Ru Porcelain Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Ru-ware firing craft has a long and distant history, stretching back more than one thousand years. In the Southern Song there was the lament that Ru ware had 'recently become especially hard to obtain,' and very few pieces survive. Its firing craft spread to folk porcelain workshops and has been passed down through the generations to the present day.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Ru ware stands at the head of the five famous kilns of China's Song dynasty; its firing craft includes the skills of body-making, glaze-formulating, firing, and crackle-pattern forming, among others. Ruzhou has long been known as the 'hundred-li coal sea'; this place abounds in porcelain raw materials such as kaolin, agate, and clay, providing uniquely favorable natural conditions for the birth, development, maturation, and flourishing of the Ru-ware firing craft. The traditional Ru-ware firing craft requires the use of agate in the glaze; the glaze color is serene and elegant, with the typical features of being 'blue as the sky, smooth as jade, textured as milk, and resonant as a chime stone.' The firing is extremely difficult, the yield of finished pieces is low, and fine works are very rare; it especially won the favor of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song, becoming imperial porcelain made exclusively for the court. Later, when the Jin troops invaded the Central Plains and the Song court moved south, the imperial Ru ware vanished from the world. The Ru-ware firing process is highly technical and difficult, with many intricate steps. It employs the stacking-firing technique of one vessel per saggar supported on spur marks; the main stages include material selection, clay refining, body forming, bisque firing, glaze preparation, glaze application, and firing. The firing of Ruzhou Ru ware must choose the season and observe the weather; autumn is the best season for firing Ru ware. During firing, how one grasps the viscosity and fluidity of the glaze, the firing melt temperature, and the crystallization process of holding heat then gradually cooling, directly affects the formation of the milky droplets in Ru-ware celadon and the coloration of the celadon glaze. This unique firing craft has no concrete physicochemical indicators; it relies entirely on the technician's comprehension, visual observation, and the feel of the hand—an experience passed from master to apprentice orally and through demonstration in the course of production, transmitted through the generations.
Archival Record of Process Steps
The Ru-ware firing process is highly technical and difficult, with many intricate steps. It employs the stacking-firing technique of one vessel per saggar supported on spur marks; the main stages include material selection, clay refining, body forming, bisque firing, glaze preparation, glaze application, and firing.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Ru-ware firing in the Baofeng area takes the former Baofeng County Ru-Ware Research Institute as its technical hub; its kiln lineage connects with Ruzhou yet forms its own school: the glaze materials still use agate, the glaze colors lean toward sky-blue, moon-white, sky-blue (tianlan), and powder-blue (fenqing), and the body is heavier and thicker than that of the Ruzhou kilns. Wang Junzi learned body-removing shaping and firing from his father from childhood, and after finishing high school studied under Wang Liuxian, director of the institute, using decades of experimentation to restore the glaze-color characteristics of the Northern Song Ru kiln.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Ru Porcelain Firing Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Wang Junzi (per the official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1960, a native of Baofeng County, Henan Province. A representative inheritor of the fifth batch of the national-level intangible cultural heritage item 'Ru-Ware Firing Craft.' A Ru-ware firing technician. From childhood he learned the Ru-ware body-removing shaping and firing craft from his father; after finishing high school he studied under Wang Liuxian, former director of the Baofeng County Ru-Ware Research Institute, learning and exploring the perfection of traditional skills such as the family-inherited Ru glaze formula and craft forms. Through decades of experimental exploration, he restored on the Ru-ware firing craft the distinctive characteristics unique to the Northern Song Ru kiln. With agate entering the glaze, there form the sky-blue, moon-white, sky-blue, and powder-blue glazes that show a reddish halo amid the blue. His works use carefully selected materials, have a fine and delicate body, thin and even walls, and are archaic and elegant. Over the years he has actively participated in domestic and international exhibitions and exchanges, and undertaken provincial and municipal science, technology, cultural, and research projects. Since 2002 he has trained several disciples, all of whom have considerable ability in kiln firing, glaze application, and forming.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhu Wenli 04-1919
- Meng Yusong 04-1920
- Li Tinghuai 05-2877
- Wang Junzi 05-2878
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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