Changsha copper official kiln

Changsha Tongguan kiln began in the early Tang Dynasty, flourished in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and declined in the Five Dynasties. It has a history of more than 200 years, and has a history of more than 1000 years. It is one of the three export kilns of Tang Dynasty in China, which is as famous as Zhejiang Yue Kiln and Hebei Xing kiln. It is also the birthplace of the world's colorful underglaze ceramics. Since its discovery in 1956, more than 10000 cultural relics have been unearthed. Archaeologists call it the world factory of a thousand years ago.

Changsha copper official kiln

Changsha Tongguan kiln began in the early Tang Dynasty, flourished in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and declined in the Five Dynasties. It has a history of more than 200 years, and has a history of more than 1000 years. It is one of the three export kilns of Tang Dynasty in China, which is as famous as Zhejiang Yue Kiln and Hebei Xing kiln. It is also the birthplace of the world's colorful underglaze ceramics.

Since its discovery in 1956, more than 10000 cultural relics have been unearthed. Archaeologists call it the world of a thousand years ago.

General situation

Changsha Tongguan kiln porcelain is the product of Tang Dynasty Changsha Tongguan kiln, located near Shizhu lake, Dingzi Town, Wangcheng District, Changsha. This place has long been known as stone Zhu, or stone Shek, and it has been mentioned in Jin Shu and Wei Shu * in the twenty four histories. After the "an Shi rebellion" in the Tang Dynasty, a large number of kiln workers from the North gathered here to make ceramics with local residents, which is called Shizhu kiln.

Indonesia's "black rock" wreck salvaged the bronze kiln of Changsha Tongguan kiln, which is called "stone pits Mencius" *, and the poet Li Qi Yu, a poet from Hunan Province, also described it as Shi Zhu. Kilns declined in the Five Dynasties, and were covered by history after the Song Dynasty. People had long forgotten the grand occasion of that year, and it was not until the 1950s that they were rediscovered by archaeologists.

Standing at the site of Tongguan kiln in Changsha, facing the vast ruins of the kiln and the thick historical and cultural accumulation layer, it naturally reminds us of the scene described in the poem, "the ancient shore pottery is a tool, and the high forest is burnt.". The flame is red in xiangpukou, and the smoke is cloudy in Dongting. The wild coal flies in disorder, and the remote air explosion sounds. The terrain is penetrating, and I'm afraid I'll come to zhurong grave. " Remote sensing of the busy kilns in those years.

There are many famous porcelain kilns in the Tang Dynasty. In the south there are celadon represented by Yue Kiln in Zhejiang Province, and in the north there are white porcelain represented by Xing kiln in Hebei Province, forming a production pattern of green in the South and white in the north. Changsha copper official kilns found a new way to rise as colored porcelain, and took the lead in the famous kilns. The porcelain industry began to show a tripartite confrontation. The popularity of underglaze color and the creation and burning of underglaze color left a page of heavy color for Changsha Tongguan kiln in the history of Chinese ceramics.

After the decline of Changsha Tongguan kiln, its decoration techniques were inherited by Cizhou kiln. However, Changsha Tongguan kilns are mostly decorated with pots, while Cizhou kilns are no longer seen in pots, but in pillows. Porcelain pots are mostly used in public places, so poems are used to express aspirations; porcelain pillows are relatively hidden things, and most of the books are emotional monologues, expressing emotions with words. However, there are also some love poems on the pillows on the porcelain of Changsha Tongguan kiln, which can be regarded as the clue of the calligraphy and painting decoration of Cizhou kiln.

Changsha Tongguan kiln rose late, but it developed rapidly with a wide range of products. It not only sold well in China, but also exported to East Asia, South Asia and West Asia, reaching as far as northeast Africa. It is known as the first export-oriented porcelain kiln. Integrating foreign cultural elements into its products is the secret of Changsha Tongguan kiln's winning the first pot of gold overseas. At that time, only Changsha Tongguan kiln designed, manufactured and packaged (decorated) products according to the foreign market demand. Changsha Tongguan kiln made great contribution to the development of the road of marine ceramics in Tang Dynasty.

The origin of history

Changsha kiln is a unique underglaze color ceramic craft, which is gradually created on the basis of Yuezhou kiln and influenced by Tang Sancai, Persia, Dashi (today's Arab countries), Islam and Buddhism.

As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, the early Celadon of Yuezhou kiln had been extended to Changsha kiln area. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, all celadon (including brown glaze and brown glaze stippling) were fired in Yuezhou kiln, but the quality of its products was inferior to that of Yue Kiln. In order to meet the needs of market competition, Yuezhou kiln gradually developed new products such as underglaze color porcelain. Its era was roughly around the "an Shi rebellion".

After the Anshi rebellion, due to the poor land transportation in the north, the sea transportation gradually flourished, which greatly promoted the export of Changsha Tongguan kiln ceramic products. Changsha Tongguan kiln is close to the Xiangjiang River and the Dongting Lake in the north. The waterway transportation is very convenient, which provides favorable conditions for the export of a large number of its products. A maritime "ceramic road" from Xiangjiang River to all parts of Asia and northeast Africa through Guangzhou and Ningbo has gradually formed. It creates objective conditions for the formation and development of Changsha copper official kiln system.

main features

The porcelains unearthed from Changsha Tongguan kiln are full of artistic creativity. They are not only of various types, but also of unique and beautiful shapes and novel and changeable styles. There are more than 70 kinds of them, including pots, bottles, cups, plates, bowls, dishes, inkstones, bowls, altars, lavers, pulse pillows, etc. there are also many figures, animals, fish and other modeling toys, some of which have three eye blowholes, which can be used as whistles and can blow out simple syllables. Many animal models are full of changes, almost none of them are the same, and their expressions are vivid and lifelike. In addition to the common round utensils, there are flower shaped, melon shaped and shuttle shaped utensils with rich personality and decoration. The main decoration techniques of Changsha Tongguan kiln are underglaze color, pattern printing, engraving, printing and hollowing out. At that time, celadon was mainly produced in the south, while white porcelain was mainly produced in the north. Changsha Tongguan kiln creatively applied the art of painting to porcelain decoration, that is, adding iron, copper and other coloring agents into the pigment, using a pen to dip the pigment, directly painting the decorative pattern on the unfired porcelain body, and then covering it with a layer of glaze, firing in the kiln. By mastering the kiln temperature, the porcelain can show one or more colors, such as brown, green, sauce, copper red, etc They call it "a milestone in the history of ceramics.".

In particular, the principle of reducing flame was used to create and burn copper red glaze successfully, which laid a solid foundation for the development of red glaze in Song Jun, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, sacrificial red glaze and Lang Yao red glaze. Before the discovery of red glazed porcelain from Changsha Tongguan kiln, the academia always thought that the red glazed porcelain from Song Dynasty kiln was the earliest, and then the underglaze red porcelain from Jingdezhen. The excavation of red glazed porcelain from Changsha Tongguan kiln not only proved that the birthplace of copper red glaze technology was Changsha Tongguan kiln, but also pushed its time forward for more than 300 years. The late ceramic expert Feng Xianming highly commented in his book "the harvest of China's ceramic Archaeology in the past 30 years": "Changsha kiln is the birthplace of China's underglaze color, which has a great influence on porcelain kilns after the Song Dynasty It's not too much to be number one in the world. "

Changsha Tongguan kiln porcelain painting is rich and colorful, mainly flowers and trees, birds and animals, landscape characters, such as birds among flowers, shuangfengchaoyang, Luya playing in the water and so on. Some of them are outlined with single line, some are rendered with color, and some are splashed with ink. Although the composition is simple, they are skillful and full of vitality.

Besides flowers and plants, trees, birds and animals, fish and insects, figures and landscape, many of the porcelain patterns unearthed from Changsha Tongguan kiln were also poems and calligraphy, which was very rare at that time. It can be said that it was the first time to decorate porcelain with poems and calligraphy.

The poems of tongguanyao in Changsha are mostly five character poems, only a few seven character poems and few six character poems. These poems don't emphasize rhythm, and they don't emphasize the use of words. They only seek artistic conception, popularity and verve. They are totally different from the stable and strict rhythm of the pavilion style. Most of the contents of the poems reflect the life scenes, thoughts and feelings of the middle and lower class people at that time, with simple language, sincere feelings and strong local flavor.

The road of marine ceramics

In the Tang Dynasty, the country was strong and prosperous, with frequent exchanges and trade between China and foreign countries. Porcelain has become the most common daily utensils in Tang Dynasty. Although gold, silver and jade utensils were also used in the upper class, the superiority of porcelain has been recognized by people, and it shows a trend to replace other utensils. The quality of porcelain in Tang Dynasty is excellent. In Lu Yu's tea classic, there are some comments such as "Xing CI Lei Yin" and "Yue CI Lei Yu". Therefore, at that time, many foreigners living in China were very envious of the use of Chinese porcelain. They were not only lovers of Chinese porcelain, but also disseminators of Chinese porcelain. Chinese porcelain had become a popular commodity in foreign trade in the Tang Dynasty. Before shipping, the export of Chinese porcelain mainly depended on land, that is, along the "Silk Road" from Xi'an, through Xinjiang, Central Asia to Persia and other places. Because of the difficulties and losses in land transportation, the export volume was very small in the early stage. With the development of maritime transportation and the improvement of navigation technology in the Tang Dynasty, conditions were created for the export of porcelain. After the late Tang Dynasty (about the 9th century A.D.), most Chinese porcelain was exported from Guangzhou, via Vietnam, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and other places to India, Sri Lanka, and then west to Arabia. In addition to this route, there is another route from Mingzhou (Ningbo) to Silla (Korea) and Japan. A large number of Chinese Tang dynasty porcelains have been unearthed in various countries and regions along the two shipping routes.

Before the Tongguan kiln in Changsha, the porcelain production in the Tang Dynasty had formed two major kiln systems: celadon represented by Yue Kiln in the South and white represented by Xing kiln in the north. At that time, the export porcelain was mainly produced by these two kilns. After the Anshi rebellion, Changsha copper official kilns developed a new way. With the rapid rise of colored porcelain, they broke the pattern of blue in the South and white in the north, and formed a tripartite confrontation with Yue kilns and Xing kilns.

The porcelain of Changsha Tongguan kiln, like the splendid culture of Tang Dynasty, is developing outward

Chinese PinYin : Zhang Sha Tong Guan Yao