Page 15 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

Chapter 07 (pp. 330-385)_Layout 1 7/7/10 5:42 PM Page 344

7.18. Cizhou ware jar with white slip under clear, colorless glaze and polychrome overglaze decoration, early
fourteenth century, 31.1 cm x 33.7 cm, 20 cm mouth diameter. Saint Louis Art Museum.

porcelain shards and kiln implements, findings that con- (1115–1234) and Yuan dynasties. A jar with a transparent
firmed the efflorescence of Cizhou production at this site glaze excavated from the Jin dynasty imperial tomb com-
during the Yuan. 51 plex is considered a prime example of Jin dynasty Cizhou
54
Several decorative techniques now associated with the production. During the Yuan dynasty, the major Cizhou
Yuan era were invented or perfected in these Cizhou complexes were located at Fengcheng (near the city of
kilns. The stoneware created there was embellished with Handan) and Guantai (in Cihu county), both in Hebei
overglaze or underglaze as well as incised and carved de- province. Other Yuan dynasty Cizhou kiln sites have
signs (Figs. 7.18, 7.19, 7.20, 7.21, 7.22). In fact, overglaze been excavated in Tangyin and Yu counties in present-
enamel wares decorated with iron red and copper green day Henan province, in the city of Yangquan in Shanxi
were first produced by this family of kilns (see Fig. 7.18). province, and in Lingwu county of the Ningxia au-
This overglaze enamel technique was ultimately adopted tonomous region.
by Yuan potters at Jingdezhen where use of low-fired The Jingdezhen kilns were also producing at this time,
overglaze enamels developed during the early Ming pe- and competed with the Yuan Cizhou kilns for market
riod at the imperial kilns and private kilns. 52 In the share. The Cizhou potters responded to the competition
eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries the theme of by making their production more efficient and economi-
boys playing had been popular in a wide range of ceram- cal. In the previous Song and Jin periods, for example,
ics (Fig. 7.23). And this motif continued to be popular potters covered vessels with white slip, then black slip,
during the fourteenth century not only on ceramics, in- incising the black layer to expose the white layer before
cluding Cizhou ware, but also in textiles and paintings. 53 coating with transparent glaze. During the Yuan dynasty,
Underglazed iron brown wares with peacock blue glazes, this process was simplified by cutting through one layer
as well as brown- or black-glazed wares now known as of brown glaze to expose a beige clay body before firing;
“Cizhou type,” became popular during the Jin dynasty as seen, for example, on the jar with a design of a boy

344 Yuan Dynasty Ceramics