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kilns and eventually eclipsed. Zhejiang, Beijing, Liaoning, splashes; and a group of
Individual pieces are not always flowerpots and vases in a range
easy to attribute, however. and Hebei, some of which are of sizes (marked from 1 to 10),
White wares inscribed with the datable to the years 895—900, made in complicated bronze
character guan ("official") are 958, 959, 977, and 1031, shapes characteristic of the
generally associated with the respectively: see Wenwu, no. 12 Yuan and Ming dynasties, with
Ding kilns, but are not (1979), pp. 18-23; and Wenunt, shaded blue and purple glazes.
exclusive to them. An attribution to the Northern
no. 12 (1975), p. 41. Song is undisputed for the
10. For a translation of Lu Yu's former; on the basis of
Chajing ("Classic ofTea"), see 14. For a representative controversial archaeological
Francis Ross Carpenter, The selection ofTang black wares evidence some scholars also
Classic of Tea by Lu Yii (Boston from kilns in Henan Province,
and Toronto: Little, Brown, with and without light blue attribute the latter to that
1974), where this discussion glaze splashes, see Regina period. For examples of the
appears on pp. 90-93- Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the
Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1 two types, see Zhao Qingyun,
11. The two octagonal bottles (London; Azimuth Editions, Henan taoci shi ("History of
(cats. 123, 125), which Henan Ceramics") (Beijing:
1994), pp. 126—35. The only Zijincheng chubanshe, 1993),
superficially look very similar, other important Tang pi. 18 and cpl. 11, nos. 42, 43,
45 for the former, and pi. 19
are in fact very different. The stoneware kilns not represented and cpl. 11, no. 44 for the latter.
bottle from Famen Temple here are those of Changsha in
(cat. 125) shows a much whiter 18. For a representative
clay and glossier glaze and has Hunan Province, which made selection of Song black wares,
more elegant proportions than see the exhibition catalogue by
the one in the Palace Museum, green wares, partly with Robert D. Mowry, Hare's Fur,
Beijing, whose history is not designs painted under the Tortoiseshell, and Partridge
recorded (cat. 123). The Famen glaze; see Timothy See-Yin Leathers: Chinese Brown- and
Temple Yue wares are of Lam, Tang Ceramics: Changsha Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400—1400
unmatched quality and at Kilns (Hong Kong: Lammett (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
present seem to be the only Arts, 1990). University Art Museums,
1996).
ones to qualify for the 15. "Celadon" is a Western
distinction of being called mise collectors term that refers to 19. Isolated experiments with
green-glazed stonewares, underglaze painting in cobalt
ware. The Palace Museum usually those from the Song blue on white stonewares that
dynasty on. The origin of the could be called porcelains had
bottle represents what used to term is not absolutely clear. It already been made in the Tang
be considered fine Yue ware of may derive either from Saladin,
the period. Fragments of such a twelfth-century sultan of dynasty. The beginnings of
bottles have been found at Syria and Egypt, where the
Shanglinhu, the main Yue kiln ware was popular, or from a blue-and-white porcelain are
site, and one such piece comes seventeenth-century play by therefore by some scholars
from a burial datable to 871; Honore d'Urfe.The play, in associated with the Tang. But
which a young shepherd these Tang wares appear to be
see Ho Chuimei, ed., Netv named Celadon appears dressed totally unconnected with the
in pale green, was fashionable continuous production of blue-
Light on Chinese Yue and in nineteenth-century France, and-white porcelain at
Longquan Wares, Centre of as was the ware. Jingdezhen injiangxi Province,
Asian Studies Occasional which can be traced back no
Papers and Monographs, 16. Several of the most earlier than the first quarter of
exquisite Longquan copies of the fourteenth century.
no, no (Hong Kong: The Guan ware presented as
University of Hong Kong, tributes to the court during the
[994). P- 34i. pi- iG.The two first Qing reigns were included
in the National Palace
types therefore appear to be
contemporary products of the Museum exhibition Song
same kilns; why they should be guanyao tezhan (Special
Exhibition of Song Dynasty Kuan
so different cannot yet be Ware) (Taipei: National Palace
explained.
Museum, 1989); three of
12. For discussions on mise
(formerly called bise) ware, see — —them "0cats. 33, 84, were
S.W. Bushell, Description of
Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, identified as such byTs'ai
living a Translation of the T'ao Ho-pi in the catalogue, p. 31.
Shuo (Oxford, 1910), pp. 37,
131; and Sir Percival David, 17. Two types ofjun ware can
"Some Notes on Pi-seYao,"
Eastern Art 1 (January 1929), be distinguished whose dating
PP- 137-43- and thus importance for the
court is still much debated; .1
13. White wares inscribed with group of vessels of simple
the character guan have come rounded forms characteristic ot
to light in many tombs and
pagoda foundations in the Song and Jm dynasties,
with even-toned blue glazes
with or without distinct purpk-
CERAMICS IN CHINA: MAKING TREASURES FROM EARTH 131
