Jizhou Yao Ceramic Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The paper-cut appliqué decoration technique was first created in the Southern Song dynasty, with roughly two methods: one is monochrome paper-cutting, in which the cut pattern is directly pasted onto the vessel body, then a layer of glaze is applied; once the glaze dries, the paper-cut is scraped off, yielding a pattern in which the glaze color contrasts with the body color. Historically, the Jizhou kiln ceramic firing technique began in the late Tang, rose in the Five Dynasties, flourished in the Southern Song, and declined after the Yuan dynasty. The Jizhou kiln's underglaze painted porcelain had a certain influence on the later emergence of blue-and-white porcelain; Jizhou-kiln products that have been passed down to this day are extremely precious.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Jizhou kiln is located within Yonghe Town, Ji'an County, Jiangxi Province, about 8 km north of Ji'an City. From the Sui to the Song dynasties, Ji'an was called Jizhou, and the kilns there took the name "Jizhou kiln." The Jizhou kiln ceramic firing technique is the porcelain-making and firing craft that originated, was inherited, and developed at Jizhou. Jizhou-kiln painted porcelain, with its subtle, elegant, fresh, and bright artistic style, stands alone in the history of Chinese painted porcelain. The other method is bicolor paper-cutting, in which the cut pattern is directly pasted onto a vessel already coated with a high-iron-content base glaze, then a thin layer of low-iron-content lime-calcium bamboo-ash glaze is applied, after which the paper-cut is scraped off, revealing the base-color pattern. Fired at high temperature in the kiln, the two glaze layers transform into a kiln-transformed (jianbian) glaze; the base and surface glaze colors show subtle distinction yet harmonious unity, achieving a decorative effect in which the glaze color and body color contrast in light and dark, with motion and stillness complementing each other. Jizhou-kiln porcelain comes in a great variety of types and richly varied decorative patterns, represented by such motifs as "partridge spots," "hare's-fur streaks," "tiger-skin spots," and "tortoiseshell spots," with colorful, fresh, and elegant variations. In decorative technique it employs splashed glaze, paper-cutting, appliqué, carved-away decoration, stamped designs, painted decoration, incised lines, and relief modeling, unifying the practicality and artistry of the porcelain. The Jizhou kiln gathered the achievements of famous kilns both north and south, occupying an important place in the history of Chinese ceramics; historically there was the saying "Yonghe Town came first, Jingdezhen later," and in the Song and Yuan periods it was one of the important export commodities.
Two-colour paper-cut decoration
A dark iron-rich ground glaze is laid down first, then a thin lime-ash glaze low in iron; the paper is lifted off before firing, leaving two tones, and the mottling that develops in the kiln is not painted but created by the firing.
The twenty-four kiln mounds at Yonghe
Twenty-four fairly intact kiln mounds remain at the Yonghe site, each corresponding to a kiln and its workshops; the spacing between mounds and the colour of excavated sherds help distinguish kilns, periods and product series.
Tiger-skin and hare's-fur spotting on black glaze
Hare's-fur, tiger-skin, partridge and tortoiseshell markings all arise from iron crystallising in a black glaze; position in the kiln and firing temperature change the pattern, so specimens of one type rarely match exactly.
Cut, stamped and applied decoration used together
Besides paper-cutting, glaze splashing, cutting, stamping, incising and applied relief are combined on the same vessel: cutting exposes the body, stamping presses borders, and applied slip is modelled and fired together with the pot.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Jizhou kiln firing technique takes Yonghe Town in Ji'an County as the core site and root of the craft. The kiln fires spread successively along the towns, market towns, villages, and workshops of the middle reaches of the Gan River; glaze fragments bearing Jizhou-kiln characteristics can still be picked up in neighboring counties such as Jishui, Xiajiang, Anfu, and Taihe, which local villagers call "kiln slag." The Yonghe area still preserves to this day a village structure built around the kiln as livelihood and porcelain as living—gathering materials, throwing, finishing, and glazing each performed by its own hands, with kiln sites and dwellings interlocked like teeth. The protecting institution, the Jizhou Kiln Ceramic Firing Technique Research Institute of Ji'an City, uses the successfully revival-fired black-glaze carved-away porcelain, tiger-skin-glaze porcelain, and underglaze painted porcelain as teaching models, with a study point set up at Yonghe.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Jizhou kiln is one of the well-preserved ancient famous-kiln sites in China; the Yonghe Jizhou-kiln site in Ji'an County preserves 24 complete kiln mounds, making it the most numerous and complete ancient famous-kiln site preserved in the country. By the beginning of the reform and opening-up, relevant departments excavated the lost Jizhou kiln ceramic firing technique and ensured its transmission. This heritage project has made a major contribution to promoting trade and cultural exchange between China and countries around the world, and holds high social and cultural value. Liu Pinsan (as recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1939, from Anyi County, Jiangxi Province. Representative inheritor of the Jizhou kiln ceramic firing technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project of the fifth batch. A research curator and an expert enjoying the State Council's special government allowance. After graduating from the Fine Arts Department of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in 1963, he stayed on to teach; in 1971 he was transferred to the Jiangxi Provincial Museum, where he worked until retirement, successively serving as head of the Custody Department and the Technical Department, among others. From 1980 to 1988, on the basis of in-depth study of archaeological excavation artifacts from the ancient Ji'an kiln sites and related documentary materials, and through repeated experiments, he successfully revived the firing of Jizhou-kiln black-glaze carved-away porcelain, tiger-skin-glaze porcelain, and underglaze painted porcelain. He also researched and developed Jizhou-kiln "wood-leaf" and other ceramics, and succeeded. The results of his imitation Jizhou-kiln ceramic-making technique were included in works such as the China Practical Science and Technology Records, and he compiled the Jingdezhen Ming-Qing Folk-Kiln Blue-and-White Pattern Illustrations. He has successively imparted the craft to his daughter Liu Xiaoyu and many others.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Pinsan 05-2891
- Wu Yingshan
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。