze is shiny, the shape is regular, and the production process of Ru kiln porcelain is the same. The white glazed porcelain table is decorated with a variety of flowers, such as pearl ground scratch flowers, red and green colors, and black flowers on white ground. In the Yuan Dynasty, the kiln site continued to be fired, but the production varieties were reduced, and the Jun glaze and black flower porcelain on white ground were mostly seen, and many white glazed bowls were painted with grass leaf patterns or ink script characters at the bottom. The flower glaze holding pot, beating drum, three-legged plate, azure glaze washing, Jun glaze concave foot plate, white ground black flower cover bowl and fish pattern basin unearthed in this excavation are all exquisitely made, and are the representative products of the kiln site.
The third is to discover the relics related to porcelain-making such as the kang house, kiln and mud pond of the Song Dynasty. There are two square pillar foundation stones and the ground paved with slag in the kang room, and there is a relatively complete brick fire path preserved under the ground, and the fire road is up to 17 meters from east to west, and it is connected with the kiln with a circular curve at the east end. The kiln is made of bricks, which is composed of a working pit and a combustion chamber, and there are traces of coal burning in the working pit. The plane of the mud pond is slightly square, and the four walls are built with saggers or stones in the soil pit.
03
Through the investigation and small-scale excavation of the Lushan section of the kiln site over the years, we have the following four preliminary understandings.
First, it clarifies the porcelain-making history and product characteristics of Lushan Duandian kiln.
The Tang Dynasty was the period of the kiln site, and the products were black glaze and flower glazed porcelain, which was generally glazed thicker, and the glaze color was not very pure. Flower glazed porcelain is commonly shaped with bowls, plates, bottles, jars, holding pots and beating drums, among which there are many different types of beating drums, such as large, medium and small.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, there were many varieties of porcelain, and the products were mainly white glaze and blue glazed porcelain, as well as black glaze, sauce glazed porcelain and three-color products. There are bowls, plates, bowls, washers, basins, pots, pots, lamps, stoves, bottles, pillows, etc. The decoration methods of white glazed porcelain are abundant, including white glaze green color, white glaze dot color, white glaze scratching flowers, white glaze ticking flowers, white glaze black mouth edges, etc. For example, green strips are applied to the mouth of the white glazed bowl and along the furnace, the shoulder of the white glaze jar is formed into a triangle with multiple brown dots, the vertical lines engraved on the surface of the white glazed bowl are willow bucket-shaped, and the abdomen and pillow surface of the white glazed bottle are composed of water ripples with grate double lines. The white glazed pearl ground is divided into two kinds: red ground and brown ground, which are commonly found in pillows and bottles, and the theme pattern is mostly flowers and auspicious characters, and there are also deer patterns and other decorations. Ye Zhemin once collected a piece of white glazed pearl floor scratch vase fragment engraved with the words "Yuanben Zhao Family" at the Duandian kiln site, which is similar to the white glazed pearl floor scratch pillow of "Home and Country Yong'an" now in the British Museum (British Museum) in London, the inscription on the right side of the pillow is "Yuan Ben Yedi Zhao Family Pillow Yongji", and the left side inscription is "Xining 4th March 19 Painting", and the font of "Yuan Ben Zhao Family" of the two seems to be from the hand of one person. Blue glazed porcelain is mainly bowls, plates, bowls, mostly bean green glaze printing, mainly water waves swimming fish, cloud crane pattern, chrysanthemum petal pattern and tangled branch flowers. The three-color products of the Northern Song Dynasty are also quite distinctive, with bright colors and various shapes, mainly including three-color flower pots, lotus petal applique furnaces, flower pattern pillows and children's pillows.
White glazed pearl floor scratch flower pillow
The Jin Dynasty mainly used green glaze, Jun glaze and black glazed porcelain, and there were also white ground and black flower porcelain, twisted glazed porcelain, red and green color and three-color products. Blue glazed porcelain is mostly engraved with floral decoration in the vessel or on the surface of the vessel, and the composition is more comfortable, and some of the ware surface is applied with vertical lines or willow bucket patterns. Jun glazed porcelain glaze is shiny, some full glaze burning, exquisite production, the surface of the vessel is mostly decorated with red spots. Black-glazed porcelain is commonly used in pots, bowls, plates, jars, and bottles, among which the black-glazed bowls are exquisitely made, and the surface of the ware is decorated with oil droplets, rabbit hair, or sauce spots. The convex lines on the black-glazed jars, which are divided into a full cloth table and a group of two or three lines, and some are decorated with grid patterns, are not found in other kiln sites.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the varieties of production decreased, mainly Jun glazed porcelain and white ground black flower porcelain. The porcelain of Jun kiln is coarse and loose, the surface of the ware is semi-glazed, and the red spot color becomes dull. The decoration of white ground and black flower porcelain mainly includes grass leaf pattern, flower pattern, fish pattern and text style, etc., in many white glazed bowls, the bottom of the basin and the surface of the bowl are painted with grass leaf pattern, and some bowls, the bottom of the plate and the lid of the vessel have text in cursive. The motif decoration of the can table is often symmetrically painted with a light and then filled with a floral or grass leaf pattern in the light. In the middle of the white glazed basin bottom, a swimming fish pattern is painted, and a water plant is painted on both sides of the fish pattern, the composition is comfortable and full of local characteristics.
The second is to determine the origin of the "Lushan flower porcelain" beating drum in the Tang Dynasty in the historical materials. Flower porcelain is flower glazed porcelain, which is a blue glaze on the black glaze by sprinkling color or vertical powder stacking method, and after being changed by a high-temperature kiln, it presents a sky blue or moon-white blocky color spot. Some of these colored spots are arranged regularly, and some add a few points at will, bold and spicy, unpredictable, and have an elegant and bright natural beauty. The kiln mouth of firing flower-glazed porcelain in Henan is mainly in Lushan County
Duandian kiln, Jiaxian Huangdao kiln, Neixiang County Dayaodian kiln and Yuzhou Xiabaiyu kiln, etc. Because in the 60s of the 20th century, the first specimen of flower-glazed porcelain was found in the Jiaxian Huangdao kiln, some scholars once thought that the flower-glazed porcelain was the product of the Huangdao kiln, in fact, there were many kilns that produced flower-glazed porcelain in the Tang Dynasty, among which the flower-glazed porcelain of Duandian kiln in Lushan County was of the best quality. The flower porcelain here is mainly decorated with sky blue or moon-white spots on the black glaze, yellow glaze and tea glaze, and there are also a layer of moon-white glaze sprinkled on the black glaze, which is commonly found in bottles, jars, plates, bowls, pots and drums. There is a record in the Tang Dynasty Nanzhuo's "Drum Record" that "it is not the end of Qingzhou stone, that is, it is Lushan flower porcelain", which shows that the flower porcelain drum produced in Lushan was quite famous at that time. The black glaze spotted pattern beating drum found in the Duandian kiln site is not only a large number, but also divided into large, medium and small different models, which confirms the relevant records of the "Drum Record", and also finds the origin of one piece of Tang black glaze spotted pattern beating drum in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing.
Flower glaze beats the drum
Third, clues were found about the production of azure glazed porcelain at the kiln site. Although the archaeological excavation in 1990 was small, more than 20 pieces of Ru porcelain fragments were unearthed in the strata of the Song Dynasty. Because there was only one piece, we suspected that it was a product of the Ru kiln of Baofeng Qingliang Temple at the time.
In recent years, among the porcelain pieces excavated from the Lushan Duandian kiln, we have also found some azure glazed porcelain pieces similar to Ru kiln porcelain. Although the porcelain pieces seen are small, they can be identified in the shape of washes, plates, bowls, bowls, etc. Lushan Duandian kiln and Baofeng Qingliangsi kiln are only more than 10 kilometers away from north to south, in the Northern Song Dynasty, they were both under the jurisdiction of Ruzhou, with the same geographical environmental conditions, and the Tang Dynasty has begun to fire porcelain. When Ye Zhemin re-investigated the Ru kiln in 1987, "among the remnants from the Duandian kiln site in the collection of the Lushan Cultural Center, there is a fragment of a pink-blue glazed 'wrapped in the bottom of the fire' Huai-style square bucket cup, and the typical Ru kiln characteristics of the bubbles in the glaze are also 'as few as morning stars' with a 30x magnifying glass." Although it also belongs to the 'auspicious light piece of feathers.', if Lenovo has obtained a piece of Ru kiln azure glaze fragment in Baofeng Qingliang Temple, it has become an important clue to find the Ru kiln site today, then its significance may not be ignored. According to the clues currently available, it is possible that the Lushan Duandian kiln may also produce porcelain similar to the Ru kiln.
Duandian kiln collects azure glazed porcelain pieces
Fourth, we have a certain understanding of the sales and circulation area of Duandian kiln products. Duandian Village belongs to Liangwa Town, which was known as Taohuadian in ancient times. It is located on the Wanluo Ancient Road, which is the transportation artery between Luoyang and Nanyang in ancient times, and Duandian kiln products can go south and north by land from here. In 1955, in Guanzhuang Village, Fangcheng County, a white-glazed pearl ground flower vase was unearthed, the theme pattern of the abdomen was a large curly branch peony, and the shoulders and abdomen were engraved with a covered and Yanglian petal pattern respectively, which should be the product of Lushan Duandian kiln. Fangcheng County belongs to Nanyang City, and Guanzhuang Village is not far from Wanluo Ancient Road. Luoyang Museum now has a piece of white glazed pearl ground scratched flower "Qi Shou" inscription pillow, and Luanchuan County, Luoyang City, which is separated by a mountain in Lushan County, also unearthed a piece of white glazed pearl ground scratched flower "Fu" inscription pillow in 1961, the front pillow wall of the two pillows are decorated with the curly branch chrysanthemum pattern, and the above-mentioned British Museum (British Museum) collection of the "Home and Country Yongan" inscription pillow pillow wall pattern is the same, should also be produced by Lushan Duandian kiln.
The site of Duandian kiln is located on the bank of the Dalang River, the Dalang River flows into the Shahe River to the southeast, the water transportation is very convenient, and the products of Duandian kiln can also be sold to the east by waterway. In 1980, in the thirteenth year (754) of Tang Tianbao in Miaohou Village, Beidu Township, Pingdingshan suburb, Liu's tomb was buried with a flower glaze lotus leaf-shaped three-legged wash, and in 1991, a flower glazed amphora was unearthed in Xinji Township, Lushan County, both of which were unearthed on the north bank of the Shahe River. In recent years, the cultural relics department has successively excavated the Yangnan ruins in Lushan County and the Yexian Wenji ruins in cooperation with the middle line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, which are also located in the upper reaches of the Shahe River, and some Lushan Duandian kiln ceramics have been unearthed.
From April to November 2010, in conjunction with the cultural relics protection work of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the Guangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (now the Guangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology) carried out rescue archaeological excavations at the Yangnan site in Yanziying Township, Lushan County, revealing an ancient village site mainly in the Han Dynasty and the Song, Jin, and Yuan dynasties. The total excavation area is 4,500 square meters, and more than 500 relics such as ash pits, ash ditches, stove pits, tombs, wells, house sites, kiln sites, and roadbeds have been found and cleaned up, and more than 800 pieces of porcelain, pottery, iron, copper, stone, bone, silver and other utensils have been unearthed and restored. In particular, the Song and Yuan Dynasty ceramics are large in quantity and varied, including white porcelain, black porcelain, celadon, Jun porcelain, white ground and black flowers, sauce glazed porcelain and three-color pottery, etc., most of which are the products of Lushan Duandian kiln, showing the daily life of ordinary village residents in the Song and Yuan dynasties. Among them, there are also 3 pieces of Ru kiln porcelain pieces, which are shaped as bowls and washes, which should also be products of Lushan Duandian kiln.
Lushan Yangnan site unearthed Ru porcelain bowls, washing
The site of Wenji is located in Wenji Village, Changcun Township, Yexian County. From 2006 to 2008, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology carried out excavations for three consecutive years, with an excavation area of 12,000 square meters, and found the remains of the house foundation, roads, wells, cellar pits, ash pits, ash ponds and other relics in the Tang, Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties, and unearthed more than 1,500 relics, which should be the remains of a large-scale market town. Among the relics, porcelain is the main item, most of which are utensils used in daily life, but there are also fetal balls, porcelain figurines and toys. From the glaze color to see white, black, green, sauce, Jun glaze and three colors, etc., to decoration can be divided into white glaze pearl ground scratch flower, white glaze carved flowers, white glaze dot color, white ground black flowers, white glaze black edge, white glaze red and green color, black glaze white mouth edge, black glaze convex line, black glaze oil droplets, black glaze sauce color, green glaze printing, green glaze carving, Jun glaze silver buckle, green glaze scratching, etc. Among these ceramics, Tang Sancai, exquisite blue glaze and Jun glazed porcelain should be Gongyi Huangye kiln, Baofeng Qingliangsi kiln, Ruzhou Zhanggongxiang kiln, Ruzhou Donggou kiln and other kilns in central Henan; In addition, several pieces of Ru kiln porcelain fragments were unearthed in the stratum of the Song Dynasty, the porcelain pieces were broken and could not be restored, the glaze color was azure, and the glaze was burned.
This article is excerpted by Sun Li and Chai Lili from the "Preface" of "Treasures of Lushan Duandian Kiln" compiled by Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. The content has been slightly abridged and adjusted.