Page 9 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

Chapter 07 (pp. 330-385)_Layout 1 7/7/10 5:42 PM Page 338

some Yuan Ge-style wares were produced at the
Longquan Dayao kiln site, and that most Ge-style wares
were produced at Jingdezhen during the Ming and Qing
dynasties. 27

Yaozhou Ware

Located in Tongchuan, Shaanxi province, the Yaozhou
kilns, whose history can be traced back to the Tang and
Five Dynasties eras, enjoyed great prosperity during the
Song and Jin dynasties. At that time, the twelfth and thir-
teenth centuries, the Yaozhou kilns were particularly
noted for their olive color celadons with carved and
molded designs, although other types of wares were also
made at this kiln, including black-glazed wares and works
7.9. Ge ware glazed stoneware censer, Southern Song to Yuan
dynasty, late twelfth to early thirteenth century, 8.3 cm tall, 11.7 with painted decor related to the Cizhou tradition. Dur-
cm mouth diameter. The Asia Society. ing the Yuan dynasty, production of these types of ce-
ramics continued in a bold, unconstrained style. The
color of the celadons is typically referred to as ginger yel-
low and wares became coarser, with minimal carved or
stamped decoration. Although the quality of workman-
ship declined and production moved from the Tang and
Approximately twenty pieces of Ge ware dishes have Song Huangbo site to Chenlu, the Yaozhou kiln retained
been recovered at Yuan and early Ming sites, too, with a market presence in northern China. Black-glazed,
none from Song sites, which supports the opinion that celadon, and painted wares dating to the Yuan have all
much if not all of this ware was created after the Song. In been recovered from this site, where production contin-
this regard the presence of Ge ware in the Sinan ship- ued during the Ming dynasty. 28
wreck, which is known to have sunk around 1323, is sig-
Jun Ware
nificant. Well-known examples of heirloom Ge wares are
in the collections of the Shanghai Museum and the Perci- Jun ware was an outgrowth of the celadon tradition,
val David Foundation of Chinese Art, and the Asia Soci- particularly those works produced at the Ru kiln at
ety of New York (Fig. 7.9). 25 All were formerly Qingliangsi in Baofeng county, Henan province, circa
considered to be Song dynasty wares, but the presence of 1086–1106. For the most part, Jun wares were produced at
Ge wares in the Sinan shipwreck of 1323 along with the kilns located in the central Henan province counties of
new archaeological evidence at Laohudong points to a Linru, Yuzhou, and Yu. Dozens of other kiln sites, how-
Yuan date for these artifacts as well. ever, have been discovered in Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi
Ge wares were described vividly by Ming scholars. Lu provinces as well as in Jinhua county, which produced
Shen, in the sixteenth-century work Brief Notes from the rather common types some of which have been recovered
29
Hall of Spring Wind (Cun feng Tang suibi) writes that they from the Sinan shipwreck (see Fig. 10.5). Four kinds of
were “pale white with crackles,” and Gu Tai, the late Jun ware glazes are generally noted and considered to be
Ming writer of Important Criteria for Studying Ancient Objects early Ming: greenish blue, light blue with copper oxide
(Bowu Yaolan) comments that Ge wares have “minute splashes, light milky blue, and deep reddish purple fading
crackles like masses of fish eggs.” These Ge masterpieces to blue. Some of these varieties were also made in the
were prized by Ming and Qing emperors, and many at- Yuan period; examples include a ruyi lappet-shaped pillow
tempts were made to reproduce them: the resulting with copper oxide splashes held by the National Palace
works include a Ming dynasty Yongle bowl (1403–1424), Museum in Taipei, and a tripod incense burner (censer)
a small group of Xuande (1426–1435) celadons, as well as with an inscription interpreted as referring to 1309 that
excavated and heirloom Chenghua (1465–1487) imperial was recovered from the early fourteenth-century Baita vil-
wares. 26 Based on current archaeological evidence, it lage site in Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia (Figs. 7.10, 7.11). 30
seems that Ge ware was initially produced during the Production of everyday Jun wares such as bowls and
Yuan dynasty at the Laohudong site in Hangzhou, that plates probably started as early as the late Northern Song

338 Yuan Dynasty Ceramics