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Dragon Kiln
A dragon kiln ( zh, t=龍窯, p=lóng yáo, w=lung-yao) or "climbing kiln", is a traditional Chinese form of kiln, used for Chinese ceramics, especially in southern China. It is long and thin, and relies on having a fairly steep slope, typically between 10° and 16°, up which the kiln runs. The kiln could achieve the very high temperatures, sometimes as high as 1400 °C, necessary for high-fired wares including stoneware and porcelain, which long challenged European potters, and some examples were very large, up to 60 metres long, allowing up to 25,000 pieces to be fired at a time. By the early 12th century CE they might be over 135 metres long, allowing still larger quantities to be fired; more than 100,000 have been claimed. History According to recent excavations in Shangyu District in the northeast of Zhejiang province and elsewhere, the origins of the dragon kiln may go back as far as the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 to 1046 BCE), and is linked to the introduction of stonew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Song
The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song frequently came into conflict with the contemporaneous Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties in northern China. After retreating to southern China following attacks by the Jin dynasty, the Song was eventually conquered by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The dynasty's history is divided into two periods: during the Northern Song (; 960–1127), the capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng) and the dynasty controlled most of what is now East China. The Southern Song (; 1127–1279) comprise the period following the loss of control over the northern half of Song territory to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song wars. At that time, the Song court retreated south o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Roman Pottery
Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome, mostly for utilitarian purposes. It is found all over the former Roman Empire and beyond. Monte Testaccio is a huge mound, waste mound in Rome made almost entirely of broken amphorae used for transporting and storing liquids and other products – in this case probably mostly Spanish olive oil, which was landed nearby, and was the main fuel for lighting, as well as its use in the kitchen and washing in the Thermae, baths. It is usual to divide Roman domestic pottery broadly into coarse wares and fine wares, the former being the everyday pottery jars, dishes and bowls that were used for cooking or the storage and transport of foods and other goods, and in some cases also as tableware, and which were often made and bought locally. Fine wares were serving vessels or tableware used for more formal dining, and are usually of more decorative and elegant appearance. Some of the most important of these were made at specialised ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Asia
East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Japan, Japan, Economy of South Korea, South Korea, and Economy of Taiwan, Taiwan are among the world's largest and most prosperous. East Asia borders North Asia to the north, Southeast Asia to the south, South Asia to the southwest, and Central Asia to the west. To its east is the Pacific Ocean. East Asia, especially History of China, Chinese civilization, is regarded as one of the earliest Cradle of civilization#China, cradles of civilization. Other ancient civilizations in East Asia that still exist as independent countries in the present day include the History of Japan, Japanese, History of Korea, Korean, and History of Mongolia, Mongolian civilizations. Various other civilizations existed as independent polities in East Asia in the past ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anagama Kiln
The ''anagama'' kiln (Japanese Kanji: 穴窯/ Hiragana: あながま) is an ancient type of pottery kiln brought to Japan from China via Korea in the 5th century. It is a version of the climbing dragon kiln of south China, whose further development was also copied, for example in breaking up the firing space into a series of chambers in the ''noborigama'' kiln. An ''anagama'' (a Japanese term meaning "cave kiln") consists of a firing chamber with a firebox at one end and a flue at the other. Although the term "firebox" is used to describe the space for the fire, there is no physical structure separating the stoking space from the pottery space. The term ''anagama'' describes single-chamber kilns built in a sloping tunnel shape. In fact, ancient kilns were sometimes built by digging tunnels into banks of clay. The anagama is fueled with firewood, in contrast to the electric or gas-fueled kilns commonly used by most modern Pottery, potters. A continuous supply of fuel is ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and List of islands of Japan, thousands of smaller islands, covering . Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh-most populous country. The capital of Japan and List of cities in Japan, its largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the List of largest cities, largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 Prefectures of Japan, administrative prefectures and List of regions of Japan, eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of Geography of Japan, the countr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Korea
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 38th parallel between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK). Both countries proclaimed independence in 1948, and the two countries fought the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. The region is bordered by China to the north and Russia to the northeast, across the Yalu River, Amnok (Yalu) and Tumen River, Duman (Tumen) rivers, and is separated from Japan to the southeast by the Korea Strait. Known human habitation of the Korean peninsula dates to 40,000 BC. The kingdom of Gojoseon, which according to tradition was founded in 2333 BC, fell to the Han dynasty in 108 BC. It was followed by the Three Kingdoms of Korea, Three Kingdoms period, in which Korea was divided into Goguryeo, Baekje, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dehua Porcelain
Dehua porcelain (), more traditionally known in the West as Blanc de Chine (French for "White from China"), is a type of white Chinese porcelain, made at Dehua in the Fujian province. It has been produced from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) to the present day. Large quantities arrived in Europe as Chinese export porcelain in the early 18th century and it was copied at Meissen and elsewhere. It was also exported to Japan in large quantities. In 2021, the kilns of Dehua were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with many other sites near Quanzhou for their importance for medieval maritime trade and the exchange of cultures and ideas around the world. History The area along the Fujian coast was traditionally one of the main ceramic exporting centers. Over one-hundred and eighty kiln sites have been identified extending in historical range from the Song period to present. The two principal kiln sites were those of Qudougong () and Wanpinglun (). The Wanpinglun site i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qingbai
Qingbai ware () is a type of Chinese porcelain produced under the Song dynasty and Yuan dynasty, defined by the ceramic glaze used. Qingbai ware is white with a blue-greenish tint, and is also referred to as Yingqing ("shadow green", although this name appears only to date from the 18th century).Osborne, 192 It was made in Jiangxi province in south-eastern China, in several locations including Jingdezhen, and is arguably the first type of porcelain to be produced on a very large scale. However, it was not at the time a prestigious ware, and was mostly used for burial wares and exports, or a middle-rank Chinese market.Vainker, 124–125 The quality is very variable, reflecting these different markets; the best pieces can be very thin-walled. Qingbai ware was made with a white porcelain body, fired with a glaze that produced a slight blue-green tint. The kilns used pine wood as fuel, producing a reducing atmosphere that produced the tint. Qingbai ware was used by commoners ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yue Ware
Yue ware or Yüeh ware () is a type of Chinese ceramics, a felspathic siliceous stoneware, which is characteristically decorated with celadon glazing. Yue ware is also sometimes called (Yuezhou) green porcelain () in modern literature, but the term is misleading as it is not really porcelain (on Western definitions) and its shades are not really green. It has been "one of the most successful and influential of all south Chinese ceramics types". The wares covered by the term have been gradually reduced; initially used for a wide range of early celadons with a grey body, it was first made more specific to refer only to wares from north China, and then later only to those from the Tang dynasty onwards, and sometimes to restrict it "to the finest quality wares of the ninth and tenth centuries". At the same time it has been realized that very similar wares were made at a number of northern kilns, and today the term Yue-type is often preferred. As the first fine glazed Chinese wares ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celadon
Celadon () is a term for pottery denoting both wares ceramic glaze, glazed in the jade green Shades of green#Celadon, celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was first used on greenware, but later used on other porcelains. Celadon originated in China, though the term is purely European, and notable kilns such as the Longquan celadon, Longquan kiln in Zhejiang province are renowned for their celadon glazes. Celadon production later spread to other parts of East Asia, such as Japan and Korea, as well as Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand. Eventually, European potteries produced some pieces, but it was never a major element there. Finer pieces are in porcelain, but both the color and the glaze can be produced in stoneware and earthenware. Most of the earlier Longquan celadon is on the border of stoneware and porcelain, meeting the Chinese but not the Europea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ding Ware
Ding ware, Ting ware () or Dingyao are Chinese ceramics, mostly porcelain, that were produced in the prefecture of Dingzhou ( formerly romanized as "Ting-chou") in Hebei in northern China. The main kilns were at Jiancicun or Jianci in Quyang County. They were produced between the Tang and Yuan dynasties of imperial China, though their finest period was in the 11th century, under the Northern Song. The kilns "were in almost constant operation from the early eighth until the mid-fourteenth century." The most characteristic wares are thin porcelains with a white or greyish body and a nearly transparent white-tinted glaze, though they are classed as stoneware by some. Chemical analysis has shown that they were often made entirely of a kaolinitic clay without any petuntse or "porcelain stone". They are mostly decorated with uncoloured designs that are incised or in very shallow relief. Ding ware was the most famous northern Chinese white ware under the Song, although there ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
