Speaking of Shangyu in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, it may not be unfamiliar to many people. Shangyu is the legendary birthplace of Emperor Shun and the hometown of Zhu Yingtai, and is also the birthplace of Chinese celadon with a long history. As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty more than 2000 years ago, this magical land gave birth to the world's earliest mature porcelain, which lasted for more than 1000 years. It is the longest lasting and most influential kiln series in China, namely Yue kiln celadon, also known as "mother porcelain".
The famous Tang Dynasty poet Lu Guimeng praised the exquisite glaze color of Yue kiln porcelain in his poem "Secret Colors Yue Qi" with the line "On the ninth day of autumn wind, the Yue kiln opened and captured a thousand peaks of green color. It's like joining hands in the middle of the night, sharing the scattered cups of Ji Zhong".
type
Shangyu Yue kiln celadon is made from local porcelain stones or clay, with a gray body and a glaze color of blue yellow or green. There are a wide variety of items available, including tableware, storage containers, sanitary ware, bedding, lighting fixtures, stationery, furnishings, musical instruments, sacrificial vessels, Ming ware, toys, and more.
There are more than 400 types of Yue kiln celadon, including chicken head pots, porcelain jars, octagonal water bottles, flat mouthed peony bottles, celadon washing, celadon statues, celadon saliva pots, sunflower plates, Yue bowl stoves, character water dispensers, incense burners, and household daily necessities such as Yue bowls, ashtrays, tea cups, and pen holders.
胎质
Yue kiln celadon has a delicate and even texture, with a lightweight body; The glaze color is mainly light green, with a thin and transparent glaze layer, appearing bright, pure and elegant in color; The pattern is simple and vivid, the pattern decoration is elegant and refined, and its shape is solid and the color is simple。
decorate
The mature craftsmanship of Yue kiln celadon has enabled it to reach a high level in both form and decorative art. Due to the clear and transparent glaze color, which is suitable for decoration such as carving, printing, and carving, as well as the developed brown color painting form, and influenced by handmade patterns such as Tang Dynasty gold and silver, silk, and lacquerware, the unique decorative style of Yue kiln celadon has been formed.
However, the Yue kiln gradually declined and fell into a low point after the Song Dynasty. In the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, with the downfall of the Wu Yue Kingdom, the rise of other kilns, and the fuel shortage caused by the extreme prosperity of local agriculture, the Shangyu Yue kiln rapidly declined and eventually disappeared completely, lasting more than 800 years.
In the 1980s, with the assistance of multiple units, technicians from Shangyu Ceramic Factory selected objects such as frog shaped water bowls, chicken head pots, and sheep shaped candle holders. After dozens of glaze formula experiments, they finally successfully fired antique Yue kiln celadon, restoring the unique beauty of ancient celadon.
The production of Yue kiln celadon is a complex process. Yue kiln has been producing mature porcelain since the Eastern Han Dynasty, during the heyday of the Three Kingdoms, Western Jin Dynasty, and Northern Song Dynasty. The porcelain making technology has become increasingly mature, and the production process requires seven steps: taking soil, drying soil, refining soil, making clay, repairing clay, glazing, and firing.
1、 Take soil, wash, and compact
Taking soil is the first step, which is to retrieve the porcelain clay. Then filter the soil with water to remove impurities. Mash the washed porcelain clay to increase its viscosity.
2、 Pulling blanks
Due to the fact that celadon ware is generally round, a simple tool with mechanical properties, called a pottery cart, was often used in the past to make the billet round and improve efficiency.
A pottery cart, also known as a pottery wheel, has a pillar at the bottom and a circular wooden board at the top. The porcelain clay is placed on top of the wooden board, and then the wooden board is rotated to form the pottery wheel. This process is called casting.
3、 Repairing blanks
After the casting process is completed, it needs to be placed on a shelf for drying, and then repaired. The first step in repairing porcelain is to ensure uniform thickness on all sides. If the thickness of the pottery is uneven during the firing process, it is common for it to break. And the carving of porcelain also needs to be completed at this time.
4、 Carving flowers
After the basic shaping of the object, various decorative patterns, namely engraved flowers, should be carved on the body.
5、 Glazing
The glaze of celadon is a muddy and turbid substance. The most magical process in the production of Yue kiln celadon is undoubtedly the glaze of celadon. The Yue kiln celadon glaze, which can make the emerald color of Qianfeng pale, is actually a bucket of muddy and turbid substance. There are minerals, plant ash, and so on from the mountains in this turbid substance. Yue kiln celadon is magical in that it only requires a thin layer, which can be tempered by fire, oxidized, and fired into a mud like glaze to produce color and luster.
6、 Roasting
http://The firing of Yue kiln celadon is crucial and extremely difficult. At a high temperature of over 1300 degrees Celsius, celadon is fired with an open flame. If the firing ring is slightly different, the color of the celadon will be different. Black, yellow, and green are all possible.
According to archaeological data, there are nearly 400 kiln sites from the Shang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty in Shangyu, making it the county with the largest number of ancient kiln remains in China. In recent years, excavation and protection work on kiln sites has not stopped. On the one hand, Shangyu District focuses on site protection, and on the other hand, it adheres to innovation, integrates with modern ceramic art at home and abroad, and promotes Shangyu celadon. After a thousand years of burning, the inheritance of Yue kiln celadon was once reduced to white land. On the basis of zero foundation, Shangyu District has established a complete and orderly inheritance sequence through the unremitting efforts and persistent research of the inheritors from the old, middle, and young generations, promoting the development of the celadon industry.
Celadon, with its unique spirit of "mud" and quality of "jade", has become a witness to the spirit of the Chinese nation. These celadons are not only precious cultural heritage of Shangyu, but also the cornerstone of inheritance in a greater sense.
The excavation and firing of celadon are currently in full swing on the land of Shangyu. Countless workers and inheritors are gradually joining the team of inheriting celadon culture, continuously carrying forward and promoting it.
In Shangyu, the pace of future people exploring celadon culture will not stop, and the dream of pursuing cultural relics will not wither. As time goes by, the thousand year old Dongshan Mountain remains silent, but the celadon that symbolizes the spirit of the people of Shangyu will always shine brightly in the sunshine.
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