Yue Kiln Celadon Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Shangyu is universally acknowledged as the birthplace of Yue-kiln celadon. The craft took shape in the Han dynasty, reached its first peak in the Three Kingdoms and Western Jin, its full flourishing in the Five Dynasties and Northern Song, and then gradually declined from the mid-to-late Northern Song. The famous Tang-dynasty poet Lu Guimeng, in his poem "Secret-Color Yue Wares," wrote, "When the autumn winds and dew of the ninth month open the Yue kilns, they seize the jade-green hue of a thousand peaks."
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Yue kiln was the most famous celadon kiln system of ancient China. Because its kiln sites lie in present-day Shangyu, Yuyao, and Ningbo in Zhejiang, which in ancient times fell under the jurisdiction of Yue Prefecture, the ware is called Yue-kiln celadon. Shangyu was also the central production area for early Yue ware; most of the early Yue-kiln porcelain excavated at various sites originated here. The making of Shangyu Yue-kiln celadon passes through a complex craft sequence: mining, crushing, screening, washing, precipitation, aging, kneading the clay, forming, drying the body, trimming the body, decoration, glazing, and firing. The selection of porcelain clay (stone), the preparation of the glaze, the forming, and the firing are the most important of these stages. Shangyu Yue-kiln celadon is made from local porcelain stone or porcelain clay; the body is gray, and the glaze is yellowish-green or blue-green. The line "As if receiving the night dew at midnight, together with Ji Kang's cup contending in grace" praises the exquisite glaze color of Yue-kiln porcelain. Shangyu Yue-kiln celadon comes in a great variety of types, ranging from eating and drinking vessels, storage vessels, sanitation ware, bedding, and lighting implements to writing implements, display pieces, musical instruments, sacrificial vessels, mingqi (tomb goods), and toys—everything one could wish for. The whole process can be divided into four stages. The first is the clay stage, running from mining, crushing, screening, and washing through precipitation, aging, and kneading, turning porcelain stone or clay into a workable paste; aging is a matter of time, and it is here that the clay's character is fixed. The second is forming and finishing: the piece is shaped by throwing on the wheel or by press-molding, then dried so that moisture is even inside and out, and trimmed so that the rim, foot, and walls reach the thickness suited to firing. The third is decoration and glazing: incising and carving-and-filling leave layered relief beneath the glaze, so that besides the celadon's blue-green glaze one can still make out these patterns. The fourth is firing: the kiln temperature and atmosphere determine the glaze's color, and it is precisely here that the difference between yellowish-green and blue-green lies. Among all stages, the selection of porcelain clay, the preparation of the glaze, the forming, and the firing are universally regarded as the four most demanding. The range of products unfolds along this same process—from eating and drinking vessels, storage vessels, sanitation ware, and bedding through lighting implements, all the way to writing implements, display pieces, musical instruments, sacrificial vessels, mingqi, and toys; the breadth of use comes exactly from a body and glaze that can withstand prolonged kiln fire.
Documented Process Records
The making of Shangyu Yue-kiln celadon passes through a complex craft sequence: mining, crushing, screening, washing, precipitation, aging, kneading the clay, forming, drying the body, trimming the body, decoration, glazing, and firing.
Quarrying, crushing and sieving
Local porcelain stone or clay is crushed, sieved, washed, settled and matured so the body is uniform before throwing.
Wedging and maturing the clay
The clay is left to mature so its particles and moisture even out before it is wedged for use.
Throwing, drying and trimming
Throwing gives the shape, drying evens the moisture, and trimming adjusts wall thickness so the vessel survives the kiln.
Incised decoration under the glaze
Incised lines follow the curve of the vessel; their depth must match the thickness of the glaze to stay visible.
Preparing and laying the glaze
The glaze determines the finished colour; grey-bodied wares covered with a celadon or blue-yellow glaze are the hallmark of the local kilns.
Loading the kiln and firing
Kiln loading, spacing and firing schedule decide whether the glaze comes out blue-green or yellow-green.
Mise, the mysterious colour
The Tang poet Lu Guimeng praised the unified green of Shangyu wares opening in the autumn wind.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The "Yue" in Yue kiln is the name of a prefecture, not of a kiln: its kiln sites are distributed across present-day Shangyu, Yuyao, and Ningbo in Zhejiang, all of which belonged to Yue Prefecture in antiquity, and the kiln system thus took its name from the prefecture. Shangyu holds the foremost position within it and is universally acknowledged as the birthplace of Yue-kiln celadon; most of the early Yue-kiln porcelain excavated from sites and tombs elsewhere originated here, while the kiln sites around Yuyao and Ningbo form the same technical lineage together with it. This lineage has clear rises and falls over time: it took shape in the Han dynasty, reached its first peak in the Three Kingdoms and Western Jin, flourished fully in the Five Dynasties and Northern Song, and then declined from the mid-to-late Northern Song. The identifying features of body and glaze are fairly stable: made from local porcelain stone or clay, the body is gray and the glaze yellowish-green or blue-green. The "ninth-month winds and dew" and "seizing the jade-green of a thousand peaks" described in Tang poet Lu Guimeng's "Secret-Color Yue Wares" refer exactly to the consistent appearance of this glaze when the kiln is opened. The differences among the various kilns lie mainly in the raw material: the body and glaze draw on porcelain stone or clay from the same locality, so the fired body is gray and the glaze tends toward blue-green; forming and firing, for their part, share one common method across the Wuyue region, which is precisely why the kilns of Shangyu, Yuyao, and Ningbo could fire celadon of closely related style in the same period.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yue Kiln Celadon Firing Craftsmanship · Yue Kiln Celadon Firing Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Shangyu Yue-kiln celadon has a long history, a marvellous making, and a wide range of uses; it possesses distinct regional character, high artistic value, and scientific-research value, and occupies a very important place in the history of Chinese ceramics.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Jixigui 04-1917
- Chen Pengfei
- Shi Zhen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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