Traditional Firing Technology of Longquan Celadon
01 · Historical Records
The Longquan kiln began in the Western Jin dynasty and had already taken initial shape by the Northern Song; in the mid-to-late Southern Song it entered its peak period, with porcelain-making skills reaching the highest level. The plum-green and powder-blue glazes attained the supreme realm of celadon glaze colors. The Ge kiln among the traditional Longquan kilns, together with the Guan, Ru, Ding and Jun kilns, is known as one of the Five Great Kilns of the Song dynasty. The celadon skills of the Longquan kiln promoted the development of porcelain kilns in various places; from the Southern Song to the Ming dynasty, kilns in Fujian, along the coast of Guangdong and in Jiangxi one after another fired products similar to Longquan celadon. Longquan celadon reached its peak in the Song and Yuan dynasties; in the Ming dynasty the scale of production was undiminished but quality declined; by the Qing dynasty it gradually declined, and after the late Qing firing ceased for a time, with only a few kilns engaged in archaistic production. From the Southern Song to the early Yuan dynasty, the Longquan kiln fired thin-bodied vessels with a single original glaze: one layer of glaze applied and fired once, with the thickest reaching more than ten layers.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Longquan is a famous historical and cultural city of Zhejiang Province, located in the southwest of Zhejiang and bordering Jiangxi and Fujian provinces; it is renowned for its production of celadon. Cultural relics surveys have found more than five hundred ancient kiln sites for firing celadon here, with more than three hundred and sixty within Longquan City alone; this vast porcelain-kiln system is historically known as the Longquan kiln. The Longquan kiln is the famous celadon kiln with the longest firing history, the widest distribution of kiln sites, the highest product quality and the largest production scale and export range in the history of Chinese ceramics. Longquan celadon also had a major influence abroad, being exported in large quantities as early as the Song and Yuan dynasties. Chen Qiaoyi wrote in the 'Preface to the Gazetteer of Place Names of Longquan County': 'From the various ports on the southeastern coast of China, following the sea routes all the way to the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the coast of East Africa along the Indian Ocean... there is nowhere that the traces of Longquan celadon cannot be found.' The process flow of Longquan celadon consists of eight stages: material mixing, forming, body-trimming, decoration, glazing and biscuit firing, saggar loading, kiln loading and firing, of which glazing and firing are the most distinctive. Thick-glaze products usually require several layers of glaze: one layer applied and biscuit-fired, then glazed and biscuit-fired again, repeated four or five times; the most require more than ten layers of glaze before entering the final firing. The biscuit-firing temperature is relatively low, generally around 800 degrees Celsius. Glaze firing, by contrast, is at around 1,200 degrees Celsius, with the temperature raised and controlled step by step as required and the kiln atmosphere controlled, until the finished product is finally obtained. Celadon firing is not only a technology but also an art. Fine celadon is green and lustrous, crystal clear and rich in charm, possessing a 'jade-like' beauty that embodies profound cultural content. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the celadon firing craft, which had declined since the late Qing and early Republican period, was restored. However, as the function of celadon vessels has gradually been replaced by modern goods, social demand for them is not great.
Archival Records of Process Steps
The process flow of Longquan celadon consists of eight stages: material mixing, forming, body-trimming, decoration, glazing and biscuit firing, saggar loading, kiln loading and firing, of which glazing and firing are the most distinctive.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
After the bodies have dried, glaze is applied; this can be divided into several steps: swirl-glazing, dip-glazing, brush-glazing and spray-glazing.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present, some of the skills of celadon production are gradually being forgotten, and with the intervention of modern machinery, traditional handmade porcelain-making skills face serious challenges, are on the verge of extinction, and urgently need saving and protection. Xu Chaoxing (recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1943, from Longquan, Zhejiang. Representative inheritor of the Longquan celadon firing technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the first national-level batch; master of Chinese arts and crafts. Over fifty-five years, while inheriting the technological characteristics of traditional Longquan celadon, he has continually explored and innovated, forming his own distinctive technical features and artistic style, mainly reflected in his command of vessel forms, the refinement of his craft, the evenness and thickness of the glaze color, decorative techniques and the treatment of texture. He successively developed new techniques such as pierced (linglong) celadon, thin-body celadon, accent crackle and exposed-body decoration, which have been widely acclaimed in the ceramics world. At the same time, he has actively engaged in teaching, taking on a number of apprentices and repeatedly being invited by the China Academy of Art to provide technical instruction. Representative works include the China-US Friendship Linglong Lamp, the Wanbang Changsheng Auspicious Vase and the Ge-Di Mixed Three-Ring Vase. Xiahou Wen (recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1935, from Fenyi County, Jiangxi Province. Representative inheritor of the Longquan celadon firing technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fourth national-level batch. Senior industrial artist; master of Chinese arts and crafts; expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council. After graduating in 1963, he was assigned to the Zhejiang Longquan Porcelain Factory, and later entered the Longquan Celadon Research Institute, where he studied celadon firing under the famous veteran artists Li Huaide and Li Huaichuan. He mastered every process step and technical formula of celadon production, and through long practice inherited and developed the traditional craft, forming his own technical characteristics and artistic style. Representative works include the Ge-Kiln Dragon-Pattern Dish, the 'Seizing the Green' Peony Vase, the Flowers Blooming as Desired Plate and the Nine-Inch Double-Fish Washer. Since 2000, more than twenty of his works have received national and provincial awards, and many have been collected by the China Ceramics Museum.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xu Chaoxing 01-0127
- Xiahou Wen 04-1833
- Mao Zhengcong 04-1834
- Zhang Shaobin 05-2724
- Chen Aiming
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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