Dengfeng Yao Ceramic Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
According to historical records, the Dengfeng kiln ceramic firing technique began in the Tang and rose in the Song. In the Northern Song period, Dengfeng-kiln production reached its peak, with rich variety and fine workmanship, its pearl-ground (pearl-ground) porcelain at Shenqian and the Jun ware at Shenhou shining together.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Dengfeng kiln ceramic firing technique refers to the ceramic-making craft that originated, was inherited, and developed in Donghua Town and surrounding areas of Dengfeng City, Henan Province. The core kiln sites of the Dengfeng kiln mainly include the Quhe kiln at Gaocheng Town, famous for pearl-ground incised decoration; the cluster of white-porcelain kiln sites of the Sui, Tang, Song, Jin, and Yuan periods centered on the Qianzhuang kiln (Shenqian kiln) at Xuanhua Town; and the Jun-ware kiln-site cluster of the Song, Jin, and Yuan periods centered on the Cheng kiln at Baiping Township. Dengfeng-kiln products take many forms: bowls, plates, bottles, jars, basins, ewers, cup-stands, pillows, zoomorphic figurines, and figurines of court ladies, among others. The firing-process sequence includes raw-material selection, glaze-material processing, clay refining, forming, dressing, decoration, glazing, and loading-and-firing. The entire process is carried out on wet bodies, with a single firing. The kilns are mainly weir-wall kilns and mantou (steamed-bun) kilns; originally fired mainly with wood, later with a mix of wood and coal. The firing method uses posts, spurs, and pad-discs for open (naked) firing; later, saggar firing was adopted, with one vessel per saggar or several vessels per saggar. Dengfeng-kiln products are complete in type and rich in form; from the Tang to the Song, almost every variety and form that appeared at other kilns in the Central Plains can be found at the Dengfeng kiln. The Dengfeng kiln ceramic firing technique has distinctive characteristics: its forms can be small or large, it is mainly white porcelain, with pearl-ground incised decoration as its typical representative; its finishing is fine and regular, and the treatment of the foot and the rim is very precise, with careful attention also paid to the use of kiln furniture. Its decorative techniques are diverse and comprehensive—such as colored glaze, dotted color, incised decoration, carved decoration, carved-away decoration, painted decoration, stamped designs, relief appliqué, sculpture, and inlay—and in particular the combined use of white-glaze carved-away, incised, and engraved techniques is superb and masterful. The Dengfeng kiln ceased firing in the Jin and Yuan periods and fell into decline. The unique geographical environment and historical-cultural background gave rise to the Dengfeng kiln's distinctive firing and decorative craftsmanship.
Pearl-ground incised decoration
On a white body coated with slip, a small round punch sets dense pearl-like dots, and a bamboo knife then cuts the main lines; the contrast between the dimpled ground and the sharp incisions gives the pattern its depth.
From open firing to saggars
Early wares rested on spurs, stilts and pads; later they were fired in saggars, one or several pots to a sagger, which shielded the glaze from flame and falling ash; the kilns are of the retaining-wall and dome types, burnt first with wood and later with wood and coal.
Single firing of green ware
From the clay being kneaded to the pot being fired nothing is dried and reshaped; the wet body goes straight into the kiln, so flame and ramp must be exact — one firing produces the finished pot without the risk of a second firing spoiling the glaze.
The three kiln groups of Gaocheng, Xuanhua and Baiping
Three kiln groups coexist in one county: pearl-ground ware at Quhe in Gaocheng, white porcelain of the Sui–Tang to Yuan at Qianzhuang in Xuanhua, and Jun ware of the Song–Yuan at Chengyao in Baiping.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Dengfeng kiln's craft lineage is bounded by the north and south of Mount Song: the towns of Gaocheng, Xuanhua, and Baiping each maintain their own kiln style. The Quhe-kiln line at Gaocheng Town excels at pearl-ground incised decoration; the Qianzhuang kiln at Xuanhua Town—commonly called the Shenqian kiln—is built on Sui-through-Jin-Yuan white porcelain; and the Cheng kiln at Baiping Township is renowned for Song-Jin-Yuan Jun ware; the body-and-glaze formulas and loading-and-firing methods of the three sites differ. Locally, the hillsides where the kiln sites lie, the springs, and the nearby kaolin and coal deposits are regarded as the basic support for porcelain firing; porcelain shards and kiln-furniture specimens are scattered across the countryside, becoming the folk standard for identifying a kiln. The protecting institution, Dengfeng Kiln Ci Yuan Technology Co., Ltd., undertakes the excavation, restoration, and transmission of pearl-ground and other varieties.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In recent years, the Songshan Ancient Ceramics Research Society, on the basis of its research on the Dengfeng kiln, completed the replication of its pearl-ground ware and Jun ware, successfully reproducing several representative Dengfeng-kiln works; the Dengfeng kiln ceramic firing technique has thus regained its vitality and is currently transmitted and developed through the master-to-apprentice method. It played an irreplaceable role in the development of ancient Chinese ceramics, and also provides a large amount of rare material evidence for research into Chinese painting and carving arts, holding multiple values—historical, artistic, aesthetic, and economic. Li Jingzhou (as recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1954, from Dengfeng City, Henan Province. Representative inheritor of the Dengfeng kiln ceramic firing technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project of the fifth batch. A Dengfeng-kiln ceramic-firing technician. Over more than thirty years of practice, he has mastered the series of techniques of material selection, batching, processing, forming, decoration, and firing. Starting in 1985, he engaged in the investigation of Dengfeng-kiln firing and ceramic sites, the collection and gathering of porcelain-shard and kiln-furniture specimens, and visits to veteran ceramic craftsmen and artisans, accumulating a large amount of first-hand material. Later he founded Dengfeng Kiln Ci Yuan Technology Co., Ltd. and established a Dengfeng-kiln transmission-and-protection base, engaging in the excavation, restoration, transmission, and protection of the traditional firing techniques of Dengfeng-kiln pearl-ground and other varieties. To ensure the transmission of this traditional craft, he has trained more than twenty students and apprentices, and has taught the Dengfeng-kiln firing craft to deaf-mute students at a Dengfeng City special school.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Jingzhou 05-2892
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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