The excavation of the Kiln Site of Longtan Ming Dynasty in Kaihua, Zhejiang Province, has achieved important results
Release on 2018-06-20 Source: China Cultural Relics Information Network Author: Xie Xiying Shen Yueming and others
The Longtan kiln site is located in Longtan Village, Suzhuang Town, Kaihua County, Zhejiang Province. In order to further explore the problems of the kiln site's era, production appearance and relationship with the porcelain industry in the surrounding areas, especially in the Jingdezhen area, and to protect cultural relics on the basis of archaeological excavations, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Kaihua County Cultural Relics Management Institute jointly organized an archaeological excavation.
Aerial photography of the excavation site
Overview of the work
This archaeological work can be roughly divided into two parts. The first part, regional systems surveys. In order to explore the kiln site in the area and the distribution of kiln resources, a detailed survey was conducted in the surrounding area of the kiln site. The survey results show that there are 5 kiln sites in the area, namely Longtan, Taiguanling, Hanjiafang, Kiln Dun and Bowl Ridge Mountain Kiln Site. From the perspective of the distribution of kiln resources, the area where the kiln site is located is a hilly area with dense vegetation, which can provide rich fuel for kiln production; porcelain clay ore resources are abundant, and there are kaolin ore distribution in the two locations opposite the kiln site; the southern part of the kiln site group is close to Suzhuang Creek, which can provide rich water sources and convenient transportation conditions for kiln production. The second part, archaeological excavations at the kiln site. A total of 7 excavations were laid out in this archaeological excavation, with an excavation area of 350 square meters.
relic
Dragon Kiln Kiln is located in the middle of the excavation area, numbered Y1, head south and tail north, in the direction of 353°. The kiln (residual) is 15.86 meters long obliquely, the horizontal length is about 15.32 meters, and the slope of the front and rear sections varies in size, the front and middle sections are about 13 to 21 °, and the residual rear section is slightly slower by about 10 to 12 °. The front end of the kiln is 1.08 meters wide near the kiln head, and gradually widened backwards, the middle section is about 1.96 meters wide, and there is a tendency to narrow in the back, and only the west wall of the kiln remains in the rear section, and the east wall does not exist, and the specific width is unknown. The roof of the kiln collapsed, and it was impossible to restore the distribution of the kiln roof and the firewood throwing hole. The kiln wall is made of bricks and cylindrical cassettes with staggered flat blocks, with remnants ranging from 0 to 3 layers, a height of 0 to 0.76 meters, and a hard sintered surface on the inside of the kiln wall. The kiln is relatively well preserved, and the existing structures such as fire chamber, kiln bed, kiln door, pillar foundation stone, etc., the tail section of the kiln does not exist. The roof of the kiln collapsed, and it was impossible to restore the distribution of the top and firewood throwing holes. The chamber of fire is located at the front of the kiln and has a semicircular shape. The shape is special and there is no obvious demarcation from the kiln bed. The middle of the kiln bed is the widest, about 1.96 meters, slightly narrower at both ends, 1.08 meters at the front end and 1.7 meters at the rear end. The bottom of the kiln bed is paved with sand, and the sintered surface is more obvious, slightly thicker near the kiln wall. There are a small number of cassette bowls remaining on the kiln bed, of which the front section is less, the middle part is more but more messy, and the rear section is not preserved. The tail of the kiln does not exist, and the smoke extraction room cannot be restored. There are 2 remaining kiln doors, which are located on the east and west walls of the kiln. Its Middle East wall kiln door is well preserved, the plane is outer figure-eight, the width is 0.46 ~ 0.85 meters, the doorway wall is made of bricks, stones and cassettes, and the bottom of the doorway has a relatively hard sintered surface. The pillar foundation stone is located in the west of the kiln, about 0.6 meters from the west wall of the kiln, and should be left behind by the kiln shed. The pillar is divided into two steps, one in the south (bottom) and one in the north (top), and the south is tiled and the north side is standing. The southern pillar foundation is 0.31 long, 0.26 wide and 0.17 meters thick, while the northern pillar foundation is 0.3 long, 0.14 wide and 0.25 meters thick.
Dragon kiln remains
The mud storage pit is located in the western part of the excavation area and is numbered K1. The plane is irregular semicircular. The pit mouth is 1.48 to 1.83 meters long from east to west, 1.08 to 1.46 meters long from north to south, and 0.24 to 0.36 meters deep. The pit wall is erect and traces of processing are seen. A large number of porcelain clay raw materials are stored in the pit.
Mud storage pits
The wash tank is located in the eastern part of the excavation area, near the kiln in the west, and is numbered CH1. The plane is irregularly rectangular, 1.92 to 3.06 meters long, 2.24 to 3.04 meters wide, and the maximum depth is 0.55 meters. The pit wall is erect and flat-bottomed. The north wall is built with cassettes and stone blocks, and a thin layer of fine porcelain clay particles remains at the bottom.
Wash basin
The cassette retaining wall is located in the eastern and western parts of the excavation area, numbered DQ1 and DQ2 respectively. The DQ1 plane is irregularly straight and linear, 3.2 meters long. The walls are divided into north and south rows, made of cylindrical cassettes and stones, and filled with mud. The DQ2 plane is irregularly straight and linear, 2.12 meters long. The walls are made of cylindrical cassettes, filled with crushed cassettes and porcelain shards. Both retaining walls should play a role in dividing the kiln production workshop and the waste accumulation.
Box bowl retaining wall
relic
Porcelain products are rich in types, distinguished by glaze color, can be divided into blue and white porcelain, white glaze porcelain, blue glaze porcelain, purple gold glaze porcelain and other 4 categories, in addition to the ground also collected blue glaze utensils 3 pieces, from the shape and other aspects of the comprehensive view should also be this kiln products. In the process of archaeological excavations, multi-dimensional statistics have been carried out on the relics excavated in various layers, and the statistical results show that blue and white porcelain accounts for 51.2%, white glazed porcelain accounts for 38.7%, blue glazed porcelain accounts for 7.4%, purple gold glazed porcelain accounts for 3.7%, and blue and white porcelain accounts for the vast majority. From the perspective of utensil statistics, there are 12 kinds of blue and white porcelain products such as bowls, plates, cups, utensil lids, goblets, pots, bricks, stoves, bottles, pen holders, cans, bowls, etc., white glazed porcelain products include bowls, plates, bowls, grinding rods, goblets, boxes, bottles, stones, furnaces, bowls, and lids, 5 kinds of blue-glazed porcelain products, such as bowls, plates, bowls, bowls, stoves, etc., and purple gold glazed porcelain has 4 kinds of bowls, plates, cups, and lids. Among them, blue and white porcelain has the highest quality and rich decorative patterns, and the types of patterns include butterfly pattern, folded branch flower pattern, tangled lotus pattern, fish algae pattern, peony pattern, banana leaf pattern, lion pattern, passionflower pattern, etc. The kiln has a cassette bowl, a cushion cake, a shaft top bowl, a fire, a swing hoop, and so on. From the perspective of the firing process, in order to increase the output of the kiln products, all products are made of astringent ring stacking and cassette firing.
"Zhengde Geng Noon Year Made"
It is particularly noteworthy that the kiln farm products are rich in style, and there are more than 90 categories according to incomplete statistics. Based on the standard of writing style and position, it can be divided into four categories.
The first category, blue and white flowers, is distributed in bowls, plates, and cups. There are nearly 80 kinds of recognizable characters such as "Fu", "Yu", "Indicium", "Three", "Xu", "Lan", "Ginger", "Song", "Good", "Fang" and so on.
The second category, blue flower material, is distributed at the center of the bottom of the cup and the outside of the stone. There are four kinds of recognizable characters: "five", "qing", "wang" and "nineteen".
The third category, blue flower material, is distributed on the outer abdomen of the bowl. There are two kinds of recognizable characters, "Shou" and "Fu", of which the former is more numerous.
The fourth category: engraving, distributed in the inner part of the bowl. There are two kinds of recognizable characters: "揁" and "三九".
Kiln site dating
Judging from the archaeological excavations and the collation of excavated relics, the product appearance and chronological characteristics of the kiln site are relatively concentrated, and can be classified as a phase, which is the middle of the Ming Dynasty. A white porcelain pot was excavated from the strata, and the inner abdomen has the character "Zhengde Gengwu Nianzuo", which is the fifth year of Zhengde (1510).
Academic significance
The kiln site is the earliest kiln site found in Zhejiang to burn blue and white porcelain. According to the survey data, there are 31 blue and white kiln sites in Zhejiang, which are mainly distributed in the junction areas of Jiangxi and Fujian from the perspective of distribution. The Longtan kiln site is the earliest blue and white porcelain kiln site that has been discovered so far, dating up to the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty.
From the perspective of the whole country, the earliest civil kiln blue and white kiln that has been excavated so far is the site of the Liyang Porcelain Mountain Kiln in Jingdezhen, and the era is also the middle of the Ming Dynasty. However, the former kiln furnace system is gourd-shaped, and the dragon kiln remains revealed by the Longtan kiln site have broken through the previous understanding and also provided rich information for the comparison of kiln technology in different regions.
The remains of the Longtan Dragon Kiln have a special shape, with open kiln doors on both sides, no obvious demarcation between the fire chamber and the kiln bed, and a slope of 21° in the front section of the kiln, of which the first two are not found in the previous excavated dragon kiln remains, which to a certain extent enriches the types of dragon kiln remains in Zhejiang.
Compared with the royal kiln blue and white porcelain, there are still a large number of blind spots in the ming kiln porcelain generation, including Jingdezhen, and a large number of blue and white porcelain accompanied by the "Zhengde Geng NoonNian Creation" chronology in the stratigraphic accumulation of the Longtan kiln site provide a clear yardstick for the ming kiln blue and white porcelain generation.
As many as 90 kinds of characters have been unearthed at the kiln site, which provides rare physical information for discussing the production organization form and supply and demand relationship of the kiln industry.
The excavation of the kiln site has provided a large amount of first-hand information for exploring the academic issue of "blue and white Zhejiang materials".
The earliest mention of "blue and white Zhejiang material" in the literature seen so far first appears in volume 419 of the Records of the Ming Dynasty: "(March 34) Yi Hai, a eunuch of the Jiangxi mining tax, moved to Jingdezhen with the prospect of mine withdrawal, and Shangshu asked him to specialize in kiln affairs. It is also said that the depiction of porcelain must use soil green, but Zhejiang green is the top, and the rest of Luling, Yongfeng, and Yushan Counties are in a light color of soil green, please change the price to enter, from it. "This document records that the royal kiln blue flower is made of blue and white Zhejiang material, and the thirty-fourth year of the Wanli calendar is 1606 AD. At present, the joint scientific research institutions are conducting composition testing on a large number of blue and white porcelain excavated from the "Zhengde Gengwunian (1510) Fabrication" strata of the Longtan kiln site, and the blue and white porcelain at the Longtan kiln site is expected to become the empirical evidence of the earliest use of "Zhejiang material" in the folk kiln blue and white.
In the Ming Dynasty literature, there are relevant records of the origin of "Zhejiang materials". Records of the Ming Dynasty Sect, vol. 434: "Liu Yuanzhen, the right attendant of the Ministry of Works, asked to dismiss Tuqing in Xinchang and other counties and not to report it." It is said that Zhejiang Tuqing is temporarily mined with the mine, and it does not supplement the practical. In xinchang solution, the true color is exhausted and crude, and in Dongyang, Yongkang, and Jiangshan solution, it will be difficult to continue to lose. Written in the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637), "Tiangong Kaiwu" also has a detailed description of Zhejiang Qing in the "Tao Yuan-White Porcelain with Celadon Porcelain": "The use of Fan Rao Town, with qu and Xin counties in the mountains as the upper material, is called Zhejiang material. Those who are high in the upper place are in the middle, and those in the toyo castle are in the lower part. ”
Based on this, it is planned to take the excavation of the Longtan kiln site as an opportunity to conduct systematic archaeological investigation and research on the 31 qinghua kiln sites in Zhejiang and the existence areas of "Qinghua Zhejiang Material" mentioned in the literature, with a view to establishing a systematic chronology of Zhejiang Qinghua and clarifying the academic issue of "Qinghua Zhejiang Material". (Author: Xie Xiying, Shen Yueming, Lu Sujun, Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Kaihua County Cultural Relics Management Institute)