Jian Kiln Tea-bowl Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The 'Jian kiln' is one of the eight great famous kilns of China's Song dynasty. In the Southern Song period, Japanese monks studying in China once took this kind of porcelain back to Japan from Mount Tianmu and called it 'Tianmu,' and so people also came to habitually call black-glazed porcelain 'Tianmu ware.' In the 1970s, Fujian Province began practical work to restore the Jian-kiln Jianzhan firing technique. In the early 1990s, the Nanping Xingchen Tianmu Ceramic Research Institute developed and restored such traditional craftsmanship as 'hare's fur,' 'oil spot,' 'iridescent,' 'gold-painted inscription,' and 'oil-spot with leaf.'
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Jian-kiln Jianzhan is an outstanding representative of ancient Chinese black-glazed porcelain. The Jian-kiln Jianzhan of the Song dynasty was a rare tea vessel for the imperial family's tea drinking and tea competitions. Emperor Huizong of Song said in his 'Treatise on Tea' (Daguan Chalun): 'For the cup, a blue-black color is valued, and those with finely extended jade-hare filaments are the finest.' Because of historical change, the firing technique of Jianzhan (Tianmu ware) was lost for over eight hundred years. After the founding of New China, this excellent traditional handcraft of the Jian-kiln Jianzhan received wide attention from academic circles at home and abroad. On this basis, after tens of thousands of body-and-glaze formula adjustments and thousands of firing-process improvements, the Song-dynasty firing techniques of 'yohen' (yaobian), the 'yaoxing' cup and the 'haobian' cup were also restored, marking the comprehensive recovery of the Jian-kiln Jianzhan firing technique. The main craft procedures in making Jianzhan are: 1. raw-material processing (including body and glaze materials); 2. throwing on the wheel; 3. glazing; 4. firing. Jian-kiln Jianzhan are usually tea vessels; because of their wide mouth and deep base, thin rim and thick bottom, heavy body, and coarse, loose body texture, when used to brew tea the liquor stays hot for a long time and is slow to cool, dries easily without leaving dregs, and does not sour overnight, offering good heat retention and insulation. Jian-kiln Jianzhan also include, in small number, such forms as high-stem cups, lamp cups, jars, and bottles.
Rabbit-hair glaze
One of the Jian ware glazes, its hair-like streaks finely drawn out in the glaze; Huizong's Da Guan Cha Lun ranked streaked black-blue bowls highest.
Oil-spot tenmoku
A glaze densely speckled with fine droplets, one of the effects revived in the early 1990s by the Nanping Xingchen Tenmoku research institute.
Partridge-feather spotting
Speckles resembling the mottled breast of a partridge, ranked with rabbit-hair and oil-spot among the prized Jian glazes.
Body and glaze trials
The most exacting stage of the revival: tens of thousands of body-and-glaze trials and thousands of firing refinements brought back yaobian, yaoxing and haobian wares.
Preparing materials, throwing, glazing and firing
The four principal stages of a Jian bowl, whose wide mouth, thin edge and heavy coarse body keep tea hot for long without turning stale.
Whisked tea and the tea contest
In Song times Jian bowls were imperial tea wares for whisking and contests; the dark glaze set off the colour of the soup and foamed snow.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The glaze color of Jian-kiln Jianzhan produces different effects depending on the firing technique; broadly summarized, it can be divided into five types: black glaze, hare's-fur glaze, partridge-spot glaze, hair-transform glaze, and miscellaneous-color glaze.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Sun Jianxing (per the associated inheritor's official archive record): Male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1952, a native of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item 'Jian Kiln Jianzhan Firing Technique.' Master of Chinese arts and crafts. He began ceramic research in 1972 and was seconded in 1979 to the Fujian Provincial Light Industry Research Institute to join the project to restore the Jian kiln, continuously improving formulas and firing craft, and restored the traditional making technique. He developed more than thirty kinds of Jianzhan, including gold hare's-fur, gold oil-spot, and partridge-spot, reviving the miraculous charm of the thousand-year-old ancient-kiln Jianzhan. The three pieces (sets) 'Song-style Jian-kiln oil-spot Tianmu cup,' 'Song-style Jian-kiln hare's-fur Tianmu cup,' and 'oil-spot Tianmu dragon-tiger tea set' were collected by the National Museum, while the 'yohen Tianmu tea bowl' and 'oil-spot Tianmu tea bowl' were collected by the China Arts and Crafts Museum. His works have participated many times in exhibitions at home and abroad. He published the monograph 'Research on the Restoration of the Jian-Kiln Series of Jianzhan.' He founded the Jian Kiln Ceramic Research Institute and serves as artistic director of the Xingchen Tianmu Ceramic Research Institute in Nanping City, Fujian Province, passing the Jian-kiln Jianzhan firing technique to his daughter and many disciples. At the same time, he actively organizes or participates in achievement exhibitions and presents papers at international ancient-ceramics conferences, promoting the exchange and development of ceramic culture and art. In 1995, the 'Song-style series of Jianzhan' won the second prize for scientific and technological progress of Fujian Province, awarded by the Fujian Provincial People's Government. In 2021 he was named an advanced individual in scientific and technological innovation for the light-industry sector during the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan. His daughter Sun Li is already a Fujian provincial-level inheritor of Jianzhan firing and a provincial master of arts and crafts, and has been awarded the provincial Youth May Fourth Medal and the Women's Pacesetter title.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Sun Jianxing 04-1918
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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