Jun Porcelain Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Jun porcelain is one of the five great famous porcelains of the Song dynasty—Jun, Ru, Guan, Ge, and Ding. It was first created in the Tang dynasty and flourished in the Northern Song dynasty, and its unique kiln-transmutation craft holds a style of its own in Chinese ceramic firing technology. During the Huizong reign of the Northern Song dynasty, the government set up an official kiln in the northeast of present-day Yuzhou City, Henan Province, to fire tribute porcelain for the imperial palace. After the fall of the Northern Song dynasty, the Jun kiln ceased firing. During the Jin and Yuan periods, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shanxi, and other places all imitated Jun porcelain, but due to factors such as raw materials, their artistic achievement could not match that of the Song-dynasty official kiln In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jun porcelain production developed slowly.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Because the kiln site is near the ancient Jun Terrace (Juntai) of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it was named the 'Juntai Kiln,' abbreviated as the 'Jun Kiln,' and the porcelain it produced is named 'Jun porcelain.' As Jun-kiln craftsmen scattered far and wide, the Jun porcelain firing craft gradually spread to various places. compared with the products. After the founding of New China, Jun porcelain production entered a period of comprehensive restoration. The Ren-family and Lu-family Jun-porcelain lineages—such as Lu Guangdong and Lu Guangwen—contributed their ancestral secret techniques, making contributions to the development of Jun porcelain. The reason Jun porcelain is so prized, apart from its vigorous, dignified forms, lies chiefly in two aspects: first, during firing Jun porcelain exhibits a kiln-transmutation phenomenon; glazes containing copper, after transmutation, form glaze colors such as begonia red, cinnabar red, and rooster-blood red, which permeate and reflect one another in mutual brilliance—hence the saying 'one color entering the kiln, ten thousand colors leaving it'; second, the Jun porcelain crafting process is complex, with a low yield rate; a single piece of Jun porcelain passes through 72 process steps from material selection to firing. In recent years, with the spread of mechanization technology in the ceramics industry and the application of natural-gas and electric kilns, the traditional Jun porcelain firing craft has gradually declined, and both its cultural connotation and artistic quality show a downward trend, making the protection of the traditional Jun porcelain firing craft urgent.
Archival Account of Craft Procedures
complex, with a low yield rate; a single piece of Jun porcelain passes through 72 process steps from material selection to firing.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Jun porcelain firing craft is centered on Yuzhou City, Henan Province; the ancient Jun Terrace lies in the northeast of Yuzhou City, hence the kiln name 'Juntai Kiln,' abbreviated as 'Jun Kiln.' Because the kiln site is near the ancient Jun Terrace of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it was named the 'Juntai Kiln.' As Jun-kiln craftsmen scattered far and wide, the Jun porcelain firing craft gradually spread to various places. After the founding of New China, Jun porcelain production entered a period of comprehensive restoration. The Yuzhou City Cultural Center is the protecting unit of the item.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yang Zhi (per official inheritor archives): Male, Han ethnicity, born in March 1947, a native of Yuzhou City, Henan Province. Representative inheritor of the Jun porcelain firing craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the third batch. Jun porcelain firing technician. His hand-pulled Jun porcelain bodies are a unique skill; he summarized the creative principle of 'rather whole than broken, rather simple than ornate; form is the foundation, glaze is the soul,' and his works have repeatedly won major domestic awards. In 2010, he guided a disciple in innovating the first Jun-porcelain jump-cut decoration (called the 'Yang-family knife method'), adding a line-cut decorative technique to Jun porcelain in addition to its kiln-transmutation glaze surface. Since 2006, he has led disciples in collecting and organizing Jun-porcelain-related objects and materials, gathering dozens of sets of traditional Jun-porcelain clay and glaze processing, crushing equipment and tools, and also excavated and protected an ancient porcelain-clay mine shaft. In 2012, he received the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor Inheritance Award, issued by the China Art Research Institute (the Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection of China). Ren Xinghang (per official inheritor archives): Male, Han ethnicity, born in January 1955, a native of Yuzhou City, Henan Province. Representative inheritor of the Jun porcelain firing craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fourth batch. Jun porcelain firing technician. In 1966 he learned the ancestral Jun porcelain craft from his father, Ren Jian. In 2004, at his own expense, he planned and built the Yuzhou City Jun Porcelain Kiln Museum, restoring and recreating more than ten Jun-porcelain kilns that had historically exerted major influence, and fully recovering their firing processes. His most outstanding craft characteristic is his adherence to the traditional Jun porcelain firing craft, especially the Song-dynasty firewood-firing process. On the basis of the ancestral craft, through restoring and recreating kilns of past dynasties and their firing patterns, he ascertained and mastered the kiln structures, glaze formulations, and firing techniques suited to the traditional firewood-firing process. His works have primitive, elegant forms, a milky luster, and an unforced, natural quality. He attaches great importance to the transmission of the craft, having trained many disciples, several of whom have mastered the essence of the Ren-family Jun porcelain craft and become technical backbone of the Jun porcelain community in Yuzhou City.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Zhi 03-1350
- Ren Xinghang 04-1871
- Kong Xiangqing 04-1872
- Miaozhangqiang 04-1873
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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