Longquan Kiln is a famous kiln in Chinese history, and its main producing area is named after Longquan City. It was founded in the Three Kingdoms and the Jin Dynasty and ended in the Qing Dynasty. It has a history of producing porcelain for more than 1600 years. It is the longest porcelain kiln in the history of Chinese porcelain making. Its products sell well in many countries and regions in Asia, Africa and Europe. Very far-reaching.
Here are some of the fine collections of Longquan kiln museums in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, for readers.
Northern Song Dynasty Celadon Buddha Statue
The Northern Song Dynasty Celadon Buddha statue was unearthed in the White Elephant Tower in the suburbs of Wenzhou in 1965. It is a national cultural relic.
The statue is 23 centimeters high and the body is covered with glaze. The glaze is well-balanced, with a strong glassy texture and pale fetal qualities. The buddha wears a crown of flowers. The face is full moon and full of cheeks. Slightly staring eyes, staring in front of the air, peace of mind. Breguet droops down to the shoulders, neck, chest, and orb ornaments. The upper body is exposed, the abdomen is tied, and the arm and wrist are worn. The left leg is coiled, the right leg is knees, and the foot is squatting. A pigeon stops in front of his right foot. Judging from the glaze color of the statue, the quality of the fetal material, and the "Chu-San bottom" presented at the bottom, it was judged as the product of the Longquan kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty. There are also think that this statue, fetal glaze yellow in the green, no Longquan kiln blue enamel, more similar to Wenzhou local kiln products.
This statue of the Celadon Bodhisattva was plump, elegant and elegant. It still retains the legacy of the Tang Dynasty and at the same time presents a clue to the secularization of Buddhism in the Song Dynasty. In her body, she could not see the sacred charm, but she was just like a virtuous young woman in the upper class society. Her beauty was charming, she was dignified, and she was full of human life. This is exactly the rise of the school of surrogacy in the Song Dynasty and the vivid portrayal of Buddhist statues beginning to become secular and living. It not only demonstrated elegant styling and exquisite craftsmanship, but also revealed a strong sense of worldliness. It reflected the characteristics of Wenzhou's social culture at that time and was precious. It is also a vivid example of the superb craftsmanship of Longquan kiln.
The Qing Song Ye Ye Shi epitaph of the Southern Song Dynasty (Fig. 2) was unearthed in Ye Shi's Ye Shi Tomb in Wenzhou in 1940. It was a Longquan kiln celadon product and it was in the Southern Song Dynasty. Rectangular, vertical 33, width 24, 3.5 cm thick. It is a national cultural relic. The epitaph was burned with porcelain clay, and the fetal material was fine and compact, and the fetal color was white and gray. Light green glaze on the front and edges, thick and transparent glaze, strong glassy texture, shining. The front of the epitaph uses the brown glaze book as its body and the 18 characters: "The Tomb of the Grandson of the Song Dynasty, the Minister of the Ye Wending, and the Jiyou of the Ten Years." Vertically divided into three lines and the line of six characters.
The epitaph was unearthed at the Ye Shi Ye Shi cemetery in 1940. When it was unearthed, it was cut in two, and one of the craftsmen got it and sold it to Mr. Xie Leiming of Jin Shijia. In October 1948, the Xie family at Yangliu Lane in the downtown area was devastated by the fire. After finding out from the heap of rubble, the splicing is still complete, but there is only a small piece below the left corner. In June 1950, Mr. Xie presented his epitaph to the city library and handed over to the Wenzhou Museum.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the Longquan kiln powdered blue glaze shepherd boy drove the calf drip, and in June 1983, he was unearthed from the cellar of the Sun Ping Yuan Dynasty in Nanpu Township (now Jincun Town), Taishun County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. A total of six pieces were unearthed. This drop is one of them. The beak is 7.5 cm tall, 9.5 cm long and shepherd boy is 4.2 cm tall. The shepherd boy, who is combing her head, combs her back, hands forward, and flute piccolo. The cow is lying on the ground and the cow opens the injection nozzle at the back and the mouth is the mouth. Apply powder blue glaze, Lu Zhu sand bottom. The shape is cute and lively, and it is very rural life.
The discovery of cellaring in the Yuan Dynasty was extremely accidental. The incident took place in June 1983 when a group of farmers from the Sun Ping Brigade in Nanpu Township, Taishun County wanted to build a house on the hillside and dig the ground. Inadvertently looking at a cavern discovered in a collapsed soil, a closer look. A group of crystal-clear porcelains were exposed, and two copper gongs were also placed on top. The peasants faced the porcelain of jade, and they snatched it all at once. A few days later, an amateur writer in the locality informed the local cultural relics department about the incident. Later, the cultural relics worker took care of the family and worked hard. Only after he recovered six pieces of porcelain and two copper gongs, was it right? No one can tell now, and the parties recalled that it may be more than this. Please do not underestimate these six pieces of Longquan cellar porcelain belonging to the national grade two or more cultural relics.
In April 1988, Wenzhou Dongtou County Pharmaceutical Factory found a cellar at a height of 0.8 meters from the surface of the building at the foot of the Houyi Mountain, Houyi Village, Beibei Town. A total of more than 50 pieces of porcelain were found, and 37 pieces were more complete. In the Yuan Dynasty, the powdered celadon pattern cup (Figure 4) was one of the representative collections.
A total of 6 high cups were produced in the cellar, measuring 9.5 cm high, 13 cm in diameter and 4.5 cm in bottom diameter. The cup mouth along the outer edge of the curling lips, full abdomen, bamboo-like high-foot, between the opening and the pattern. The inner bottom is printed with a bouquet of chrysanthemums. It is exquisite and lovely, and it seems to be in the autumn. The powder celadon layer is thick, moist, and elegant in color.
The discovery of this group of cellars is closely related to the geographical location of Wenzhou. Wenzhou, as one of the birthplaces of Longquan celadon, and the production area of ​​“Imitated Longquan†porcelain, is the main port for exporting porcelain. Wenzhou and Longquan share the same water system in the Minjiang River. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, a large number of Longquan celadons have been exported from Wenzhou Port to the oceans and sold to Japan, North Korea, Southeast Asia, India, East Africa, etc., and later spread to Europe and around the world. . Wenzhou was one of the important origins of the “Ceramic Road†at the time of the South China Sea.
Dongtou County is located on the southeastern coast of the mouth of the Minjiang River and surrounded by the sea. It is the only way for maritime traffic. Close to the mainland of Wenzhou, the sea takes Dongtou Port and Sanpan Port as the center, extending in all directions. In front of the Dongtou Port, there are Ban Ping Shan and Da Lat Hill as barriers. It is a good shelter bay. Houyi Village is located on the northwest side of the harbor, where the old town was prosperous and there was a shipping terminal. The Yuan Dynasty kiln and porcelain were only 16 meters away from the water surface of the harbor. It can be seen that these porcelains are likely to be accidents in Sinotrans and temporarily buried there. The first batch of kiln porcelain in Dongtou was burned in the kiln area of ​​Wonju Mountain in Wenzhou Yongjia Bridgehead. Among them, high-grade cups, bowls and plates are the best-selling items in porcelain for export. They are similar to the porcelain enamels, glazes and decorative patterns of Japanese, Korean and Egyptian sites such as Kilwa and Forsta. In particular, the moonlight-patterned plate, with the Yuemei bowl salvaged from the sunken ship of Xin’an, South Korea, is basically the same as the glaze and pattern. This batch of porcelain was used as a porcelain for export in the Yuan Dynasty and provided a reliable source for the study of the starting point of the “Road to Porcelain†in the Yuan Dynasty.
June 12, 2019