What are the five famous kilns in China?

Five famous kiln porcelains in Song Dynasty

Zhang Jingmei

Ding Yao

Ding kiln is one of the "five famous kilns" in Song Dynasty, and it is a folk kiln. Founded in the Tang Dynasty, it flourished in the Northern Song Dynasty and finally reached the Yuan Dynasty. It was burned for nearly 700 years. The kiln sites are located in Cijian, Yanchuan and Lingshan villages and towns in Quyang County, Hebei Province, which belonged to Dingzhou in the Tang Dynasty and was called Ding Yao in history.

Ding kiln mainly burns white porcelain, which is delicate, thin and shiny, and the glaze is as smooth as jade. Black glaze and sauce glaze are called "black glaze" and "purple glaze", which are also unique, beautifully made and elegant in shape. There are various patterns, such as flowers carved with a knife, embroidery carved with a needle, "bamboo silk brush pattern" and "tear pattern" made by special effects, and so on.

The words "official" and "staff sergeant's bureau" were found in the unearthed Ding kiln porcelain, indicating that some products of Ding kiln were fired for the official and the court.

Junyao

Jun kilns are divided into official kilns and folk kilns.

Guan Jun Kiln is the second official kiln in Song Huizong after Ru Kiln. Jun kilns are widely distributed in Yuxian County (now Zhou Jun), so they are named Jun kilns. Baguadong Kiln and Jun Kiln in this county are the most famous, firing all kinds of royal porcelain.

Jun porcelain was fired twice, the first time was plain firing, glazed after coming out of the kiln, and then fired. The glaze color of Jun porcelain is unique and ever-changing. Red, blue, cyan, white and purple blend together and look like clouds. Poets in the Song Dynasty once praised it as "the sunset is purple, and the green suddenly turns blue". This is because the ingredients are mixed with copper vapor in the firing process, which is an artistic effect. This is a great invention of porcelain making in China, which is called "kiln change". Because the glaze layer of Jun porcelain is thick, the glaze naturally flows to fill the gap when it is fired, and after it is out of the kiln, it forms regular flow lines, which are very similar to the traces of earthworm crawling in the soil, so it is called "earthworm walking in the mud".

Jun kiln porcelain is mainly aimed at the needs of the "flower stone gang" in the late Northern Song Dynasty, and flowerpots are the best.

Official supplies

The official kiln was built in Bianliang, the capital of Song Huizong, and no kiln site has been found so far.

Official kilns mainly burn celadon. During the Daguan period, moonlight, pink and green were the most popular glaze colors. The carcass of official porcelain is thick, azure is slightly pink, and the glaze has big stripes. This is due to the different expansion coefficients of tire and glaze after heating. Porcelain foot is unglazed, and it is iron black after firing, with thin glaze at the mouth and slight fetal bone, commonly known as "purple iron foot". This is a typical feature of official kiln porcelain in the Northern Song Dynasty. The porcelain of the official kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty has been handed down from generation to generation, which is very rare and precious.

Ge Yao

Ge Kiln was one of the five famous kilns in southern China in Song Dynasty, and the exact kiln site has not been found yet. Although it is said in history that one kiln will be built in Chuzhou and Longquan County, the kiln built by my brother is called "Ge Kiln" and the kiln built by my brother is called "Di Kiln", also known as Zhang Kiln and Longquan Kiln. Some experts believe that the Geyao porcelain handed down in the palace was actually fired by the official kiln in the Southern Song Dynasty.

The main feature of Ge Kiln is that there are large and small cracks on the glaze, commonly known as "Kai" or "Wu Wen". As small as caviar, it is called "caviar pattern", and the arc-shaped opening is called "crab claw pattern"; The same opening size is called "100 pieces of garbage". The texture of small stripes is golden yellow, and the texture of large stripes is iron black, so it is called "gold thread and iron thread". Among them, the porcelain imitating the official kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty is black, and there are also "purple mouths and iron feet".

The matrix of Geyao porcelain is thick or thin, and the glaze color is mainly pink, moonlight and beige. Glaze is as bright as skin, which is the top grade. The shapes of utensils are washing, stove, plate and bowl.

Ruyao

Ruyao was an official kiln established in Song Huizong at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, which lasted less than 20 years. The kiln site is in Ruzhou, Henan Province (according to legend, it is in Liang Qing Temple in Baofeng, Henan Province), hence the name.

Ruyao is mainly celadon, and its glaze colors are pink, bean green, egg green and shrimp green. Ruyao porcelain has thin matrix, thick glaze layer, jade texture and extremely thin glaze. Ruyao porcelain was fired separately in Zhi Ding, leaving tiny traces of Zhi Ding at the bottom of the porcelain. The shape of vessels is mostly modeled after ancient bronzes, with washing, furnace and respect as the mainstay. There are less than 100 works handed down from ancient times in Ruyao, which is very precious.