The Paper's reporter Li Mei
"Craftsmen come in all directions, and the instruments go all over the world." If the blue and white porcelain represented by the Hutian kiln made Jingdezhen occupy a place in the Song Dynasty, where kiln factories were lined up, then the establishment of the Imperial Kiln Factory in the Ming and Qing Dynasties not only made Jingdezhen gradually become the center of ceramics in the country, but also pushed Chinese porcelain-making technology to another peak.
As the only remains of the royal porcelain factory in the world, from the imperial kilns of the Ming and Qing dynasties, to the "Jiangxi Porcelain Industry Company", the office of the Jingdezhen Municipal Government, and then to the newly built National Archaeological Site Park in these years, what is the appearance of the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Factory that has changed several times in the past few hundred years, and in 2020, the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Museum, which is open to the public and has become a local cultural landmark, will use an exhibition to tell the story of 600 years of history. Those long-dormant stories behind the glory and vicissitudes of the Ming and Qing dynasties? With all kinds of questions and curiosities, "The Paper, Ancient Art" (www.thepaper.cn) recently visited the Imperial Kiln Factory National Archaeological Site and the Imperial Kiln Museum.
"The Royal Kiln Museum will reproduce the entire historical development from the Floating Beam Magnetic Bureau of the Yuan Dynasty to the Official Kilns of the Ming and Qing Dynasties by displaying the physical specimens excavated from the official kilns of previous dynasties. Since the Royal Kiln Museum was established on the basis of the ruins of the Ming and Qing Dynasty Imperial Kiln Factory, it will be more special in the exhibition design. For example, if a general museum mainly displays a single collection of classics passed down from generation to generation, the Imperial Kiln Museum will display dozens of specimens of the same type of artifact. Through such a display, the audience can discover its production process and the criteria for the selection of fine products. Jiang Jianxin, honorary director of the Jingdezhen Institute of Ceramic Archaeology, said in an interview with the surging news, "At present, the preliminary work has been prepared, including the writing of the exhibition outline and the design of the exhibition, and it is expected to complete the exhibition before the Spring Festival." ”
Exterior view of Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Museum Courtesy of Jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeology Institute
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In the auction hall, the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Bowl Cup, which broke the world auction record of Chinese porcelain at a sky-high price, and the Various Glazed Bottles of Qingqianlong, which became a "cultural relics net red" with superb porcelain-making technology in variety shows... Those Ming and Qing Dynasty official kiln porcelain that are cherished by the cultural and museum circles, sought after by the collection community, and have continued to become the focus of attention over the years all come from the same place - the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Factory.
Panoramic view of the Royal Kiln Factory
In 2020, the poster of "New Views of Imperial Porcelain - Comparison Exhibition of Excavated Ming Dynasty Imperial Kiln Sites in Jingdezhen and Porcelain Collected by the Palace Museum" held at the Palace Museum
Qing Kangxi Yellow land purple green dragon folded branches floral pattern fold along the large plate
According to the "Chronicle of Fuliang County", "Zhushan Mountain, a single peak in Jingde, is tens of miles high, stretches for miles, and the peaks are far away, overlooking the four realms." According to legend, when Qin Shifan jun ascended here, it was called Lima Mountain. To Tang Indi around the five dragons, for the Pearl Mountain. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Yu Guangzhi was called Xingtai, and the number was Panlong Mountain. Ming called The Mountain. Later, it was the Imperial Artifact Factory Zhenshan. "Since its establishment at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Imperial Kiln Factory, which has lasted for more than 600 years in the Ming and Qing dynasties, has concentrated the best talents, the most exquisite skills, the most exquisite raw materials, and the most sufficient funds to produce many exquisite porcelain.
Schematic map of the Royal Kiln Factory National Archaeological Site Park
Standing on the side of the road in the Yuyaochang National Archaeological Site Park in The Central District of Jingdezhen, on the one hand, there is a modern commercial street with traffic and half new and not old, and on the other hand, the official gatehouse building that is shaded by greenery and inviolable, and the intersection of the current and history here makes people feel a sense of traveling through time and space.
In front of the gate, a huge reddish-brown landmark installation with the inscription "Royal Kiln Factory National Archaeological Site Park" stands impressively in the open space, through the carved imperial kiln factories such as Hongwu, Xuande, Chenghua, Yongzheng, Qianlong and other imperial kiln factories carved in the installation through the ming and qing dynasties of the emperors, you can see that in front of a gate building imitating the Ming and Qing dynasties, the top row of the gate building is written with three big characters of the royal kiln factory, and a couplet hangs on both sides of the gate: "The kiln wind and fire are more than a thousand years, and the sound of the imperial instrument is magnificent." ”
A huge reddish-brown landmark installation in front of the gate of the Royal Kiln Factory National Archaeological Site Park
Entering the Jingdezhen Yuyaochang National Heritage Park, passing through the xuande, orthodox, mid-ming and late Ming dynasty to the Republic of China on the right side of the entrance, it is a two-storey old-fashioned office building, which echoes with the surrounding pink wall Dewa and the Ming and Qing ruins scattered around, and has a different taste. According to reports, after a hundred years of ups and downs, since modern times, the ground buildings of the Ming and Qing Imperial Kiln Factories have almost disappeared. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Royal Kiln Factory was the administrative center of Jingdezhen, became the office of the municipal government, and a number of office buildings were built. "However, for more than thirty years, with the deepening of underground ceramic archaeology, the Royal Kiln Factory has gradually attracted the attention of all sectors of society, and the former government office buildings have been torn down except for the one in front of them." Jiang Jianxin, honorary director of the Jingdezhen Institute of Ceramic Archaeology, told the surging news.
The only municipal office building left over from the last century has now been converted into a porcelain reading building
Ceramic repair steps
At present, this municipal office building left over from the last century has been converted into a reading porcelain building, which mainly displays the research and repair results of the jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeology Institute on the ceramic specimens excavated from the royal kiln site. Many processes in the restoration of ceramics here, including curium porcelain, gold, metal inlay, archaeological restoration, display restoration, fine restoration, etc. can be seen. In the last century, the precious pictures of the Jingdezhen ceramic archaeologists restoring the official kiln porcelain were also unfolded in turn along with the display of many complete restorations. The archaeological restoration of Guanyao porcelain is a very difficult process, because the Ming Dynasty Guanyao kiln was originally broken into a pit or buried in pieces, so when it was excavated, it was also countless broken porcelain pieces.
"We usually start sorting them after we clean them up. In the process of classification, we first divide these thousands of ceramic fragments, such as bowls, plates, cups, bottles and other types of utensils, and then concentrate each type of utensils and divide them, such as this is the bottom of the bowl, this is the mouth edge, and so on... Although the process of classification is very hard, this method actually has an advantage, that is, after I finish dividing, in the process of repairing a complete device, I have actually divided the other complete devices, so that it is not far from repair. So when we repair a complete piece in the tidying room, we are actually repairing a fragment of porcelain unearthed in a pit. Of course, this process is very long. Jiang Jianxin said, "The comparative exhibition of the series of porcelain excavated and restored by the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Factory and the official kiln porcelain from the old collection of the Forbidden City, which recently ended at the Palace Museum, can be seen as a concentrated display of the achievements made in ceramic restoration by the Jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeology Institute over the years." ”
Ming Yongle Sweet white glazed cone flower three pot connector Jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeology Institute restoration
Ming Xuande Doucai Mandarin Duck Lotus Pond Pattern Plate Jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeology Research Institute Restoration
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Walking out of the porcelain reading building, turning right, under the guidance of the staff of the Royal Kiln Museum, along the slope of a path leading to the ruins of the southern foothills of the Royal Kiln Factory, a stack of neatly stacked cassette bowls has been extended from the side of the path to the shadow of the bamboo forest at the end of the wall of the ruins, as if the fire of the Imperial Kiln Kiln that continues the Ming and Qing dynasties has not been extinguished, and there is still residual temperature. The ruins of the southern foothills include the remains of the western wall of the Imperial Ware Factory in the early Ming Dynasty, the Mantou kilns from Xuande to the late Ming Dynasty, the Workshops of the Qing Dynasty, the Imperial Porcelain and the Fragments of Folk Kiln Porcelain.
The general extent of the imperial kiln can be said to be relatively clear, but the specific scope, that is, where its walls are, has been relatively vague. The remnants of the western wall of the Early Ming Dynasty Imperial Ware Factory seen by the surging news reporter at the scene were found in 2018, combined with the northern wall remains cleared in the northern foothills of the Zhushan Mountain excavated in 2002, and the eastern wall remains found in the northeast corner of the Royal Kiln Factory site in 2017, the boundary and scope of the Ming Dynasty Imperial Ware Factory were basically confirmed, that is, the Ming Dynasty Imperial Ware Factory was located in the east to Zhonghua North Road, west to Dongsiling Road, south to Zhushan Middle Road, and north to Doufu Lane (Scenic Road), with an area of about 54,300 square meters. This series of archaeological discoveries also confirms that the scope of the imperial kiln in the early Ming Dynasty was much larger than that of the Qing Dynasty, and the scope of the Imperial Kiln in the Qing Dynasty was reduced, and the north wall was moved south to the bottom of Zhushan Mountain.
The ruins of the southern foothills of the Royal Kiln Factory Are surging news
It is worth mentioning that the Ming Dynasty mantou kilns and gourd kilns seen in the Hutian kiln have been found on a larger scale in the Royal Kiln Factory. In 2004, the School of Archaeology and Archaeology of Peking University, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Jiangxi Province, and the Institute of Ceramic Archaeology of Jingdezhen City jointly formed an archaeological team and found a group of fourteen steamed bun-shaped kilns at the southern foot of Zhushan Mountain. The shape and structure are consistent, consisting of the working surface in front of the kiln, the kiln door, the fire chamber, the kiln room, the flue, the smoke exhaust hole, the chimney, the protective kiln wall and other parts, all of which are made of small bricks. These fourteen mantou kilns are a whole, and there are cases where the remains of the upper and lower kilns are superimposed and broken, indicating that they have lasted for a long time. The remains of these fourteen kilns are superimposed under the strata of the Wanli Wanli of the Ming Dynasty to the early years of the Qing Dynasty, and the kiln waste of the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty is piled up outside the protective kiln wall of the lowest kiln ruins. It can be inferred from this that the dates of these kiln ruins are from Xuande to the early Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and the top eight may be from Jiajing to the early Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.
Group photo at the archaeological excavation site of the Zhushan Royal Kiln Site in 2003
This archaeology also found a group of seven gourd-shaped kilns at the northern foot of Zhushan Mountain, with the same shape and structure, consisting of the working surface in front of the kiln, the kiln door, the fire chamber, the front room, the rear room, and the protective kiln wall. The remains of these seven kilns are neatly arranged, connected left and right, as a whole, all stacked under the strata of the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, and there are more masonry materials for the retaining wall at the front of the kiln bed, and there are more plates and tiles fired in the early Days of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. It can be seen that the remains of these seven kilns are dated from the Hongwu to Yongle periods of the Ming Dynasty.
A group of seven gourd kilns found at the site of the northern foothills of Zhushan Mountain
Illustration of a gourd kiln painted by Ming Song Yingxing's Tiangong Kaiwu
In the previous literature, the kiln of the Imperial Instrument Factory has been recorded, but its specific location in the Imperial Instrument Factory has not been recorded, so the discovery of the remains of these two groups of kilns is very important, providing new information for the discussion and study of the layout of the Imperial Instrument Factory. Moreover, the era of these two groups of kilns is connected, indicating that the kiln area of the Imperial Instrument Factory in the Hongwu to Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty was in the northern foothills of Zhushan Mountain, that is, the northeast of the Imperial Instrument Factory, using gourd-shaped kilns; the kiln area of the Imperial Instrument Factory in the Xuande to Wanli period was transferred to the west side of the southern foothills of Zhushan Mountain, that is, the southern west of the Imperial Instrument Factory, mainly using steamed mantou-shaped kilns.
From the gourd-shaped kiln used in the Hutian kiln in Jingdezhen in the Yuan Dynasty, to the gourd-shaped kiln used in the Imperial Ware Factory in the Hongwu to Yongle Periods of the Ming Dynasty, and then to the Steamed Bun-shaped Kiln in the Xuande to Wanli Period, it shows that the firing technology of the Imperial Instrument Factory in the early Ming Dynasty originated from the local folk kiln, and thus revealed the changes in the layout of the Ming Dynasty Imperial Ware Factory and the evolution of firing technology.
According to the Wanli Jiangxi Provincial Chronicle, there were six types of kilns in the Ming Dynasty, namely "wind and fire kilns", "color kilns", "rotten burner kilns", "big dragon cylinder kilns", "box kilns" and "green kilns". Some scholars have examined the division of labor of these kilns in combination with the literature, and believe that the "wind and fire kiln" mainly burns semi-finished products or plain tires, the "green kiln" fires high-temperature porcelain, the "color kiln" fires high-temperature color glazed porcelain, the "rotten burner kiln" is used to bake low-temperature color glaze, and the "big dragon cylinder kiln" and "box kiln" as the name suggests to burn dragon cylinders and cassette bowls. The kilns found on the southern west side of the site of the Royal Kiln Factory are basically the same size, and the firing temperature traces retained after the use of the kilns are different, and it is speculated that different types of kilns such as green kilns, color kilns, and wind and fire kilns should be included here.
In addition to the protective layer built above the southern foothills, the ruins are surrounded by open spaces. Standing on the wooden observation deck, there is no longer the figure of the Ming and Qing Dynasty Governor Pottery Officer, no skilled craftsmen who "come to the eight directions", and no hard labor that runs around, but the piles of loess and the long shadows pulled out by the kiln walls under the oblique sunlight seem to still tell the long-silent past.
Imperial Kiln Factory Ruins in the southern foothills
The Ming Dynasty Imperial Ware Factory did not simply produce porcelain, but also a comprehensive institution with comprehensive functions such as management, ceremonial sacrifice, living and living, storage of goods, and production.
Next to the ruins in the southern foothills is the "Youtao Spirit Shrine" sacrificed by the ancients. Walking into the "Youtao Spirit Temple", you can see the spiritual platform in front of an orange-red drapery, in the middle of which are enshrined statues of kiln prodigies, and on both sides are statues of kiln masters. According to the Qing Tang Ying's "Biography of the Fire God Child", it is recorded that the kiln god, that is, Tong Bin, the character Dingxin, is a tong street person in the village of Fuliang County. According to legend, in the twenty-seventh year of the Ming Dynasty (1599), the eunuch Pan Xiang was instructed to come to Jingdezhen to supervise the construction of the Qinglong Cylinder, stipulating that the cylinder was more than 2 feet high and 3 feet in diameter, surrounded by green dragons on the outside and decorated with seawater. Previous dynasties and dynasties have never burned such a huge object, and now the craftsmen of the Imperial Kiln Factory have tried several times, but they have failed, "or whipped, or famine", if not burned within the prescribed time limit, they will be destroyed. The kiln worker's heart is like a knife, but there is nothing he can do. At midnight one day in November of that year, Tong Bin jumped into the roaring kiln fire and protested to the government with his flesh and blood. Strange to say, the next day when the kiln was stopped and opened, the green dragon cylinder was burned, and the kiln workers got rid of their bad luck. However, the self-immolation incident of Tong Bintou kiln provoked a popular uprising. The "History of Ming" says: "Pan Xiang, the mining supervisor of Jiangxi, stirred up the kilns of Jingde Town in Liang and burned the factory buildings. In order to alleviate social conflicts, the government had to set up a shrine in the imperial kiln factory, and named Tong Bin a "Guangli Kiln God" and the name of the shrine was "Youtao Ling ancestral Hall", and the statue of the kiln god Tong Bin was enshrined in the temple.
"Youtao Ling ancestral hall"
Kiln prodigy guest statue
The sacrifice of kiln gods is a folk sacrifice custom formed in the history of Jingdezhen kiln industry and passed down from generation to generation, and now the sacrifice of kiln gods has become an important part of the Jingdezhen porcelain industry customs and culture in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage list in Jiangxi Province. This ceremony is arranged to be held during the annual Porcelain Expo, and all participants in the public ceremony are required to attend in full costume, raise a flag and hold a tribute. Although the surging news reporter missed this grand festival on this visit, the grandeur of the worship scene and the symbol of the thousand-year-old kiln fire is still fascinating.
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From the "Youtao Lingci Temple" out of the left turn, looking at the hillside a few hundred meters away is the Pearl Mountain, above which stands the Dragon Ball Pavilion. However, in the vast heritage park, the reporter has been slightly tired when he came here, his two legs are all moving forward by consciousness, and suddenly noticed the large green lawn on both sides of the road, just like the newborn furry grass looks green in the sun, as if the earth is specially laid out for people who come and go on this road, making people feel an impulse to lie down and take a nap with the fragrance of grass... It is understood that in the 1950s, the lawn around Longzhu Pavilion was about 50,000 square meters, and it was originally all very dense government office buildings and dormitory buildings. The reporter looked around, and it was really difficult for people to imagine the scene of office buildings standing here.
Dragon Ball Pavilion on Pearl Hill in the distance
After walking along the road for about a few minutes, I went up another slope and finally came to the bottom of the Dragon Ball Pavilion. It is a palace building with imitation heavy eaves, with a total of 6 floors. Since the Ming Dynasty, Longzhu Pavilion has been a representative building of the Imperial Instrument Factory and the Imperial Kiln Factory, and is the site of the Ming and Qing Dynasty official kilns, which has now become the city emblem of Jingdezhen. In Seto City, a porcelain-producing area in Japan, there is also a "Dragon Ball Pavilion" standing on the top of "Pearl Mountain". However, the "Dragon Ball Pavilion" is imitated by Jingdezhen, and its "Zhushan" is also hypothetical, but it expresses the reverence of the Seto people for the Dragon Ball Pavilion in Jingdezhen.
Miniature landscape of porcelain carving in the Royal Kiln Factory
Walking into the Dragon Ball Pavilion, the miniature landscape of porcelain carvings from the Royal Kiln Factory displayed in the middle of the exhibition hall is amazing. At present, the earliest visible image data of the layout of the Ming and Qing Imperial Kiln Factory is the "Jingdezhen Map" recorded in the "Kangxi Fuliang County Chronicle" written in the twenty-first year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1682), in which the Royal Kiln Factory is located on the east bank of the Changjiang River, between the front street and the back street in the middle of the Jingdezhen Town Area, there is a surrounding wall, the whole is closed, the wall has the east gate and the south gate, and the south gate has a plaque "Imperial Instrument Factory"; there are many buildings inside the wall, roughly symmetrically distributed in the central line; the west side of the wall is a mansion, and the east side is jiujiang road. Although the picture is recorded in the 21st year of the Kangxi Dynasty, it has a high degree of overlap with the record of the Imperial Instrument Factory in the 25th year of the Wanli Calendar, and the name at this time still uses the "Imperial Instrument Factory", and there are still Jiujiang Road and mansions on the east and west sides, and there is a master temple outside the factory. Therefore, some scholars have pointed out that there are two possibilities for this map: first, the Imperial Kiln Factory in the early Qing Dynasty and kangxi period may have followed the old name and layout mode of the Ming Dynasty, and the picture is a record of the layout at that time; second, the diagram published in the Kangxi Fuliang County Chronicle is an old map of the Ming Dynasty.
Jingdezhen Map, recorded in the Kangxi Fuliang County Chronicle of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty in the 21st year
In addition, Qing Lanpu, Zheng Tinggui supplemented the "Jingdezhen Pottery Record" in the function of the Qing Dynasty Royal Kiln Factory is also recorded, and recorded a "Royal Kiln Factory Map", through comparison, it can be seen that the function of the Imperial Kiln Factory in the middle of the Qing Dynasty has not changed much, but the layout has undergone some changes compared with before, the central Yimen to Zhushan added a surrounding wall, the central axis within the wall is distributed in the lobby, the lobby is left and right for the workshop, there is a raised Zhushan Behind the lobby, there is a land shrine on the east side, and there are Yushi Pavilion and Huancui Pavilion on the east and west sides of Zhushan Mountain; outside the wall, there are east and west gates in front of the Yimen Gate. To the south, there is a road leading directly to the main gate of the Royal Kiln Factory, the east side of the road is the Guandi Temple, the Youtao Ling Ancestral Hall, and the west side is the Jingdezhen Si Office; there is a wall in front of the south gate, the east side of the gate is the Branch Defense Office, and the west side is the mansion.
Qing Lanpu and Zheng Tinggui supplemented the "Jingdezhen Pottery Record" recorded in the "Royal Kiln Factory Map"
This miniature landscape of porcelain carving of the Royal Kiln Factory is based on the "Royal Kiln Factory Map" in the "Jingdezhen Pottery Record" of Qing Jiaqing in the twentieth year, and is fired at high temperature using ceramic materials, which shows the scale and momentum of the Royal Kiln Factory, and the entire installation is composed of more than 1300 ceramic "parts", breaking the "Guinness Record of the Great World" in one fell swoop. In the miniature landscape, the official offices, supervisor pavilions, prison houses, mansions, Jiujiang Road and other institutions and buildings with management functions in the Royal Kiln Factory; buildings with ceremonial sacrifice functions such as Yimen, Drum Towers, and Shrines; buildings with living and living functions such as halls, xuan, dormitories, boxes, and kiln service rooms; buildings with storage function such as warehouses and firewood rooms; and buildings with production functions such as workshops, kilns, wells, and firewood factories.
Miniature landscape of porcelain carving in Yuyao Factory (partial)
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The Dragon Ball Pavilion exhibition hall was established in 1989 shortly after the establishment of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeology Research Institute. In addition to the real appearance of the Ming and Qing Dynasty Royal Kiln Factory restored with relevant materials such as architectural models seen by the surging news reporter at the scene, Longzhu Pavilion is also a display place for official kiln porcelain restored by the Jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeology Research Institute. However, in the past thirty years, with the continuous excavation of the ming and qing royal kiln factory sites and the continuous accumulation of excavated cultural relics, many representative ceramic cultural relics specimens have been displayed in the Dragon Ball Pavilion.
Ming Chenghua Su Sancai duck-shaped aromatherapy Courtesy of Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Museum
In 2015, Jiang Jianxin, then director of the Jingdezhen Institute of Ceramic Archaeology, had the idea of building a new museum, but suffered from lack of funds. Later, Geng Baochang of the Palace Museum, Su Bai of Peking University, and Xie Chensheng, then deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, three ninety-year-old old gentlemen jointly wrote a letter to the central leaders. It is understood that the content of this letter is not only to build the Royal Kiln Museum, but also to put forward several suggestions for the protection of the entire Imperial Kiln Factory. Later, after receiving the instructions of the central leadership, the project allocation for the construction of the new museum came down.
Completed and opened to the public in October 2020, the Royal Kiln Museum, inspired by the traditional dragon kiln in Jingdezhen, is made up of eight multi-curved arches, and 20% of the bricks in its building materials are old kiln bricks in Jingdezhen. "This building is rooted in the history of Jingdezhen, and it has a temperature." Zhu Kai, designer of the Royal Kiln Museum and dean of the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, previously introduced that the Royal Kiln Museum was built near the site of the Royal Kiln, and approaching it, it seems to be able to feel the atmosphere of the Imperial Kiln.
At present, the Royal Kiln Museum is planning a permanent exhibition to show the entire historical development of the Official Kilns of the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties by displaying the important ceramic archaeological achievements made by the Jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeology Research Institute in the past 30 years at the site of the Imperial Kiln Factory and the important relics of various periods of excavation. However, how to use an exhibition to tell the long-deposited stories behind the 600-year-old imperial kiln factory that has served 27 emperors and experienced glory and vicissitudes.
Jiang Jianxin told the surging news: "Since the Royal Kiln Museum was established on the basis of the ruins of the Ming and Qing Dynasty Imperial Kiln Factory, it will be more special in the exhibition design. For example, the general museum mainly displays a single classic collection passed down, and the Imperial Kiln Museum will display dozens of specimens of the same type of artifact, including fine and defective products, through such a display, the audience can discover its production process and the criteria for selecting fine products. Now the preliminary work has been prepared, including the writing of the exhibition outline and the design of the exhibition, and the window of the exhibition hall has also been constructed, and it is expected to be completed before the Spring Festival and open to the public. ”
Renderings of the exhibition of the Royal Kiln Museum Courtesy of the Royal Kiln Museum of Jingdezhen
Exiting the Dragon Ball Pavilion and passing through the Beilu Ruins Conservation Hall located behind it, under the slightly dim light of the room, a group of 7 gourd kilns from the Hongwu to Yongle periods of the Ming Dynasty can be seen, and a green brick pavement site of the Yuan Dynasty appears in front of the viewer. This relic was found before the official construction of the Royal Kiln Museum, in order to cooperate with the infrastructure construction, approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeology Institute conducted archaeological excavations in the surrounding area, and the site of the east wall of the Royal Kiln Factory can also be seen in the northeast corner of the road surface site.
Yuan Dynasty pavement
In front of the ruins is the Imperial Kiln Museum, walking through the greenery, walking on the rustling gravel ground, and then crossing the calm water and slowly entering the entrance hall. Heading to the left, walking in an arched space that is sometimes indoor and sometimes outdoor, against the background of red kiln bricks, with the change of light and shadow, it seems that a random screenshot is a rare photographic blockbuster. When looking at the Ming Dynasty ruins located in the sunken courtyard through the oval perspective of the museum, the arched red brick building opposite is like a window, so that the audience's eyes fall from the ruins of the Ming Dynasty to the current museum, and then to the bamboo forest and houses not far away, seeing not only the past, the present, but also the future...
Exterior view of the Imperial Kiln Museum
Interior view of the Imperial Kiln Museum The image is from the Eran Architectural Photography
Ming Dynasty relics in the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Museum
Just around the Royal Kiln Museum, there are also protected old houses and private kilns from the Ming, Qing and Republic of China eras, the physical remains of traditional handicraft workshops and wood-fired kilns in the Qing Dynasty, including ancient folk wood kilns such as Xujia kiln, Yishan kiln, and under-plate kiln, and many handicraft workshops, all of which have a history of 200 to 300 years, and are the best-preserved and most distinctive landmark cultural buildings in modern China's modern handmade porcelain industry, in addition, there are the remains of the Jianguo Porcelain Factory in Jingdezhen built after 1949. As well as the residential commercial houses of residents at the end of the 1990s, they present a rich and diversified urban texture, which can really be described as a "kiln" looking at ancient and modern times.
Xujiayao
National Ceramic Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Project - Ming and Qing Kilns As a Construction Technique Gallery
What is surprising is that such a "kiln" is not a blunt display of ancient and modern, but has the freshness of the craftsmen and the temperature of the kiln fire, where there are both Ming and Qing kilns as a construction technology gallery, inviting a series of non-hereditary inheritors of porcelain art production to make and display on the spot, and Jingdezhen retains the oldest, most complete and largest wood kiln site - Xujiayao, after stopping firing for decades, dozens of experienced old kiln workers of Jianguo Porcelain Factory have been involved in the restoration and re-firing project of Xujiayao, starting from 2016, after igniting and re-firing the kiln, The kiln fire is rekindled every year.
"Re-burning is the inheritance of living. We want to innovate in the inheritance. Hu Jiawang, a national non-hereditary heir and kiln pile master who is nearly eighty years old, said at the re-firing site.
Although the surging news reporter did not encounter the grand situation of re-firing at the scene, but imagine that the teacher of the kiln will light the torch, one person and one person to pass, and then with one torch after another is put into the ignition port, the flame suddenly rises, the more it burns more and more vigorously, the re-ignition of the kiln fire comes from the folk, returns to the folk, which represents both the prosperity of the people, but also the "primitive" strength and temperature, the kiln and porcelain, in the most close to life way to present, in the imperial kiln continues to produce real handmade porcelain, want to make people sigh.
When the Ming and Qing imperial kilns finally became a thing of the past and a huge archaeological site, and the ancient kilns such as Xujiayao, which represented the folk kilns, have been lit, the more they burned, the more prosperous, I don't know if this is a symbol?
(This visit is thanks to Jiang Jianxin, Wang Tongmao and Deng Zhongqing of the Jingdezhen Institute of Ceramic Archaeology for their support.) ）
Editor-in-Charge: Ruoxi Chen
Proofreader: Yan Zhang