Xing ware
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Xing ware or ''Xingyao'' () is a type of
Chinese ceramics Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construc ...
produced in
Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
province in north China, most notably during the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
. Xing ware typically has a white body covered with a clear glaze. It was named after Xingzhou in southern Hebei where it was made; kilns sites have been identified in Neiqiu County as well as in Lincheng although Lincheng was not part of Xingzhou during the Tang dynasty. Some Xing wares were fired at a high enough temperature to be considered
porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
by Western definition, therefore Xing ware may be considered the world's first true porcelain. Xing ware was produced from the
Northern Qi Qi, known as the Northern Qi (), Later Qi (後齊) or Gao Qi (高齊) in historiography, was a Chinese imperial dynasty and one of the Northern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It ruled the eastern part of northern China ...
to the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
, and its production reached it peak during the Tang dynasty. It was supplanted by Ding ware during the Song dynasty


History

White ceramics began to be made in the Xing kilns of northern China during the
Northern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Jin dynasty (266–420)#Eastern Jin, Eastern Jin dy ...
period. The early wares were coarser but improvements were made and the finest of these wares were made during the Tang dynasty. Xing ware was used at the Tang court; sherds of white ceramics bearing the ''Ying'' (盈, referring to one of the imperial storehouses) or '' Hanlin'' (翰林) marks were found at the site of
Daming Palace The Daming Palace was the imperial palace complex of the Tang dynasty, located in its capital Chang'an. It served as the imperial residence of the Tang emperors for more than 220 years. Today, it is designated as a national heritage site of China ...
as well as the kiln sites where they were made. A few in Xingtai have the ''Guan'' (官, official) mark. In the Tang dynasty treatise on tea, ''
The Classic of Tea ''The Classic of Tea'' or ''Tea Classic'' () is the first known monograph on tea in the world, by Chinese writer Lu Yu between 760 CE and 762 CE, during the Tang dynasty. Lu Yu's original manuscript is lost; the earliest editions available date ...
'',
Lu Yu Lu Yu (; 733–804) or Lu Ji (陆疾), courtesy name Jici (季疵) was a Chinese tea master and writer. He is respected as the Sage of Tea for his contribution to Chinese tea culture. He is best known for his monumental book ''The Classic of ...
contrasted the white Xing ware with the green
Yue ware Yue or Yueh ( ) may refer to: Places * Guangdong, abbreviated (), a province of China * Yue Nan (), the Chinese name for Vietnam * Zhejiang, commonly abbreviated (), a province of China Languages * Yue Chinese, a branch of Chinese, spoken ...
of Southern China, and compared the colours of Xing ware to those of snow and silver. The white ware became associated with the north while the green ware was associated with the south. Tang writer Li Zhao (李肇) wrote that the Xing ware of Neiqiu was used by the rich and the poor alike, suggesting that there were both fine and coarse types of Xing ware. Xing ware was exported to the outside world during the Tang dynasty. Pieces of Xing ware have been found in the
Belitung shipwreck The Belitung shipwreck (also called the Tang shipwreck or Batu Hitam shipwreck) is the wreck of an Arabian dhow which sank around 830 AD. The ship completed the outward journey from Arabia to China, but sank on the return journey from China, app ...
, and examples of Xing ware were found commonly enough in
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
to be referred to as the "
Samarra Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...
-type". Ding ware produced in the nearby area of
Dingzhou Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei Province. As of 2009, Dingzhou had a population of 1.2 million. Dingzhou has 3 ...
appeared to have started by imitating Xing ware during the Tang dynasty. It may be difficult to distinguish white Ding ware from Xing ware, although Xing ware may have a colder bluer tone through its transparent glaze. Ding ware began to eclipse Xing ware during the
Five Dynasties The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen conc ...
, and by the Song dynasty, Ding kilns had replaced Xing as the renown producers of ceramics of northern China. The locations that produced Xing ware were not identified until 1980 and 1981 when kiln sites were excavated at Ciqun in Lincheng County. Later series of excavations have also identified many kiln sites in Neiqiu and
Xingtai Xingtai (), formerly known as Xingzhou and Shunde, is a prefecture-level city in southern Hebei province, People's Republic of China. It has a total area of and administers 4 districts, 2 county-level cities and 12 counties. At the 2020 censu ...
.


Production

The white body of Xing ware may be thinly potted, and fine enough to not require the application of a
slip Slip or SLIP may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Slip (fish), also known as Black Sole * Slip (horticulture), a small cutting of a plant as a specimen or for grafting * Muscle slip, a branching of a muscle, in anatomy Computing and ...
to hide any imperfection or coarseness. The coarser type of Xing ware, however, may have a layer of white slip. The body is usually covered with a thin colourless glaze, but often the glazes of Xing ware have a bluish tinge. The glaze contained magnesium oxide and phosphorus pentoxide, which reduce glaze dripping and cracking and giving it a whiter and smoother appearance. Xing ware is primarily white, although some early pieces with green glaze, and other later pieces with yellow or black glazes as well as
sancai ''Sancai'' ()Vainker, 75 is a versatile type of decoration on Chinese pottery using glazes or slip, predominantly in the three colours of brown (or amber), green, and a creamy off-white. It is particularly associated with the Tang Dynasty (618 ...
have been found. The Xing kilns were fired with wood rather than coal.
Saggar A saggar (also misspelled as sagger or segger) is a type of kiln furniture. It is a ceramic boxlike container used in the firing of pottery to enclose or protect ware being fired inside a kiln. Traditionally, saggars were made primarily from ...
s were used to protect the wares during firing. The pieces were fired at a temperature high enough to approach that required for the production of porcelain, although Xing wares are often not quite vitrified enough to produce the glassy or translucent appearance of true porcelain. Such Xing ware may be considered
stoneware Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a Vitrification#Ceramics, vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refracto ...
by Western definition, but some pieces are true porcelain. This distinction between stoneware and porcelain, however, is not made in China and it is therefore considered porcelain in Chinese terms.


References


External links


White porcelain vase with loops, Xing ware
at the
National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p kù-kiung pok-vu̍t-yèn), is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks, many of which wer ...
{{Porcelain Chinese pottery Chinese porcelain Culture in Hebei Xingtai