Page 3 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

Chapter 07 (pp. 330-385)_Layout 1 7/7/10 5:42 PM Page 332

of the new and prosperous city center was “so twelfth and thirteenth centuries with its olive color
vast ... that it seems quite past all possibility. ... To the celadons (discussed more fully later). The Chinese elite
city ... are brought articles of greater cost and rarity, and continued to esteem green-glazed wares through the
in greater abundance of all kinds, than to any other city in Yuan dynasty and into the Ming dynasty.
the world . . . no day in the year passes that there do not
enter the city 1,000 carts of silk alone.” 2 longquan celadon
Some of the cultural exchanges most significant to the Once favored by the Song imperial court for their
Yuan imperial court were with the subordinate Il- sumptuous jade-like tribute wares, the Longquan kilns
Khanate of Persia, initially run by Khubilai’s brother expanded production in the fourteenth century to in-
Hulegu (r. 1256–1265). The khanate included present- clude an ever-increasing number of large, sturdy, molded
day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, wares for domestic and foreign markets. Early Yuan
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Western Pakistan. For- Longquan potters continued to employ production tech-
mal exchanges with this khanate and others probably be- niques used at the Southern Song imperial Jiaotanxia
gan when Khubilai Khan adopted the dynastic title of kilns, such as application of multiple coats of glaze and
Yuan in 1271. During the Yuan dynasty, Chinese art and slight underfiring, which gave the items a rich, lustrous,
culture were subjected to a wide range of foreign influ- jade-like surface (Figs. 7.2, 7.3). At the Jiaotanxia site in
ences, including the tastes and preferences of its Mongol Hangzhou, for instance, potters focused on making imi-
rulers, while the rulers themselves gradually became more tation Song Guan and Yuan Ge wares with elegant forms
sinicized (Fig. 7.1). and jade-like glazes. A particularly fine example is a ewer
Our current understanding of the ceramics of this pe- in the Sir Percival David Collection at the British Mu-
riod synthesizes information from historical events, extant seum (Fig. 7.4). It has a translucent gray green glaze
ceramic masterworks, and revelations from dated and un- whose color, but not necessarily date of production, lies
dated archaeological discoveries, along with the work of between the kingfisher blue glaze of the temple vase held
Liu Xinyuan on early imperial wares of Jingdezhen. 3 by the Detroit Institute of Arts and the glassy pea green
glaze often seen on other works more likely made toward
the end of the Yuan dynasty; later in the Yuan dynasty,
Beyond Blue and White: Other Wares
unctuous sea green and glassy pea green glazes were
and Kilns dominant. It is interesting that educated art collectors of
4
this period may have preferred the earlier “kingfisher
In the realm of Chinese ceramics, the Yuan dynasty devel- blue” glazes: Cao Zhao expresses this opinion in his Es-
opment that has most captivated the world is blue and sential Criteria of Antiquities (Gegu yaolun). 5
white (qinghua ciqi). When it first appeared, however, this Along the major transport arteries of the Oujiang and
type of ware was created for only a select few and its ac- Songxi rivers in southern Zhejiang province, hundreds of
ceptance by Chinese patrons and connoisseurs was gradual. kilns produced green-glazed wares with tough, gray
Meanwhile, other wares such as celadons (qingci), Jun ware, porcelaneous bodies. These wares varied in quality from
unglazed and lead glazed pottery, Cizhou ware, Jizhou grand to humble, and were created for both domestic and
ware, and other types of white ware and porcelain contin- foreign markets. The largest kiln complexes were at
ued to be made throughout the eighty-nine-year period. Dayao and Jincun. Archaeological evidence suggests that
more than fifty new kilns making Longquan wares sprang
Celadon, or Qingci
up around Dayao during the Yuan dynasty to satisfy in-
During the preceding Song dynasty, the prevailing creased demand for these highly sought-after and com-
taste was for stonewares with green glazes (known in monly traded wares.
Chinese as qingci and usually translated as “celadon”), Maritime trade in pottery initiated by the Southern
which were often used in imperial court ceremonies. For Song government to obtain much-needed revenue ex-
a brief period during the early twelfth century, the rarest panded in the Yuan dynasty, with wares moving down-
celadon known as Ru ware was made, then widely imi- river to the nearest seaport of Wenzhou. Meanwhile,
tated at the Yaozhou, Tangzhou, Dengzhou, and increased demand for humbler trade wares led Longquan
Longquan kilns. potters to adjust their production techniques by stan-
The Yaozhou kiln in particular, located in Tongchuan, dardizing their methods and using larger kilns. The
Shaanxi province, enjoyed great prosperity during the Longquan kilns vied for market dominance with the

332 Yuan Dynasty Ceramics